Marie Lindebø Knutsen (born 31 August 1982) is a Norwegian former

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 ...

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 ...

who played for

Røa Røa is a neighbourhood and a former administrative borough of the city of Oslo, Norway. In 2004 the borough of Røa was merged with neighbouring Vinderen to become Vestre Aker borough. Røa is a suburb of Oslo, located approximately 7 kilometer ...

of Norway's

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 ...

league and represented the Norwegian national team.

Club career

Aside from Røa IL, Knutsen has also played for

Kattem IL Kattem IL is a Norwegian sports club from the neighborhood Kattem in Heimdal borough, Trondheim. It has sections for football, handball, ice hockey and skiing. The women's football team has been in ''Toppserien The Toppserien is the top lev ...

, Flatås,

Byåsen Byåsen is a large neighborhood area in the city of Trondheim in Trøndelag county, Norway. It constitutes a large part of the city in the borough of Midtbyen. It encompasses a number of areas southwest of the main city centre. This includes al ...

and

Trondheims-Ørn Rosenborg Ballklub Kvinner (previously known as Sportsklubben Trondheims-Ørn) is a Norwegian women's professional football club in Trondheim, Trøndelag. History The club was founded as a multi-sports club on May 18, 1917, and became a mem ...

. She was named as part of the NISO Women's Team of the Year in 2007. After missing 2010 and 2011 through giving birth and moving away to America, Knutsen returned to Røa in 2012. She retired from football ahead of the club's 2013 Toppserien campaign.

National team

Knutsen made her debut for the senior national team on 19 February 2005 in a match against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. Her first goal came on 20 January 2006 in a match against

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. She was part of the squad for the

2007 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 t ...

, playing in five matches, as well as the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

held in Beijing, China, where she appeared in three matches. Knutsen also played in the 2005 European Championships, winning the silver medal after Norway lost 3–1 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 ...

in the final at

Ewood Park Ewood Park () is a football stadium in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, and the home of Blackburn Rovers F.C., founding members of the Football League and Premier League, who have played there since 1890. It is an all seater multi-sports facili ...

Blackburn Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the Ribble Valley, east of Preston and north-n ...

. On 21 October 2008 Marie Knutsen and four other Røa players—

Lene Mykjåland Lene Mykjåland (born 20 February 1987) is a Norwegian footballer who played for LSK Kvinner and the Norway women's national team, having made her debut for the senior team on 7 March 2007, in a 1–2 loss against Germany. Career Mykjåland s ...

Guro Knutsen Guro Knutsen Mienna (born Guro Knutsen on 10 January 1985) is a Norwegian former footballer who played for Røa IL of the Toppserien league and for the Norway women's national football team. She played alongside her older sister Marie Knutsen ...

, Marit Fiane Christensen and

Siri Nordby Siri Kristine Nordby (born 4 August 1978) is a Norwegian football defender who played over fifteen years for Røa in Norway's Toppserien league. She also played for the Norway women's national football team. Career Nordby started her career at ...

—made headlines when they announced in a press release that they would not be returning to the national team due to issues the five had with the national team leadership. While the press statement never mentioned

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

Bjarne Berntsen Bjarne Berntsen (born 21 December 1956) is a Norwegian football coach and former player. He is the elder brother of fellow football coach Alf Ingve Berntsen. Playing career Bjarne Berntsen began his football career at local club Figgjo IL. He ...

's name, it was assumed that he was instrumental in their decision to retire from the team. The retirement, construed in many newspapers as a boycott, created widespread media attention. Berntsen's successor

Eli Landsem Eli Landsem (born 22 March 1962) is a Norwegian former international footballer who was the coach of the Norway women's national football team between 2009 and 2012. Career As a player, Landsem won 15 caps for Norway, scoring one goal. She made ...

reintegrated the Røa players and Knutsen won her 55th and final

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

in a 1–0 win over

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

in October 2009.

International goals

Personal

Knutsen studied psychology and was married in the summer of 2008. In January 2010 she announced she was expecting her first child and would not play football during 2010. She and her husband Patrick Johansen then moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, USA where they lived with their son Jasper. Knutsen played amateur football for Rovers in the New York Metropolitan Women's Soccer League. Her younger sister,

continued to play for Røa IL. Both sisters are members of the

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

sports organization ''

Kristen Idrettskontakt KRIK (Kristen Idrettskontakt, meaning Christian Sports Contact) is a Norwegian Christian youth and sports organisationt. KRIK was founded in 1981 on initiative by the Norwegian priest Kjell Markset. The nationwide administration is currently loca ...

'' (KRIK).

Honors

Club

**League champion

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

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 ...

**Cup champion 2006, 2008, 2009 *

** League champion

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Knutsen, Marie 1982 births Living people Norwegian women's footballers Norwegian Christians Norway women's international footballers Footballers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers of Norway Footballers from Trondheim Røa IL players Toppserien players SK Trondheims-Ørn players Expatriate women's soccer players in the United States Norwegian expatriate women's footballers 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup players Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Women's association football midfielders