Jan Erlend Kruse (born 31 August 1968) is a Norwegian former

football defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

Club career

Hailing from

Kristiansund Kristiansund (, ; historically spelled Christianssund and earlier named Fosna) is a municipality on the western coast of Norway in the Nordmøre district of Møre og Romsdal county. The administrative center of the municipality is the town of ...

, he came through the ranks of talent factory

Clausenengen Clausenengen Fotballklubb (CFK) is a football club located in Kristiansund, Norway. Many famous players have played at this club, including Ole Gunnar Solskjær, Øyvind Leonhardsen, Trond Andersen, Jan Erlend Kruse, Andre Flem, Arild Stavrum an ...

before joining first-tier club Brann in 1987. After two seasons there, he took two seasons in

Molde Molde () is a town and municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Romsdal. It is located on the Romsdal Peninsula, surrounding the Fannefjord and Moldefjord. The administrative centre of the m ...

and one in

Hamkam Hamarkameratene (literally ''the Hamar Comrades''), often abbreviated to HamKam or Ham-Kam, is a Norwegian football club based in the town of Hamar. The club was founded in 1918, originally under the name Freidig. HamKam were most recently pro ...

.Weltfussball
/ref> In 1993 he spent several months on free transfer before joining third-tier club Averøykameratene in March. He did however manage to return to the top flight with

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 ...

, where he stayed until the summer of 1997 when he was loaned out to

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 ...

. He was also loaned out to Clausenengen in the spring of 1998 before venturing to Greek football and

Panionios Panionios G.S.S. Football Club (Greek: ΠΑΕ Πανιώνιος Γ.Σ.Σ.), the ''Pan- Ionian Gymnastics Club of Smyrna'' (Πανιώνιος Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος Σμύρνης, ''Panionios Gymnastikos Syllogos Smyrnis'') ...

. He made 16 appearances in the

1998–99 Alpha Ethniki The 1998–99 Alpha Ethniki was the 63rd season of the highest football league of Greece. The season began on 22 August 1998 and ended on 30 May 1999. Olympiacos won their third consecutive and 28th Greek title. Teams Stadia and personnel * 1 ...

, scoring one goal. Requiring surgery on the cartilage in both his heels, he returned to Norway after one season. He made a brief comeback in Clausenengen and spent time training with

Strømsgodset IF Strømsgodset IF is a Norwegian multi-sports club from Gulskogen in Drammen. It has sections for association football, handball and bandy, but is best known for the top-level football section known as Strømsgodset Toppfotball, which plays in Eli ...

in June 2000. He later alleged that his time in Greece had been marred by the wide prevalence of

match fixing In organized sports, match fixing is the act of playing or officiating a match with the intention of achieving a pre-determined result, violating the rules of the game and often the law. There are many reasons why match fixing might take place, ...

International career

Kruse was capped a total of 6 games for Norway at international youth level.

Managerial career

Kruse was a youth coach in Lyn, then Bækkelaget in 2006 before coaching Bækkelaget's senior team in 2007.

References

1968 births Living people Norwegian footballers Sportspeople from Kristiansund Clausenengen FK players SK Brann players Molde FK players Hamarkameratene players Vålerenga Fotball players Panionios F.C. players Eliteserien players Norwegian First Division players Association football defenders Norwegian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Greece Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in Greece Norway youth international footballers Norway under-21 international footballers {{Norway-footy-defender-stub