Daniel Omoya Braaten (born 25 May 1982) is a Norwegian former professional

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 as a winger. He has previously played for

Skeid Skeid is a Norwegian alliance sports club from Nordre Åsen, Oslo. It has sections for association football (one for elite and one for grassroots football), Nordic skiing and bandy. General history The club was founded as ''IK Skeid'' on 5 De ...

, Rosenborg,

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...

, Brann and Stabæk. He has been capped 52 times for the Norway national team, scoring 4 goals.

Club career

Early career

Braaten was born in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

, Norway. He started his career in the

youth academy at the age of six. He later won the Norwegian Junior Cup with the team in 1999, aged 17. The following year he was promoted to the first team, where he played for four years before joining giants

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 ...

in 2004, after 102 caps and 22 goals for Skeid. Before signing for Rosenborg, Braaten had attracted interest from various clubs in Norway and abroad, and had a trial with French side

RC Lens Racing Club de Lens (, commonly referred to as RC Lens or simply Lens) is a French professional football club based in the northern city of Lens in the Pas-de-Calais department. Its nickname, ''les sang et or'' (''the blood and gold''), come ...

in late 2003 with

Daniel Fredheim Holm Daniel Fredheim Holm (born 30 July 1985) is a Norwegian footballer who plays as a midfielder and works as an assistant coach for KFUM in the OBOS-ligaen. He is the half-brother of former Vålerenga colleague Thomas Holm, and the son of forme ...

. Braaten had however trained with Rosenborg as early as autumn 2002, but was still in contract with Skeid, before signing in 2004 for approximately £250,000. Braaten had become one of the most profiled players of 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 ...

, through his colourful, untraditional and artistic playing style. He had become known especially for his individual technical skills and physical strength, and as a player who did unexpected things on the field, surprising both opposing players and the audience. He was famous not only for his pace, but also for his mastery of the

seal dribble The seal dribble is a form of dribbling in association football. It is performed by flicking the ball up from the ground onto the head, whereby the player then proceeds to run past opponents, whilst bouncing the ball on top of his forehead, imitatin ...

, an incredibly difficult trick involving running while bouncing (and controlling) the ball on top of the head.

European career

On 3 August 2007, Braaten signed for

for a reported fee of £450,000. He scored his first goal in English football just over three weeks later, netting the final goal in Bolton's 3–0 win over

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

. He failed to secure a permanent spot on the team, however, and after a tough season in England, Braaten signed a three-year contract with French side Toulouse on 25 June 2008. He was included as part of the deal which saw

Johan Elmander Johan Erik Calvin Elmander (; born 27 May 1981) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a striker. Beginning his career with Holmalunds IF in the late 1990s, he went on to play professionally in the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark ...

move to Bolton. He scored his first league goal in Toulouse's 4–1 victory over

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain, Paris, Paris SG or simply PSG is a professional football club based in Paris, France. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. As Fr ...

. He performed a unique celebration by spinning on his back while spinning upwards at the same time after scoring his first goal for the club. He was released from his contract in July 2013. Two months later, in September, Braaten signed a one-year-long deal with Danish side

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

, where he was given shirt no. 22. During his time in the Danish capital, he scored one goal in the league and a back-heel goal in the

UEFA Champions League 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 competit ...

to secure a 1–0 victory over

Galatasaray Galatasaray Spor Kulübü (, ''Galatasaray Sports Club'') is a Turkish sports club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul in Turkey. Most notable for its association football department, the club also consists of various other de ...

. At the end of the season Braaten left Copenhagen without a new contract and returned to Norway.

Return to Norway

On 9 February 2015, Braaten signed a one-year deal with

Kjetil Rekdal Kjetil André Rekdal (born 6 November 1968) is a Norwegian football manager and a former player. He is the manager of Eliteserien club Rosenborg. Rekdal began his playing career in Molde FK, playing afterwards for clubs in the Bundesliga, Lig ...

and

Vålerenga Vålerenga () is a neighbourhood in the city of Oslo, Norway, belonging to the borough of Gamle Oslo. Vålerenga is located between the neighbourhoods of Gamlebyen, Jordal, Ensjø, Etterstad and Lodalen. Vålerenga is in particular known for it ...

in the Norwegian

Tippeliga 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 ...

after almost eight months as a free agent. He scored his first, and only, goal for his new club away versus

Sandefjord Sandefjord () is a city and the most populous municipality in Vestfold og Telemark county, Norway. The municipality of Sandefjord was established on 1 January 1838. The municipality of Sandar was merged into Sandefjord on 1 January 1969. On 1 ...

on his birthday, 25 May. On 3 December 2015, it was announced that his contract would not be renewed, something that surprised many critics as he had performed well in the previous season. After training with

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 ...

during the winter, he signed a one-year contract with the club on 21 February 2016, his fourth club in just as many years. After 55 games for Brann, he left the club at the end of the 2018 season.

International career

Daniel Braaten defended by Stewart Downing Norway-England

After playing four matches for Norway U18 in 2000, and two matches for Norway U21 in 2003, Braaten made his debut 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 ...

on 22 January 2004 in a

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

against

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

, when playing for Skeid in

Adeccoligaen The Norwegian First Division, also called 1. divisjon and OBOS-ligaen (named sponsor is property developer OBOS), is the second-highest level of the Norwegian football league system. Each year, the top finishing teams in the 1. divisjon are p ...

, the second-tier league in Norway. His first international goal came against

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

, in a Friendly match on 20 April 2005, a game Norway won 2–1. As of May 2018, he has been

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 ...

52 times for

, scoring four goals.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Norway's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Braaten goal''

Honours

Rosenborg *

Tippeligaen 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 ...

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 ...

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

References

External links

* *
Player profile on RBK official site
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Braaten, Daniel 1982 births Living people Footballers from Oslo Norwegian men's footballers Men's association football wingers Skeid Fotball players Rosenborg BK players Bolton Wanderers F.C. players Toulouse FC players F.C. Copenhagen players Vålerenga Fotball players Eliteserien players Norwegian First Division players Premier League players Ligue 1 players Danish Superliga players Norway men's youth international footballers Norway men's under-21 international footballers Norway men's international footballers Norwegian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in France Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in England Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in France Norwegian people of Nigerian descent