Espen Baardsen (born 7 December 1977) is a 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 ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

. Baardsen spent his entire professional career in the English

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

. He began his career with

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The team has playe ...

, where he made his debut aged 19. He left the club for £1.25m in 2000 for

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, and ...

, where he spent two years before leaving and signing a short-term contract with Everton. After making one appearance, he voluntarily retired from football upon the expiration of his contract, aged 25. Born in the United States to

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 ...

parents, he was selected for the USA under-18 national team before switching his international eligibility to

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 ...

because of his dual nationality.

Club career

In 1995 Baardsen was spotted by English team

while he was playing for the

San Francisco United All Blacks The San Francisco Seals were a soccer team based in San Francisco, California. The team began as the senior team of the San Francisco United Soccer Club founded in 1985, a 501(c)(3) organization. The club is based in San Francisco. In 1992, the ...

of the

USISL United Soccer League (USL), formerly known as United Soccer Leagues, is a soccer league in the United States and Canada. It organizes several men's and women's leagues, both professional and amateur. Men's leagues currently organized are the ...

. Tottenham offered him a contract. He made his debut for the team in the spring of 1997 against Liverpool at Anfield. Despite good performances, including a 0–0 draw away to rivals Arsenal, he was unable to become the team's first-choice keeper, but finished his time at the North London club with a League Cup winners medal from 1999. Spurs played eight matches en route to winning the cup and Baardsen started three of those matches ( Ian Walker started four and

Hans Segers Johannes "Hans" Segers (born 30 October 1961) is a Dutch football coach and former professional player who played as a goalkeeper. As a player, he notably spent eight years with Wimbledon where he featured in the Premier League. He also played ...

one). In 2000 Baardsen, seeking first-team football, signed for

for a fee of £1.25 million. However, towards the end of the 2000–01 season he lost his place in the team to veteran

Alec Chamberlain Alec Francis Roy Chamberlain (born 20 June 1964) is an English former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He made 788 league appearances during his 25-year playing career, the final 11 years and 247 appearances of which were w ...

. Although he returned to the side under new manager Gianluca Vialli in 2001–02, and saved a

Mark Robins Mark Gordon Robins (born 22 December 1969) is an English football manager and former player, who is the current manager of Coventry City in the EFL Championship. As a player, he was a striker and is best known for his time in the Premier Leagu ...

penalty to help his team beat

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The club's colours were initially yellow and black, but changed to red and white around 1 ...

3-2 in an early season game, he was again displaced by Chamberlain. In 2002, he had a short spell at Everton. In his sole game for the club he conceded 4 goals in a 4–3 loss to his former club Tottenham Hotspur. Claiming to have lost interest in the game, Baardsen retired from football aged only 25.

International career

At international level, Baardsen played more than 20 matches for the Norwegian under-21 team, and also won four caps for the senior side. Baardsen won a bronze medal in the

1998 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship The 1998 UEFA European Under-21 Championship, which spanned two years (1996–98), had 46 entrants. Before the quarter-finals stage, Romania were chosen as the hosts of the final stages, consisting of four matches in total. The exclusion (for po ...

in Romania, during which he received the "Best Goalkeeper of the Tournament" award. He made his debut for

in a September 1998 European Championship qualifying match against Latvia. Before that match, he was already part of Norway's 1998 World Cup squad as third-choice goalkeeper, despite the fact that he had never lived in Norway in his entire life. His last international match was a friendly against

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

in January 2000.

Personal life

After retiring, Baardsen went travelling around the world for a year, before studying for a degree at the

Open University The Open University (OU) is a British public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate students are based in the United Kingdom and principally study off- ...

. He is currently a partner and fund manager for a London-based asset management company. He is a frequent guest on the business television network CNBC.Chris Bevan
Were you there...?

BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC television, radio and online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadcasting the sport live or alongside flag ...

, 15 February 2007, accessed 18 February 2007

Honors

Club

Tottenham Hotspur * Football League Cup Winner: 1998–99

Career statistics

(C.S. = Clean sheets) (Con. = Conceded)

References

External links

*
Soccerbase stats

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baardsen, Espen 1977 births Living people Norwegian footballers Norway international footballers Norway under-21 international footballers Norwegian expatriate footballers Sportspeople from San Rafael, California 1998 FIFA World Cup players Association football goalkeepers Everton F.C. players Expatriate footballers in England Premier League players San Francisco United All Blacks players Soccer players from California English Football League players Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players USISL players Watford F.C. players