Thomas Edvin Berntsen (born 31 July 1970) 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 ...

football manager, sporting director and former football defender. As a player, Berntsen is most notable for his time at

Lillestrøm Lillestrøm is a municipality in Viken county. It is located in the traditional district of Romerike. With a population of 85,757 inhabitants, it is the fourth most populated municipality in Viken. It was founded on 1 January 2020 as a merger be ...

and

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 ...

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 ...

and the

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n club

Bregenz Bregenz (; gsw, label= Vorarlbergian, Breagaz ) is the capital of Vorarlberg, the westernmost state of Austria. The city lies on the east and southeast shores of Lake Constance, the third-largest freshwater lake in Central Europe, between Switze ...

. After his retirement he has been head coach of

Lørenskog is a municipality in Akershus in Viken county, Norway. A suburb of Oslo, it is part of the Oslo urban area and the traditional region of Romerike. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Lørenskog. Lørenskog was separ ...

Kongsvinger Kongsvinger () is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Glåmdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Kongsvinger. Other settlements in the municipality include Aus ...

and

Strømmen Strømmen is a town in Lillestrøm municipality, Viken county, Norway. It is about twenty kilometers east of Oslo, and considered part of Greater Oslo. It has around 11,400 residents. The town has its origins from floating lumber and sawmills alon ...

Player career

He was born in Oslo, and started his career in

before he moved to

where he played 65 matches in

from 1993 to 1996. He then moved to

where he played 45 league-matches between 1997 and 1999 and also won the

Norwegian Football Cup The Norwegian Football Cup ( no, Norgesmesterskapet i fotball for herrer) is the main knockout cup competition in Norwegian football. It is run by the Football Association of Norway and has been contested since 1902, making it the oldest footba ...

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

. In 2000, Berntsen moved to the

n club SW Bregenz, where his former teammate from Lillestrøm, Jan Ove Pedersen also were playing. After playing three matches in six months for Bregenz, he was loaned out to

Bryne Bryne () is a town in Time municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. The city is the administrative centre of the municipality of Time and it is also one of the 50 largest towns/cities in Norway. Bryne's location in the region of Stavanger/Sand ...

where he played five matches in Tippeligaen before he retired after one season with

Bærum Bærum () is a municipality in the Greater Oslo Region in Norway that forms an affluent suburb of Oslo on the west coast of the city. Bærum is Norway's fifth largest municipality with a population of 128,760 (2021). It is part of the electoral ...

in 2001 Norwegian Second Division.

Managerial career

In 2006, Berntsen was the head coach of the third-tier club

and

John Carew John Alieu Carew (born 5 September 1979) is a Norwegian former professional footballer who played as a forward. He was capped 91 times, scoring 24 goals for the Norway national team. As of 2023, he has been hired until the end of 2024 at Norw ...

's youth club was fighting promotion alongside

Notodden Notodden () is a city and municipality in Vestfold og Telemark county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Øst-Telemark. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Notodden. Notodden was separated from the munic ...

. In the decisive match of 2006 Norwegian Second Division, Notodden won 5–3 against Lørenskog at home, and was promoted to

Adeccoligaen 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 ...

. Even though Lørenskog was not promoted, Berntsen was head coach of a second-tier team in 2007 since

hired him as

Vegard Skogheim Vegard Skogheim (born 28 April 1966) is a Norwegian football coach and former player who played as a midfielder. During his active career, he played for HamKam, Werder Bremen and Viking. He had a total of 197 matches and 36 goals in the Norweg ...

's successor on 6 November 2006. Berntsen led Kongsvinger to a strong fourth place in

2007 Adeccoligaen The 2007 1. divisjon season (referred to as Adeccoligaen for sponsorship reasons) was a Norwegian second-tier football season. The season began on April 9, 2007 and concluded on November 4, 2007. It was the tenth and final season in which teams c ...

, two points behind Bryne which played promotion play-off. With two points in the six first matches of the 2008-season, and Kongsvinger positioned at the bottom of the table, Berntsen was fired on 7 May 2008. On 3 August 2008 he was hired as head coach of his youth-club

, and saved the club from relegation to

Norwegian Third Division The Norwegian Third Division, also called 3. divisjon, is the fourth highest division of the men's football league in Norway. Like the rest of the Norwegian football league system, the season runs from spring to autumn, running approximately from ...

