Terje Olsen (born 22 December 1970) is a Norwegian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He signed for German club

Bayer 04 Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH, also known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen (), Bayer Leverkusen, or simply Leverkusen, is a professional football club based in Leverkusen in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The club competes in the Bundesliga, t ...

at the age of 15, where he played one match for the first team. Olsen also represented Norway in the

1989 FIFA World Youth Championship The 1989 FIFA World Youth Championship took place in Saudi Arabia between 16 February and 3 March 1989. The 1989 championship was the 7th contested. The tournament took place across four cities: Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam, and Ta'if. Qualification ...

, before retiring from professional football in 1992.

Club career

Olsen grew up in Elverum, and travelled to Germany to play for

in 1986, where he played for the youth academy for two years. Olsen signed a professional contract with the first-team ahead of the 1988–89 season. He made his debut in the Bundesliga when he played four minutes in the match against

1. FC Nürnberg 1. Fußball-Club Nürnberg Verein für Leibesübungen e. V., often called 1. FC Nürnberg (, en, 1. Football Club Nuremberg) or simply Nürnberg, is a German association football club in Nuremberg, Bavaria, who currently compete in the 2. Bund ...

on 5 May 1989. He later signed a contract with Leverkusen's amateur team who were playing at the third tier in Germany. In 1991 Olsen returned to Norway, and played for Elverum in the First Division. After two seasons he had lost his motivation and retired. In an interview with the Norwegian newspaper ''Aftenposten'' in 2006, he was asked if he regretted moving to Germany at the age of 15, but Olsen responded that even though he only played one match for the Bayer Leverkusen he would still do the same thing if he had the chance to go back and undo it.

International career

Olsen was a part of the Norwegian "golden generation" that later qualified for the World Cup in

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 ...

, and he played alongside Lars Bohinen, Henning Berg and

Stig Inge Bjørnebye Stig Inge Bjørnebye (born 11 December 1969) is a Norwegian former professional footballer who played in Norway, England, and Denmark, most notably for Liverpool, and is currently the sports director of the Danish football club AGF Aarhus. His p ...

for Norwegian youth teams. Olsen was never capped at senior level, but played 41 matches and scored five goals at youth international level between 1985 and 1989, including four matches for the under-21 team and played for Norway U20 in the

Personal life

In Leverkusen, Olsen was flatmates with

Stefan Schwarz Hans-Jürgen Stefan Schwarz (born 18 April 1969) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Schwarz started off his career with Malmö FF in 1987 before moving on to represent Benfica, Arsenal, Fiorentina, and Valen ...

, who later was capped 69 times for

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. He got married and got a daughter while living in Germany. He also studied while playing for Bayer Leverkusen, and has worked as a teacher after he returned to Norway.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Olsen, Terje 1970 births Living people People from Elverum Norwegian men's footballers Norway men's youth international footballers Norway men's under-21 international footballers Bayer 04 Leverkusen players Bundesliga players Elverum Fotball players Norwegian First Division players Norwegian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in West Germany Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in West Germany Men's association football midfielders Footballers from Innlandet