Rune Bratseth (born 19 March 1961) is a Norwegian former

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 sweeper. Nicknamed ''

Elk The elk (''Cervus canadensis''), also known as the wapiti, is one of the largest species within the deer family, Cervidae, and one of the largest terrestrial mammals in its native range of North America and Central and East Asia. The common ...

'' due to his stature, he is best known for his spell with

Werder Bremen Sportverein Werder Bremen von 1899 e. V. (), commonly known as Werder Bremen (), Werder or simply Bremen, is a German professional sports club based in Bremen, Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. Founded on 4 February 1899, they are be ...

, also having appeared 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 ...

with

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

Club career

Born in

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; sma, Tråante), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2020, it had a population of 205,332, was the third most populous municipality in Norway, and ...

, Bratseth started his career at local club

Rosenborg BK Rosenborg Ballklub, commonly referred to simply as Rosenborg () or RBK, is a Norwegian professional football club from Trondheim that plays in Eliteserien. The club has won a record 26 league titles, a shared record 12 Norwegian Football Cup ti ...

. There, he would only be a part-time professional until he left for Germany's

SV Werder Bremen Sportverein Werder Bremen von 1899 e. V. (), commonly known as Werder Bremen (), Werder or simply Bremen, is a German professional sports club based in Bremen, Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. Founded on 4 February 1899, they are be ...

in January 1987, for a mere

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists o ...

93.000. He was immediately cast into the starting XI, making his club debut in a 1–5 loss at 1. FC Nürnberg on 21 February after the winter break; he would also win the first of his two

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 ...

championships in his first full season. Bratseth's finest moment came when Werder won the

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...

in 1991–92, in a 2–0 victory against

AS Monaco FC Association Sportive de Monaco Football Club SA, commonly referred to as AS Monaco () or Monaco, is a professional football club based in Monaco that is member of French Football Federation (FFF) and competes in Ligue 1, the top tier of Fre ...

. During the campaign he played in eight complete matches out of nine, adding two goals (in both legs against Romania's

FCM Bacău Asociația Sportivă a Suporterilor FCM 1950 Bacău, commonly known as ASS FCM 1950 Bacău, FCM 1950 Bacău or simply as FCM Bacău, is a Romanian football club based in Bacău, Bacău County. Founded in 1950 as ''Dinamo Bacău'', the club from ...

). After a second league title with Bremen, Bratseth began suffering knee problems, even needing injections to play. After only one match in 1994–95 he called it quits at the age of 34, having appeared in 316 games for the Hanseatics all competitions comprised and scored 20 goals. In the

1993–94 UEFA Champions League The 1993–94 UEFA Champions League was the 39th season of the UEFA Champions League, UEFA's premier club football tournament, and the second season with the UEFA Champions League logo (it was adopted in the group stage and semi-finals, the rest o ...

, he was on the scoresheet at the incredible 5–3 home win over

R.S.C. Anderlecht ; french: Les Mauves et Blancs) , short name = R.S.C.A. , founded = , ground = Constant Vanden Stock Stadium , capacity = 22,500 , owntitle = Chairman , owner = Wouter Vandenhaute , manager = Brian Riemer , ...

: the Belgians led 3–0 with 25 minutes to go, and he helped to the final comeback with the 2–3. Bratseth was named Norway's Golden Player – the best Norwegian footballer of the past 50 years by the

Norwegian Football Association The Norwegian Football Federation ( nb, Norges Fotballforbund, nn, Noregs Fotballforbund; NFF) is the governing body of football in Norway. It was formed in 1902 and organises the men's and women's national teams, as well as the league systems ...

, in November 2003, to celebrate

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

's jubilee. Subsequently he became chairman and

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

of Rosenborg, forming a successful partnership with coach

Nils Arne Eggen Nils Arne Eggen (17 September 1941 – 19 January 2022) was a Norwegian footballer, manager and teacher from Orkdal. Eggen was closely tied to Rosenborg, the club he managed for 23 years between 1970 and 2010. He is Norway's most successful clu ...

. The club maintained its

Norwegian top division 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 ...

superiority in the following years. Bratseth was actually registered as a player when he started his job at Rosenborg, and since the club did not have 25 players in its first team squad to be registered for the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

, he was included as a backup. Even though he did not want to play, he agreed to sit on the bench for one game in case of "emergency". He was clocked at 4,69 seconds on the 40 metres sprint, which is one of the fastest times ran by a Norwegian football player.

International career

Bratseth made his debut in the Norway national team on 26 February 1986, playing the first half of a 2–1 friendly win in

Grenada Grenada ( ; Grenadian Creole French: ) is an island country in the West Indies in the Caribbean Sea at the southern end of the Grenadines island chain. Grenada consists of the island of Grenada itself, two smaller islands, Carriacou and Pe ...

. He was a regular in the following eight years, earning a further 59

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

. During the

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

, 33-year-old Bratseth was

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

of the Norwegian squad. As they exited in the group stage (albeit with four points), their third and last game against

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

proved to be his last international.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Rosenborg * 1. divisjon:

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

Werder Bremen *

: 1987–88, 1992–93 *

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considere ...

: 1990–91, 1993–94; runner-up: 1988–89, 1989–90 *

European Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...

: 1991–92 Individual *''

kicker Kicker or The Kicker may refer to: Sports * Placekicker, a position in American and Canadian football * ''Kicker'' (sports magazine), in Germany * Kicker, the German colloquial term for an association football player * Kicker, the word used i ...

'' Bundesliga Team of the Season: 1987–88, 1988–89, 1992–93 *

Kniksen Award The Kniksen Award ( no, Kniksenprisen), established in 1990, honors the best players in the Norwegian football premiership. The award is named after the legendary Norwegian football player Roald Jensen, nicknamed "Kniksen". Categories Catego ...

: Kniksen of the year in 1991, 1992, 1994, Kniksen's honour award in 1994 * UEFA Norwegian Golden Player: 2003

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bratseth, Rune 1961 births Living people Footballers from Trondheim Norwegian footballers Association football defenders Eliteserien players Rosenborg BK players Bundesliga players SV Werder Bremen players Norway international footballers 1994 FIFA World Cup players Norwegian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Germany Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in Germany UEFA Golden Players Kniksen Award winners Rosenborg BK non-playing staff Expatriate footballers in West Germany Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in West Germany