Øystein Wormdal is a retired Norwegian

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played for

Orkdal IL Orkdal is a former municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 2020 when it joined Orkland Municipality. It was part of the Orkdalen region. The administrative centre of the municipalit ...

and

Rosenborg BK Rosenborg Ballklub, commonly referred to simply as Rosenborg () or RBK, is a Norwegian professional football club from Trondheim that plays in Eliteserien. The club has won a record 26 league titles, a shared record 12 Norwegian Football Cup ti ...

. A

right back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

, he was capped five times for

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

Club career

He played for Orkdal during his youth, but after the club was relegated to Fourth Division after the 1970 season, Wormdal transferred to Rosenborg in the First Division. He debuted against

Frigg Frigg (; Old Norse: ) is a goddess, one of the Æsir, in Germanic mythology. In Norse mythology, the source of most surviving information about her, she is associated with marriage, prophecy, clairvoyance and motherhood, and dwells in the wet ...

on 5 September 1971. He originally played as a center back, but was quickly transferred to the right back position. Despite Rosenborg winning the

double A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * Th ...

in his inaugural season, Wormdal did not have sufficient matches to claim either title. In the 1971 Cup Final he would have been awarded the title if he had played, but coach

Nils Arne Eggen Nils Arne Eggen (17 September 1941 – 19 January 2022) was a Norwegian footballer, manager and teacher from Orkdal. Eggen was closely tied to Rosenborg, the club he managed for 23 years between 1970 and 2010. He is Norway's most successful clu ...

instead chose to use his last substitution for

Tor Røste Fossen Tor Røste Fossen (19 June 1940 – 7 August 2017) was a Norwegian football player and coach. He played for Rosenborg from 1964 to 1971, earning two Norwegian Premier League titles and one Norwegian Cup championship. He coached several Norwegian ...

. Eggen told Wormdal that he would have ample opportunities later, but Rosenborg would not claim a title again until 1985, the season after Womdal retired. His ultimate match was against

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

on 24 August 1984. In 1984 season, Wormdal was plagued with injuries and manager Bjørn Hansen decided that Wormdal's services would not be needed for the 1985 season. The resulting public outcry led Hansen to change his position, but the offer was the rejected by Wormdal. Wormdal played 201 league matches for Rosenborg, of which 17 were played in the Second Division, and scored one goal. He is the Rosenborg player with the twelfth-most league matches. He played three

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

and two

UEFA European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competiti ...

matches. Only seven players have played more seasons for Rosenborg.

International career

Wormdal made his way to the national football team in 1979 and helped Norway qualify for the

1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (russian: Летние Олимпийские игры 1980, Letniye Olimpiyskiye igry 1980), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad (russian: Игры XXII Олимпиады, Igry XXII Olimpiady) and commo ...

, including winning over

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

. However, Norway joined in on the

1980 Summer Olympics boycott The 1980 Summer Olympics boycott was one part of a number of actions initiated by the United States to protest against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The Soviet Union, which hosted the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, and its allies later ...

, hindering Wormdal from becoming an Olympian. He was capped five times for Norway.

Playing style

Wormdal played a right back who was particularly noted for being able to quickly bring the ball from the defense to the offense, also in difficult circumstances. He was offensive and popular among the fans, but controversial and unorthodox. He was best between the two

penalty area The penalty area or 18-yard box (also known less formally as the penalty box or simply box) is an area of an association football pitch. It is rectangular and extends 16.5m (18 yd) to each side of the goal and 16.5m (18 yd) in front of it. Wit ...

s. ''

Adresseavisen ''Adresseavisen'' (; commonly known as ''Adressa'') is a regional newspaper published daily, except Sundays, in Trondheim, Norway. The paper has been in circulation since 1767 and is one of the oldest newspapers after Norske Intelligenz-Seddeler ...

'' declared him Rosenborg's all-time right back in 2010, ahead of

Vegard Heggem Vegard Heggem (born 13 July 1975) is a Norwegian former professional footballer who played as a right back. He rose to prominence with Rosenborg, winning three league titles and a cup, and scoring a goal to knock Milan out of the UEFA Champions ...

and

Christer Basma Christer Basma (born 1 August 1972) is a Norwegian former footballer who played as a defender. He played 16 consecutive seasons Tippeligaen, for Kongsvinger, Stabæk and Rosenborg. With 350 top division appearances, Basma has made the eighth- ...

. The reason was his abilities to get the ball from the defense to the offense, his popularity among the fans and his loyalty to the club.

Personal life

Wormdal lived in

Orkdal Orkdal is a former municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 2020 when it joined Orkland Municipality. It was part of the Orkdalen region. The administrative centre of the municipal ...

during his footballing career, commuting twice a week to

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; sma, Tråante), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2020, it had a population of 205,332, was the third most populous municipality in Norway, and ...

. After retirement, he chose to not play at lower levels and retired completely from football. Wormdal runs a

plant nursery A nursery is a place where plants are propagated and grown to a desired size. Mostly the plants concerned are for gardening, forestry or conservation biology, rather than agriculture. They include retail nurseries, which sell to the general p ...

in Orkdal along with his brother.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wormdal, Oystein 1951 births Living people Norwegian men's footballers Norway men's international footballers Men's association football fullbacks Rosenborg BK players Eliteserien players People from Orkdal Footballers from Trøndelag