Cato Guntveit is a retired

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway *Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including the ...

footballer who played for

SK Brann Sportsklubben Brann (commonly known as Brann, and less often as SK Brann) is a Norwegian professional football club, founded 26 September 1908, from Bergen. Brann had been in the Eliteserien, Norway's Premier Division of Football, since 1987, bar ...

the most of his career. He was the captain of Brann from 2004 until Brann coach

Mons Ivar Mjelde Mons Ivar Mjelde (born 17 November 1967) is a Norwegian association football, footballer coach and former player who works as head coach for the Norwegian club Øygarden FK, Øygarden. He is notable for having led SK Brann, Brann to the Norwegia ...

decided

Martin Andresen Martin Andresen (born 2 February 1977) is a Norwegian former professional football player and manager, who played as a central midfielder. Club career Early career Andresen was born in Kråkstad. He was a regular on many Norway national youth ...

should take over the captaincy prior to the 2006 season. Guntveit played briefly for local club

Fana Fana is a borough of the city of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway. The borough makes up the southeastern part of the municipality of Bergen. The borough was once part of the historic municipality of Fana which was incorporated into Bergen in ...

before joining Brann in 1995. He also spent two seasons at

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

, but played in Brann from 2002 to 2010. Guntveit is married and has three children. One of the few "local lads" in Brann, he owns and works in a toyshop in Bergen. He retired from football in after the 2010 season.

Biography

Early career

Guntveit made his debut for Brann at age 20, under coach

Hallvar Thoresen Hallvar Thoresen (born 12 April 1957) is a former Norwegian footballer who played most of his career in the Dutch Eredivisie. The son of former Norwegian international Gunnar Thoresen, Hallvar Thoresen was central in 1980s Norwegian football. C ...

. Thoresen used him frequently as a full back, but when Thoresen was fired, things took a turn for the worse for Guntveit, and he spent less time on the pitch. The following seasons, Guntveit failed to secure a steady first team place, but in the 1998 season, he regained his place for Brann. During that season, new coach

Harald Aabrekk Harald Olav Aabrekk (born 22 February 1956) is a Norwegian football coach and a former player. He played for Sogndal and Brann in the Tippeligaen, Norway's top professional football league. He has been head coach of Sogndal, Tromsø, Brann, Haug ...

moved Guntveit up to the midfield as a right winger, where he enjoyed considerable success, and was seen as a primal factor for Brann's success in

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

, when the club finished 3rd in the

Norwegian Premier League 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 reached the cup final.

Spell at Aberdeen

In 1999, Cato Guntveit was signed by the

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the top level league competition for professional football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football' ...

club

as a free transfer. He gained a reputation as a committed player, but his career at the

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

outfit was hampered due to several injuries. In summer 2002 he returned to Brann after being released from Aberdeen, having played 69 games and scored 5 goals.

Return to Brann

After returning to Brann, it took Guntveit nearly a year to make his debut, due to a mysterious injury. When he finally made his debut however, he became an integral part of the team, and was once again named a primal factor for Brann's success, this time in the latter half of the

2003 season 3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious or cultural significance in many societie ...

. In

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

, Guntveit became the captain of Brann, but he missed the final as Brann won 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 ...

in 2004 (their first trophy since 1982) because of a suspension. In

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

, the arrival of Martin Andresen threatened Guntveit's captaincy, as many believed the Norway national team captain (Andresen) would become the captain of Brann. However, Guntveit remained the captain of Brann, but has revealed that the captaincy distracted him from his game, and he was recently stripped of the captaincy prior to the 2006 season, when coach Mons Ivar Mjelde made Andresen captain in a widely anticipated move. He retired from Brann after the 2010 season, but was enticed by a friend to continue playing, for fourth-tier team Øystese IL, rejecting offers from Løv-Ham and

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Honours

Norway

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

References

External links

Official SK Brann profile on Cato Guntveit
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Guntveit, Cato 1975 births Living people Footballers from Bergen Footballers from Drammen Norwegian men's footballers Fana IL players SK Brann players Aberdeen F.C. players Eliteserien players Scottish Premier League players Expatriate men's footballers in Scotland Norwegian expatriate men's footballers Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Men's association football defenders