Oliver Harder (born 31 January 1986) is a New Zealand
association football
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
coach and former player who is the current manager of Norwegian team
SK Brann Kvinner
SK Brann Kvinner (previously known as IL Sandviken Kvinner) is the women's football branch of SK Brann. Based in Sandviken, Bergen, the team plays in Norway's top league, Toppserien.
History
SK Brann Kvinner used to be part of IL Sandviken. San ...
. He has previously coached in the United States, China and Norway, was head coach of Norwegian women's club
Klepp IL
Klepp IL is a Norwegian sports club from the municipality of Klepp. It was founded on 1 October 1919, and has sections for football, handball and gymnastics as well as the less active sections for athletics and orienteering.
Best known for t ...
association football
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
for two clubs in the
New Zealand Football Championship
The New Zealand Football Championship ( mi, Te Whakataetae Whutupaoro a Aotearoa) was a men's association football league at the top of the New Zealand league system. Founded in 2004, the New Zealand Football Championship was the successor to a m ...
as a
goalkeeper
In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...
.
Managerial career
Harder has coached in the United States, China, Norway and England. In the United States, he coached Wilton Blue Under-11s in the Connecticut Junior Soccer Association league system. He was a volunteer assistant coach in the American collegiate soccer system for the
NJIT Highlanders
The NJIT Highlanders, formerly the New Jersey Tech Highlanders, are the varsity sport members of the Division I NCAA-affiliated sports teams of New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT). There are ten men's teams, seven women's teams, and three c ...
and the
Yale Bulldogs
The Yale Bulldogs are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Yale University, located in New Haven, Connecticut. The school sponsors 35 varsity sports. The school has won two NCAA national championships in women's fencing, four in ...
. He worked for Club Football China.
In 2017, Harder became head coach of
Klepp IL
Klepp IL is a Norwegian sports club from the municipality of Klepp. It was founded on 1 October 1919, and has sections for football, handball and gymnastics as well as the less active sections for athletics and orienteering.
Best known for t ...
women's football team. In the three seasons he was in charge, they finished fourth, second and third respectively. Klepp's 2017 finish was the first time in 20 years that they had finished in the top four in the league. He was nominated for the Norwegian Coach of the Year award in 2017 and 2018. In 2018, Harder achieved his
UEFA A Licence
UEFA, the governing body for football in Europe, mandates several coaching licences for professional managers, each valid for coaching at a certain level. These include the UEFA Pro Licence, the UEFA A Licence, and the UEFA B Licence. They are is ...
. Harder left Klepp at the end of the 2019 season.
In December 2019, Harder became assistant manager of the
Sandnes Ulf
Sandnes Ulf is a Norwegian association football club from Sandnes, Rogaland, currently playing in the 1. divisjon, the second highest division in the Norwegian football league system. The club play their home matches at Øster Hus Arena. The clu ...
men's team. In the 2020 season, Sandnes Ulf finished seventh in the
1. divisjon
The Norwegian First Division, also called 1. divisjon and OBOS-ligaen (named sponsor is property developer OBOS), is the second-highest level of the Norwegian football league system. Each year, the top finishing teams in the 1. divisjon are p ...
, and he left the role at the end of the 2020 season. He had also been an assistant manager of the Norway men's under-23 team.
In December 2020, Harder was appointed head coach of West Ham United Women, on a two-and-a-half year contract. He replaced
Matt Beard
Matthew Beard (born 9 January 1978) is an English professional football manager, who is currently head coach of FA Women's Super League club Liverpool FC Women. He has managed the side previously, as well as the women's teams of Bristol City ...
as head coach. Harder's first scheduled match in charge of West Ham against
Manchester City
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...
was postponed due to
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
positive tests in the Manchester City squad. He led West Ham to sixth place in the
2021–22 FA WSL
The 2021–22 FA WSL season (also known as the Barclays FA Women's Super League for sponsorship reasons) is the 11th season of the FA Women's Super League (WSL) since it was formed in 2010. It is the fourth season after the rebranding of the fou ...
, with their highest ever points total in a season. He resigned on 8 May 2022.
Harder returned to Norway in May 2022, being named as the new director of sports of
SK Brann Kvinner
SK Brann Kvinner (previously known as IL Sandviken Kvinner) is the women's football branch of SK Brann. Based in Sandviken, Bergen, the team plays in Norway's top league, Toppserien.
History
SK Brann Kvinner used to be part of IL Sandviken. San ...
. When Brann manager
Alexander Straus
Alexander Straus (born 20 October 1975) is a Norwegian football coach. He has been the head coach of FC Bayern München's women's team since July 2022.
He started his coaching career in Varegg. He was an active player in the same club.
Strau ...
Harder was born in New Zealand to German parents. He has a degree in
sports science
Sports science is a discipline that studies how the healthy human body works during exercise, and how sport and physical activity promote health and performance from cellular to whole body perspectives. The study of sports science traditionally inc ...
from
Unitec Institute of Technology
Unitec Institute of Technology (Māori: Te Whare Wānanga o Wairaka) is the largest institute of technology in Auckland, New Zealand. 16,844 students study programmes from certificate to postgraduate degree level (levels 1 to 9) across a range of ...
and studied for one semester at
Virginia Tech
Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and informally VT, or VPI) is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. It also ...