Erika Espeseth Skarbø (born 12 June 1987 in

Ålesund Ålesund () sometimes spelled Aalesund in English, is a municipality in Møre og Romsdal County, Norway. It is part of the traditional district of Sunnmøre and the centre of the Ålesund Region. The town of Ålesund is the administrative ...

) is a Norwegian

football goalkeeper Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ca ...

who currently plays for

Arna-Bjørnar Arna-Bjørnar Fotball is a Norwegian football club from Arna, Bergen. It was founded in late 2000 as a merger between the football branches from ''IL Bjørnar'' and ''Arna T&IL'', and replaced Bjørnar IL in the league system from 2001. The w ...

in Norway's

Toppserien The Toppserien is the top level of women's association football in Norway. It was founded in 1984. History Women's league football was introduced on a county basis in 1977. These leagues acted as qualification for the regional (South) league in 1 ...

, where she is trained by Reidun Seth. She has also played for

IL Hødd Idrottslaget Hødd is a multi-sports club from Ulsteinvik in Møre og Romsdal, Norway. Founded in 1919, it has sections for team handball, gymnastics and football. It is best known for their men's football team, which since 2015 plays at Hødd ...

and Fortuna Ålesund. Skarbø is also a member of the

Norway women's national football team The Norway women's national football team is controlled by the Football Association of Norway. The team is former European, World and Olympic champions and thus one of the most successful national teams. The team has had less success since the ...

, having made her senior team debut on 12 February 2007 in a match against France. Skarbø has made 8 senior appearances for Norway, and has 45 youth team caps. She was the reserve keeper for the Norwegian squad that placed fourth in the

2007 Women's World Cup The 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup, the fifth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, was an international association football competition for women held in China from 10 to 30 September 2007. Originally, China was to host the 2003 edition, but t ...

held in China. After Skarbø competed with

Christine Colombo Nilsen Christine Colombo Nilsen (married Hajo, born 30 April 1982) is a retired Norwegian football goalkeeper. She currently (2012) plays for Vålerenga in the Toppserien. She is also a member of the Norway women's national football team. She has appe ...

and

Ingrid Hjelmseth Ingrid Hjelmseth (born 10 April 1980) is a former Norwegian football goalkeeper. She was Norway's No. 1 for a decade, and her former club Stabæk name her a legend. Career Originally from Skjetten, she was the Norway national team's reserve ke ...

for the No. 1 goalkeeper position,

Bjarne Berntsen Bjarne Berntsen (born 21 December 1956) is a Norwegian football coach and former player. He is the elder brother of fellow football coach Alf Ingve Berntsen. Playing career Bjarne Berntsen began his football career at local club Figgjo IL. He ...

announced on 2 May 2008 that Skarbø would be Norway's new No. 1 GK, replacing long-time keeper,

Bente Nordby Bente Dalum Nordby (born 23 July 1974) is a former Norwegian football goalkeeper, who last played for Olympique Lyonnais in Lyon, France. She played with the Norway women's national football team from 1991 to 2007. Career Nordby is the se ...

. On 9 June 2008 Skarbø was named to the Norwegian roster for the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

held in Beijing, China She lived in Dalgety Bay, in Fife, Scotland from age 6 to 9, before moving back to live in Norway's major shipbuilding town of

Ulsteinvik is a town in the municipality of Ulstein, Møre og Romsdal, Norway. The town is the commercial and administrative centre of Ulstein and as such, Ulsteinvik contains 74% of the municipality's population. The town has a population (2018) of 5,788 ...

on the west coast near

, where her father Dag is a director at Rolls-Royce Marine. At the age of 18 in 2005 she played two international matches in goal in one afternoon. In January 2009 Skarbø had surgery for a right scaphoid (wrist) fracture that had given her trouble for five years but had remained undiagnosed for that time. She hopes to resume football later in 2009. In July she returned to football training with Arna-Bjørnar as an outplayer but was not yet able to stand in goal with wrist pain still present. Later in October it was announced that she was now able to resume training as a goalkeeper. She returned to the football field on 15 January 2010 playing for Arna-Bjørnar in a training match against Sandviken in Bergen and a few weeks later was selected to join Norway's Under-23 team for a tournament at La Manga, Spain. Skarbø took over as captain of Arna-Bjørnar at the beginning of the 2010 season and the club had a successful first half of the season. On 27 June, with Arna-Bjørnar lying in third place in the Toppserien table, she broke her left arm after making a high save in a home match against

Kolbotn Kolbotn is an urban area in Norway's Nordre Follo county. Kolbotn is in the centre of the traditional district, Oppegård. The population is about 6,000. Kolbotn has several elementary schools, four middle schools and a high school. Town is loca ...

. She returned in September. On 7 March 2011 Skarbø captained Norway's senior team in a match in the

Algarve Cup The Algarve Cup is an invitational tournament for national teams in women's association football hosted by the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF). Held annually in the Algarve region of Portugal since 1994, it is one of the most prestigious and ...

, a match that Japan won 1-0. Erika Skarbø is studying psychology, in particular corporate psychology and industrial conflict resolution.

References

External links

FotballMagasinet.no player profile

Arna-Bjørnar club Web site

Norwegian Football Association player profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Skarbo, Erika 1987 births Living people Norwegian women's footballers Norway women's international footballers Women's association football goalkeepers IL Hødd players Arna-Bjørnar players Footballers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers of Norway 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup players 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup players Sportspeople from Ålesund