Kurt Heggestad (born 19 August 1982) is a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway *Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including the ...

former professional

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 as a

left winger 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 ...

left-back 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 ...

. He represented Norway at the under-16 and under-17 level, and played 53 matches for Sogndal in

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 ...

. Heggestad played for

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 ...

for ten consecutive seasons, before he retired at the age of 26 to become a goat farmer.

Career

Heggestad hails from

Veitastrond Veitastrond is a small village in the western part of the municipality of Luster in Vestland county, Norway. It is located near the Jostedalsbreen glacier, and Jostedalsbreen National Park surrounds the village on three sides. Veitastrond is lo ...

in Luster, and joined

at young age. He was regarded as one of the club most talented

footballers 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 ...

, and was a contributor to the youth-team's regional championship in 1996. Heggestad was also called up for Norwegian youth teams and played 14 matches, scoring 3 goals for the under-16 team in 1998, and played four matches scoring one goal for the under-17 team the following year. Aged 16, he was taken up into Sogndal's first-team squad in 1999, and made his debut in the First Division the same year. Heggestad made two appearances as a substitute in the First Division in

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

, and he played the last 15 minutes of the play-off against

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 ...

when Sogndal won promotion to

. Heggestad made his debut in Tippeligaen on 16 April 2001, when he replaced

Julian Johnsson Julian Johnsson (born 24 February 1975) is a Faroese former professional Association football, football midfielder. Club career He played in the Faroe Islands for Tórshavn sides HB Tórshavn and B36 Tórshavn, before moving abroad to play in ...

at half time in the match against

Odd Grenland Odd means unpaired, occasional, strange or unusual, or a person who is viewed as eccentric. Odd may also refer to: Acronym * ODD (Text Encoding Initiative) ("One Document Does it all"), an abstracted literate-programming format for describing X ...

. Heggestad started his first match for Sogndal on 28 October 2001, and scored the team's second goal after an assist from

Alexander Ødegaard Alexander Ødegaard (born 13 September 1980) is a Norwegian former footballer. He played four times for the Norwegian national team, scoring one goal, and has played professionally for Sogndal, Rosenborg, Viking and French club Metz. Career ...

when Bodø/Glimt was beaten 3–2. Heggestad played a total of six matches and scored one goal in his first season in Tippeligaen, and ahead of the next season, Sogndal rejected offers from

Førde Førde is a former municipality in the county of Sogn og Fjordane, Norway. It was located in the traditional district of Sunnfjord. The administrative center was the town of Førde which in 2016 had 10,255 inhabitants. Other villages in Førde ...

and

Åsane Åsane is a borough of the city of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway. The borough makes up the northern part of the city, north of the city centre. Åsane is connected to downtown Bergen by the E16/ E39 highway. The E16 highway continues on t ...

to get Heggestad on loan. In Heggestad's first four years at Sogndal,

Tommy Øren Tommy Øren (born 10 May 1980) is a retired Norwegian football striker. He has played for Sogndal Fotball in his entire senior career, except for the seasons 2006 through 2009 when he played for Hamarkameratene Hamarkameratene (literally '' ...

was mostly chosen as the left winger in the starting line-up, while Heggestad was on the bench. Before the summer break of the 2003 season, Heggestad had only played 60 minutes, but when Øren was ruled out for the rest of the season with an injury, Heggestad was playing regularly. As Sogndal already had the wingers Øren, Ødegaard,

Kim Tangedal Kim or KIM may refer to: Names * Kim (given name) * Kim (surname) ** Kim (Korean surname) *** Kim family (disambiguation), several dynasties **** Kim family (North Korea), the rulers of North Korea since Kim Il-sung in 1948 ** Kim, Vietnamese f ...

and

Kim Rune Hellesund Kim or KIM may refer to: Names * Kim (given name) * Kim (surname) ** Kim (Korean surname) *** Kim family (disambiguation), several dynasties **** Kim family (North Korea), the rulers of North Korea since Kim Il-sung in 1948 ** Kim, Vietnamese f ...

, head coach

Jan Halvor Halvorsen Jan Halvor Halvorsen (born 8 March 1963, in Bamble) is a former Norwegian football player and the current manager of Lyn. Club career Halvorsen started his youth career in Pors, debuting at the age of fifteen and a half. He has also played ...

persuaded Heggestad to be retrained as a left-back ahead of the 2004 season. Sogndal was however relegated after the season, and during the four seasons in Tippeligaen Heggestad played a total of 53 matches. Heggestad joined the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

side

Årdal Årdal is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located at the end of the Årdalsfjorden in the traditional district of Sogn. The village of Årdalstangen is the administrative center of the municipality. The other main village is Ø ...

on loan for the second half of the 2006 season. He returned to Sogndal in 2007, and played every match for the team in the First Division. Sogndal wanted to sign a new contract with Heggestad after the season, but he rejected the offer and stepped down from professional football at the age of 26. Instead he moved home to Veitastrond and became a goat farmer and played football for Veitastrond IL in the Fifth Division.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heggestad, Kurt 1982 births Living people Norwegian footballers People from Sogn og Fjordane People from Luster, Norway Sogndal Fotball players Norwegian First Division players Eliteserien players Norwegian farmers Association football defenders Association football midfielders Norway youth international footballers Sportspeople from Vestland