. Ahead of the 2009-season,

Petter Myhre Petter Myhre (born 21 February 1972) is a retired Norwegian footballer and current assistant coach for Lillestrøm SK, Lillestrøm. During his active career he played for Strømmen IF, Ullern IF and Skjetten SK. He also took education at the Norw ...

was named co-coach together with Berntsen. With Berntsen and Myhre as coaches, Strømmen won their

2009 Norwegian Second Division The 2009 2. divisjon season was the third highest football (soccer) league for men in Norway. 26 games were played in 4 groups, with 3 points given for wins and 1 for draws. Strømmen IF, Strømmen, Follo FK, Follo, Sandnes Ulf and Ranheim Fotball, ...

group and was promoted to Adeccoligaen. In 2010 Strømmen finished three points behind the play-off promotion. The next season, Myhre had resigned from the job at Strømmen and was replaced by Andreas Holter which would be leading Strømmen together with Berntsen. In the decisive match of the 2011 season, Strømmen avoided relegation with a 6–1 win against

Nybergsund Nybergsund is a village in the municipality of Trysil in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located about south of the village of Innbygda which is the municipal centre of Trysil. The village is best known for serving as a hiding place for the Nor ...

. In July 2011,

Nettavisen ''Nettavisen'' is a Norwegian online newspaper, launched in 1996 as the first online-only newspaper in Norway. The current editor is Gunnar Stavrum. As of 2015 it was one of Norway's most popular news websites. History The online newspaper (its ...

named Berntsen as one of the most talented football-coaches in Norway. Berntsen's contract ended after the 2011 season, and he was replaced by

Erland Johnsen Erland Johnsen (born 5 April 1967) is a Norwegian football manager and former professional footballer who is director of youth at Sarpsborg 08 FF. As a player he was a centre back from 1983 until 1999, notably in the Premier League for Chelse ...

. In December 2011, Berntsen was linked to the vacant job as head coach of the

Eliteserien 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 promotio ...

club Stabæk, but according to TV 2 Berntsen rejected Stabæk's offer. Ahead of the 2013 season he was named as director of sports in

Sarpsborg 08 FF Sarpsborg 08 Fotballforening, commonly known as Sarpsborg 08 or simply Sarpsborg (), is a Norwegian football club based in Sarpsborg, playing in Eliteserien. Sarpsborg 08 and its predecessors played in 1. divisjon from 2005 to 2010. In 2010, the ...

. The club reached its all-time high, participating in the

2018–19 UEFA Europa League group stage The 2018–19 UEFA Europa League group stage began on 20 September and ended on 13 December 2018. A total of 48 teams competed in the group stage to decide 24 of the 32 places in the knockout phase of the 2018–19 UEFA Europa League. Draw The dra ...

. Berntsen was credited for large discoveries and subsequent sales, such as

Krépin Diatta Krépin Diatta (born 25 February 1999) is a Senegalese professional footballer who plays as a winger for Ligue 1 club Monaco and the Senegal national team. Club career Sarpsborg 08 On 26 February 2017, Diatta signed a four-year contract wit ...

and Ismaila Coulibaly. In 2023 Berntsen accepted a contract offer from Swedish club

AIK AIK Fotboll (), more commonly known simply as AIK (), an abbreviation for Allmänna Idrottsklubben (meaning ''the public'' or ''general sports club''), is a Swedish football club competing in Allsvenskan, the top flight of Swedish football. The ...

to become their new director of sports.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Berntsen, Thomas 1970 births Living people Footballers from Oslo Norwegian men's footballers Eliteserien players Strømmen IF players Lillestrøm SK players Vålerenga Fotball players Schwarz-Weiß Bregenz players Bryne FK players Bærum SK players Norwegian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Austria Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in Austria Norwegian football managers Kongsvinger IL Toppfotball managers Strømmen IF managers Men's association football defenders Sarpsborg 08 FF non-playing staff AIK Fotboll non-playing staff Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in Sweden