Kjetil André Rekdal (born 6 November 1968) is a Norwegian

football 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 c ...

manager and a former player. He is the manager of

Eliteserien Eliteserien () is a Norwegian professional league for association football clubs. At the top of the Norwegian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion ...

club Rosenborg. Rekdal began his playing career in

Molde FK Molde Fotballklubb () is a professional football club based in Molde, Norway, that competes in Eliteserien, the top flight of Norwegian football. Founded on 19 June 1911, the club was originally known as International and changed its name to ...

, playing afterwards for clubs in the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

and

Belgian Pro League The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 team ...

. Playing 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 ...

during his time as a player, his 83 caps with the Norway national team makes him the seventh most capped player in the team's history. Rekdal previously managed Vålerenga from 2000 to 2006, during which he won both the cup and league title. He has also been in charge of 1. FC Kaiserslautern, Lierse and Aalesund. During his time at Aalesund, the club earned two cup titles and saw a period of success previously unmatched in their history, which was attributed to Rekdal.

Club career

Born 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 ...

, Rekdal started playing football for the local club Fiksdal/Rekdal in 1979. Later as a 16-year-old he started his professional career with the local

top flight Top Flight (April 15, 1929 – 1949) was an American U.S. Hall of Fame Thoroughbred racehorse. She was the leading American filly of her generation at two and three years of age. Background Bred in Kentucky by the very prominent horseman Harry ...

club

, becoming the second-youngest player in the league. In 1988, he signed with the

club

Borussia Mönchengladbach Borussia Verein für Leibesübungen 1900 e. V. Mönchengladbach, commonly known as Borussia Mönchengladbach (), Mönchengladbach () or Gladbach (; abbreviated as Borussia MG, BMG), is a professional Association football, football club based in ...

and stayed with them for two years before moving to the

side

Lierse S.K. Koninklijke Lierse Sportkring (), often simply known as Lierse, was a Belgian professional football club from the city of Lier in the Antwerp province. Lierse have won four championship titles and two Belgian Cups. Lierse was one of the six Be ...

and remaining there until 1996, with the exception of the 1994 season which he spent on

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that d ...

helping his former club

gaining promotion to

Tippeligaen Eliteserien () is a Norwegian professional league for association football clubs. At the top of the Norwegian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion ...

and winning the domestic

Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay, ...

. In 1996, he signed for

club

Rennes Rennes (; br, Roazhon ; Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France at the confluence of the Ille and the Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine department ...

. The highlight of his playing career was a highly successful spell at

Hertha BSC Hertha, Berliner Sport-Club e. V., commonly known as Hertha BSC (), and sometimes referred to as Hertha Berlin, Hertha BSC Berlin, or simply Hertha, is a German professional football club based in the locality of Westend of the borough of Charl ...

in Germany between 1997 and 2000. His final years as a player and then player/manager was spent in Norwegian club

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 picked up another cup winner's medal in 2002 before retiring in 2004. In the summer of 2007, Rekdal officially rejoined his youth club Fiksdal/Rekdal.

International career

Rekdal has 83 games for the Norway national team, after his debut against

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

in 1987, and played in two

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

s (

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

and

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

). He scored 17 goals for the national team, among those a long-range goal at

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in 1992, the only goal in the game as Norway beat

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

in the

1994 World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national association football, soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the countr ...

, and a penalty in the 1998 World Cup against

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

to win the game 2–1, prompting the commentator to say how "the man with the yellow boots has hurt those wearing the yellow shirts...Delight for

Egil Olsen Egil Roger Olsen (born 22 April 1942), nicknamed Drillo, is a Norwegian football manager and former footballer. He is best known as a highly successful manager of the Norway national football team. He has since been manager of the Iraq national ...

". The two World Cup goals make him the highest scoring Norwegian in World Cup history, with one goal more than

Arne Brustad Arne Brustad (14 April 1912 – 22 August 1987) was a Norwegian footballer. He is regarded as one of the country's best players of all time. Career Brustad was an outside-left for Lyn. He won 33 caps for Norway, and scored 17 international goal ...

