Isabell Lehn Herlovsen (born 23 June 1988) is a Norwegian former football player. She last played for Våleranga and

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 locat ...

after moving home from China and the club

Jiangsu Suning Jiangsu Football Club (), later known as Jiangsu Sainty F.C. (2000–2016) and Jiangsu Suning F.C. (2016–2021), was a professional football club that participated in the Chinese Super League since 2009 until its dissolution in 2021. The tea ...

. She plays as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

and a striker. Herlovsen is the daughter of former football player Kai Erik Herlovsen and was born in Germany during his spell at Borussia Mönchengladbach. She is a Norwegian women's international having made her debut at the age of 16. Herlovsen was the youngest player at

UEFA Women's Euro 2005 The 2005 UEFA Women's Championship, also referred to as UEFA Women's Euro 2005, was a football tournament for women held from 5 June to 19 June 2005 in Lancashire, England and Cheshire, England. The UEFA Women's Championship is a regular tourname ...

and became the youngest goal-scorer in the tournament's history on 9 June 2005 when she scored a goal in a 1–1 draw against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

Club career

Herlovsen began her career at

Kolbotn IL Kolbotn Idrettslag is a sports club from Kolbotn, Norway. Since 1960, the club has been organized in semi-autonomous sub-sections. The club runs basketball, amateur wrestling, association football, sport gymnastics, disabled sports, handball, o ...

. She made her debut with the club in 2004 and played for five seasons winning two league titles in 2005 and 2006 and winning the women's national cup in 2007. Following the

, Herlovsen drew interest from the women's section of English club Arsenal. The two sides met for negotiations, but were unable to reach an agreement. Later on, Herlovsen scored for her club Kolbotn in the 2007 edition of the women's Norwegian Cup. The players received their championship medals from the

King of Norway The Norwegian monarch is the head of state of Norway, which is a constitutional and hereditary monarchy with a parliamentary system. The Norwegian monarchy can trace its line back to the reign of Harald Fairhair and the previous petty kingd ...

. On 28 October 2009, Herlovsen's parent club Kolbotn announced that the player, alongside club and national team teammate Christine Colombo Nilsen, would be joining Olympique Lyonnais of the

Division 1 Féminine The Division 1 Féminine, shortened as D1 Féminine or D1F, and currently known as D1 Arkema for sponsorship reasons, is the highest division of women's football in France. Run by the French Football Federation, the league is contested by twel ...

. She made her debut for the club on 8 November 2009 coming on as a substitute in a 6–1 victory over

Juvisy Juvisy-sur-Orge (, literally ''Juvisy on Orge'') is a commune in the Essonne department in Île-de-France in northern France. It is located 18 km south-east of Paris, a few kilometres south of Orly Airport. The site of the town has been o ...

. Herlovsen scored her first goal for the club on 7 March 2010 scoring a brace in a 9–0 victory over Muret in the Challenge de France. She later featured in the final match of the

UEFA Women's Champions League The UEFA Women's Champions League, previously called the UEFA Women's Cup (2001–2009), is a European women's association football competition. It involves the top club teams from countries affiliated with the European governing body UEFA. The ...

in 2010. In February 2017, Herlovsen signed a contract with the Chinese club

, at the same time taking a break from playing for the Norwegian national team. In her Chinese debut match she scored a goal. In 2018, Herlovsen returned to Norway to join Våleranga, then she was loaned out to her former club Kolbotn in 2019. In 2020, she and her club Våleranga agreed to terminate her contract. She made a brief comeback in 2021 for

Fredrikstad FK Fredrikstad Fotballklubb (also known as Fredrikstad or FFK) is a Norwegian football club from the town of Fredrikstad. With nine league championships and eleven Norwegian Cup wins, FFK is one of the most successful clubs in Norwegian footbal ...

, to secure promotion to the Second Division.

International career

Herlovsen had her first appearance for the Norwegian national team at the age of 16. In her first major tournament, Herlovsen was the youngest player at the competition. She scored two goals; one against France in the group stage and another against Sweden in the semi-finals. Norway won the match 3–2, but lost 3–1 in the final to

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. At the

2007 FIFA 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 th ...

in China, Herlovsen scored one goal in the group stage against

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

. In the quarter-finals she scored the game-winning goal in Norway's 1–0 victory over the hosts, thus eliminating China from the tournament, in front of 50,000 spectators. In the semi-finals, Norway again lost to Germany. On 9 June 2008, Herlovsen was named to the national team squad to play in the women's tournament at the 2008 Summer Olympics. In August 2009, Herlovsen was selected for the Norway team that had qualified for the

UEFA Women's Euro 2009 The 2009 UEFA Women's Championship, or just Women's Euro 2009, was played in Finland between 23 August and 10 September 2009. The host was appointed on 11 July 2006, in a UEFA Executive Committee meeting in Berlin and the Finnish proposal won over ...

in Finland. With a steady place in the team for the first time, as a striker, she played all matches and won praise for her energetic and accurate play even at times as the team's single front runner. Norway beat Sweden unexpectedly in the quarter finals only to lose to the champions Germany in the semifinal in which Herlovsen scored Norway's only goal.

Personal life

Herlovsen's home is in

Fredrikstad Fredrikstad (; previously ''Frederiksstad''; literally "Fredrik's Town") is a List of cities in Norway, city and Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Viken (county), Viken Counties of Norway, county, Norway. The administrative centre of the ...

. Her father is Kai Erik Herlovsen, a former Norwegian international footballer who also played professionally in Germany for Borussia Mönchengladbach. Isabell has an older sister and a younger brother. In July 2011, Herlovsen

came out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...

as a

lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...

, having been out to friends and family while in her teens. She has a son with her partner Christine Porsmyr Olsen.

Career statistics

International goals

Honours

Club

;Kolbotn *

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

: 2007 ;Lyon *

: 2009–10 * Champions League runners-up: 2010 ;LSK Kvinner *

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

: 2014, 2015, 2016 ;Jiangsu Suning * Chinese Women's FA Cup:

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

Individual

* Top Scorer, Toppserien:

(25 goals),

(30 goals)

References

External links

NFF
profile * {{DEFAULTSORT:Herlovsen, Isabell 1988 births Living people 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup players 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup players 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup players Footballers at the 2008 Summer Olympics LGBT sportspeople from Norway Norway women's youth international footballers Norway women's international footballers Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Norwegian women's footballers Olympic footballers of Norway Olympique Lyonnais Féminin players Lesbian sportswomen LGBT association football players Norwegian expatriate footballers Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate women's footballers in France Toppserien players Kolbotn Fotball players LSK Kvinner FK players Vålerenga Fotball Damer players Fredrikstad FK players Sportspeople from Mönchengladbach FIFA Century Club Women's association football forwards Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in China Expatriate women's footballers in China Division 1 Féminine players 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup players Sportspeople from Fredrikstad