Hallvar Thoresen (born 12 April 1957) is a former Norwegian

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 most of his career in the Dutch Eredivisie. The son of former Norwegian international

Gunnar Thoresen Gunnar Nils Thoresen (21 July 1920 – 30 September 2017) was one of the greatest Norwegian footballers in the 1940s and 1950s. A forward, played 64 matches and scored 22 goals for the Norway national team and took part in the 1952 Summer Olymp ...

, Hallvar Thoresen was central in 1980s Norwegian football.

Career

Club

Thoresen started his career in Larvik Turn, but travelled abroad at the age of nineteen, and soon became a regular at FC Twente in the Netherlands. They won the

Dutch Cup The KNVB Beker (; en, KNVB Cup), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organized by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. Ou ...

in 1977 and Thoreson was the club top-scorer in the 1979–80 and 1980–81 seasons. In the summer of 1981 he was sold to PSV Eindhoven for 1.3 million

Dutch guilder The guilder ( nl, gulden, ) or florin was the currency of the Netherlands from the 15th century until 2002, when it was replaced by the euro. The Dutch name ''gulden'' was a Middle Dutch adjective meaning "golden", and reflects the fact that, wh ...

where he formed a dynamic partnership with Jurrie Koolhof. Helping capturing three league titles, Thoresen was a key player for seven years, serving as captain from 1983 to 1986, until he returned to Norway and played for Frigg in the lower divisions. Troubled by an injury, he was forced to retire from his playing career shortly thereafter. With 152 goals Thoresen is the all-time leading foreign goalscorer in the Eredivisie.

International

He played 50 matches for the

Norway national football team The Norway national football team ( no, Norges herrelandslag i fotball, or informally ''Landslaget'') represents Norway in men's international football and is controlled by the Norwegian Football Federation, the governing body for football in ...

, and scored 9 goals, one of which secured the historic victory over England in 1981. Thoresen is among the six Norwegian internationals who have never played in the Norwegian Premier League.

Managerial

He did assume the coaching position at Frigg, later moving on to coach larger clubs like Brann,

Strømsgodset Strømsgodset is a former municipality in Vestfold county (from 1964 Buskerud county), Norway, today a part of the city of Drammen. History Strømsgodset was originally a small rural annex to the city parish of Bragernes (Drammen). But since th ...

, Hønefoss,

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 ...

, and Lillestrøm (assistant). He is currently in charge of the Norway U21. Odd Grenland announced on 30 October 2006 that Thoresen had agreed to take over as the club's Director of Football. Thoresen was the chief scout for

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 ...

from 2016 until 2019. He is a supporter of

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

, to the point where he opened a pub in Oslo, Norway called Highbury.

Acting

Thoresen played the role of Norwegian football player and Allied POW Gunnar Hilsson in the movie '' Escape to Victory'' (1981).

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Thoresen, Hallvar 1957 births Living people Norwegian footballers Norway international footballers Norwegian football managers PSV Eindhoven players FC Twente players Eredivisie players Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Norwegian expatriate footballers Larvik Turn players Frigg Oslo FK players People from Larvik SK Brann managers Strømsgodset Toppfotball managers Skeid Fotball managers Association football midfielders Sportspeople from Vestfold og Telemark