Dan Eggen Dan Eggen (born 13 January 1970) is a Norwegian football manager and former player. He has previously coached KFUM Oslo and Kolbotn in the Norwegian Premier League for women. He was capped 25 times for Norway, scoring two goals. Career Dan ...

Håvard Flo Håvard Flo (born 4 April 1970) is a Norwegian former professional footballer who played as a forward. He played for Stryn TIL and Sogndal Fotball, before he left Norway in 1994 and played for AGF, SV Werder Bremen, and Wolverhampton Wanderers ...

and

Tore André Flo Tore André Flo (born 15 June 1973) is a Norwegian former professional football striker and coach who is the manager of 1. divisjon club Sogndal. He was capped 76 times, scoring 23 goals for Norway, and represented his country in 1998 FIFA Wor ...

Coaching career

Vålerenga

Rekdal has proven himself a successful coach, leading Vålerenga from relegation in 2001, and famously weeping as his team avoided relegation the following year and back into position as one of the dominating clubs in the

. In

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

, he led the team to second place, losing the first place on goal difference to Rosenborg, and in

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 ...

, his team finally won the league for the first time in 21 years, ending Rosenborg's 13-year reign as champions of Norway. along the way receiving legend-status in the club, partly due to the fact that he refused an offer of a six-digit coaching salary in order to help the club financially.

Lierse

Rekdal resigned as coach at Vålerenga on 21 August 2006, following a string of poor results. He was appointed manager of his former club Lierse on 21 November 2006. When he arrived at the club, Lierse lay bottom of the table with only two points in fifteen matches. At the end of the season, they ended up with 26 points and avoided direct relegation. In the

play-offs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

, Lierse only managed to win three of their six matches and were relegated to the Second Division after all.

1. FC Kaiserslautern

In May 2007, Rekdal signed on to manage Kaiserslautern in the German 2. Bundesliga. He left the club in early February of the following year, the club lying in sixteenth place.

Aalesund

He joined forces with Norwegian top flight outfit Aalesund in 2008 after moving back to Norway. Joining the club mid-season, he found Aalesund lying in a relegation spot, but managed to get a relegation play-off spot, where Aalesund beat challengers

Sogndal Sogndal is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located on the northern shore of the Sognefjorden in the traditional district of Sogn. The village of Hermansverk is the administrative center of Sogndal municipality. Other villages i ...

7–2 on aggregate, thereby securing a new season in the Tippeligaen. In 2009, he led Aalesund to the club's first victory in the

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 ...

, where they beat arch rivals

3–2 after a penalty shootout in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

. In

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

, he led the club to the fourth place in Tippeligaen, the club's best result ever. In 2011, he received wide praise when his club came close to the historic feat of qualifying for the

2011–12 UEFA Europa League The 2011–12 UEFA Europa League was the third season of the UEFA Europa League, Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 41st edition overall including its predecessor, the UEFA Cup. It began on 30 June 2011 with t ...

, losing the last play-off game to the Dutch side

AZ Alkmaar Alkmaar Zaanstreek (), better known as AZ Alkmaar or simply AZ (), is a Dutch professional football club from Alkmaar and the Zaan district. The club plays in the Eredivisie, the highest professional football league in the Netherlands, and ho ...

, having won the first leg 2–1. The same year he again led Aalesund to win the Norwegian Cup

Final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

, thereby securing a

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

qualification spot for the third consecutive year. His contract with Aalesund was terminated on 26 November 2012. After he won his second Norwegian Cup with Aalesund in three years, he was once again said to take over as national team coach after Drillo. On 26 November 2012, the board of directors of Aalesund announced the termination of Rekdal's contract. The board stressed that it was not due to the season results, but rather as a result of a general review. Analysts noted that the sacking was likely a result of a power struggle within the club between Rekdal, the sports director and the chairman of the board.

Return to Vålerenga

Rekdal started his second tenure for Vålerenga, when he was appointed as head coach on 8 January 2013. On 13 July 2016, it was announced he would end his tenure as head coach of Valerenga after the 2016 season and will move into the position as sporting director to make way for Ronny Deila whom will take over as head coach.

