Arne Larsen Økland (born 31 May 1954) is a Norwegian former

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 ...

who played as a striker for Vard Haugesund,

Bryne Bryne () is a town in Time municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. The city is the administrative centre of the municipality of Time and it is also one of the 50 largest towns/cities in Norway. Bryne's location in the region of Stavanger/Sand ...

Bayer Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH, also known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen (), Bayer Leverkusen, or simply Leverkusen, is a professional football club based in Leverkusen in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The club competes in the Bundesliga, t ...

and

Racing Club de Paris Racing Club de France Football (, also known as Racing Paris, RCF Paris, Matra Racing, Racing Club, or Racing) is a French association football club based in Colombes, a suburb of Paris. Racing was founded in 1882 as a multi-discipline spo ...

. He was

capped In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the ea ...

54 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 the ...

, scoring 13 goals and he is regarded as one of the best Norwegian players of his generation. He later coached Bryne and

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 ...

Club career

Økland was born in

Bømlo Bømlo is a municipality in the southwestern part of Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Sunnhordland. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Svortland. Other villages in Bømlo includ ...

and began his career at the local club Bremnes before he moved to Vard Haugesund in the early 1970s. In

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 ...

the club played their sole season in the

Norwegian top division Eliteserien () is a Norwegian professional league for association football clubs. At the top of the Norwegian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion ...

and Økland scored 11 goals, and made his international debut the same year. Despite Økland's efforts, Vard were relegated at the end of the season, and he then transferred to

. With Økland as one of the key players, the newly promoted Bryne survived relegation in

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democrat ...

, finished fourth in

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the '' International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the '' Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the so ...

and second in 1980. In the summer of 1980, he was signed by

West German 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 ...

side

. Økland enjoyed a successful three-year spell at Leverkusen. Just a few months into his stay at the club, he scored a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

in a 3–0 win against Bayern Munich. Økland was in fact credited with a fourth goal late in the game as the ball went through a hole in the side netting, but Økland famously told the referee that it wasn't a goal. In his three years at Leverkusen, Økland played 101

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

matches and scored 43 goals. In 1983, Økland moved to the French team

, where he spent two seasons before returning to Bryne. In his second spell at Bryne, Økland helped the club win the only major trophy in their history; the

Norwegian Cup The Norwegian Football Cup ( no, Norgesmesterskapet i fotball for herrer) is the main knockout cup competition in Norwegian football. It is run by the Football Association of Norway and has been contested since 1902, making it the oldest football ...

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, ...

. After this victory, Økland retired.

International career

Økland was one of the key players in Tor Røste Fossen's period as national team coach. He made his debut against

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

on 29 March 1978, which also was Røste Fossen first match in charge of

. His first international goals came in a 1–1 draw against

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, in a

UEFA Euro 1980 The 1980 UEFA European Football Championship finals tournament was held in Italy. This was the sixth UEFA European Championship, which is held every four years and endorsed by UEFA. It was the first European Championship to feature eight teams i ...

qualifying match on 20 September 1978. He soon became an important player in both the national team, and the Olympic team. Norway qualified for the

Moscow 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 ...

, but because of the boycott Økland and other teammates like Einar Aas and

Vidar Davidsen Vidar Davidsen (born 4 January 1958) is a Norwegian football coach and former player. Davidsen played 46 international matches for Norway and scored 5 goals. One of those goals came in Norway's famous 2-1 win against Italy at Stadio Via del Mare ...

never got to play in the olympics. Økland was also a part of Norway's famous win against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in 1981, when Bjørge Lillelien commented his now famous "Your boys took a hell of a beating" tirade. Norway performed well in the start of the

UEFA Euro 1984 The 1984 UEFA European Football Championship final tournament was held in France from 12 to 27 June 1984. It was the seventh UEFA European Championship, a competition held every four years and endorsed by UEFA. At the time, only eight countries ...

qualifiers, and with Økland scoring in both matches, Norway won 3–1 against

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

and drew 2–2 away against

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

, but with

Tom Lund Tom Lund (born 10 September 1950) is a former Norwegian football coach and striker, he is considered by some as Norway's greatest football player of all time. Lund spent his entire career at Norwegian club Lillestrøm, despite receiving numer ...

retiring from football, Norway once again failed to qualify for the finals. In 1985, Økland scored the winning goal when Norway won 2–1 against reigning world champions

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. Økland was also a part of the team that won 1–0 against future world champions

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

in 1986. His last international appearance was in a friendly match against

on 28 May 1987, the same year as he retired. In total, Økland was

54 times, scoring 13 goals.

Coaching career

He was later head coach of

and

and was Norway's assistant coach during

1994 FIFA World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States ...

Life outside football

Økland has later been CEO of Dolly Dimple's, a Norwegian pizza chain. He was the director of

, a Norwegian football club from Stavanger, between 2012 and 2015. Økland is married to Liv Brit Økland, and they have three children;

Ståle Økland Ståle Økland (born 21 April 1976) is a Norwegian writer, thinker, trend expert and public speaker. He grew up in Bryne, Leverkusen and Paris. He currently lives in Oslo, Norway. Personal life Ståle Økland's academic background is studies in s ...

, Silvia Ø. Greff and Martin Økland.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Okland, Arne Larsen 1954 births Living people People from Bømlo Norwegian men's footballers Norway men's international footballers Norwegian football managers SK Vard Haugesund players Bryne FK players Bayer 04 Leverkusen players Racing Club de France Football players Eliteserien players Bundesliga players Ligue 1 players Bryne FK managers Viking FK managers Norwegian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in France Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate men's footballers in West Germany Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in West Germany Men's association football forwards Bremnes IL players Footballers from Vestland