Start

Rekdal was appointed as head coach on 1 June 2018 after former head coach Mark Dempsey was sacked on 18 May 2018. Rekdal signed a two-year contract with

Start Start can refer to multiple topics: *Takeoff, the phase of flight where an aircraft transitions from moving along the ground to flying through the air * Starting lineup in sports *Standing start, and rolling start, in an auto race Acronyms *St ...

. Rekdal took over the team, after 12 games of the season had been played; during his spell, only six teams gathered more points, yet the team was relegated

t the end of that season T, or t, is the twentieth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''tee'' (pronounced ), plural ''tees''. It is deri ...

That job ended; In an interview in 2020, he said that frequent visits to laces for betting/gambling orone or more

casino A casino is a facility for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are also known for hosting live entertai ...

s, was not well-received by is previous employerStart.

Personal life

Born 6 November 1968 in Rekdal in

Vestnes Vestnes is a municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. Vestnes is part of the traditional district of Romsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Vestnes. Other villages in the municipality include Vikebu ...

, into a family of six, including three younger siblings, his younger brother Sindre played also professional with

helping them win the domestic cup in 1994. Among his interests and hobbies is freshwater fishing and card-games such as

Poker Poker is a family of comparing card games in which players wager over which hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, however in some places the rules may vary. While the earliest known form of the game w ...

, having competed in amateur tournaments internationally. Rekdal moved to

Ottestad Ottestad is a village in Stange Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. The village centre is located about north of the village of Stangebyen and about south of the village of Bekkelaget, Innlandet, Bekkelaget. The whole northern part of Stan ...

neighborhood in

Hamar Hamar is a List of cities in Norway, town in Hamar Municipality in Innlandet Counties of Norway, county, Norway. Hamar is the administrative centre of Hamar Municipality. It is located in the Districts of Norway, traditional region of Hedmarken. ...

in 2013, with his wife and four children. During his time at Lierse, Rekdal had a clause in his contract which allowed him to keep up to date with

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road S ...

results at half-time intervals, via BBC Radio. He is a fanatic supporter of the Yorkshire club. Rekdal is highly superstitious. To avoid bad luck, he never appears on matchday without his locally produced trademark

Pear Pears are fruits produced and consumed around the world, growing on a tree and harvested in the Northern Hemisphere in late summer into October. The pear tree and shrub are a species of genus ''Pyrus'' , in the family Rosaceae, bearing the p ...

-flavoured soft drink. While coaching

Aalesunds FK Aalesunds Fotballklubb, commonly known as Aalesund or AaFK, is a Norwegian football club from the town of Ålesund, that competes in the Eliteserien, the first tier of the Norwegian football league system. The club was founded on 25 June 1914. A ...

, he appeared in the home matches of tier five club Fiksdal/Rekdal as a player, stating that he wished to contribute to the club with which he started his career.

Career statistics

:''Scores and results list Norway's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Rekdal goal.''

Managerial statistics

Honours

As player

Molde *

Norwegian Football 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 ...

Vålerenga *Norwegian Football Cup:

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

As Coach

Vålerenga *

*Norwegian Football Cup: 2002 Aalesund *Norwegian Football Cup:

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

References

External links

* * *
Official Profile and Statistics
at fotball.no {{DEFAULTSORT:Rekdal, Kjetil 1968 births Living people People from Molde People from Vestnes Norwegian footballers Norway youth international footballers Norway under-21 international footballers Norway international footballers Kniksen Award winners Molde FK players Borussia Mönchengladbach players Lierse S.K. players Stade Rennais F.C. players Hertha BSC players Vålerenga Fotball players Eliteserien players Bundesliga players Belgian First Division A players Norwegian First Division players Ligue 1 players 1994 FIFA World Cup players 1998 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2000 players Norwegian football managers Vålerenga Fotball managers Lierse S.K. managers 1. FC Kaiserslautern managers Aalesunds FK managers IK Start managers Hamarkameratene managers Rosenborg BK managers Norwegian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Germany Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate footballers in Belgium Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate footballers in France Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in France Norwegian expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Belgium Expatriate football managers in Germany Association football midfielders Eliteserien managers Sportspeople from Møre og Romsdal