Thorstein Helstad (born 28 April 1977) is a Norwegian former professional

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 ...

who played as a forward.

Career

Helstad was born in

Hamar Hamar is a town in Hamar Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. Hamar is the administrative centre of Hamar Municipality. It is located in the traditional region of Hedmarken. The town is located on the shores of Mjøsa, Norway's largest lake ...

, and started his career in his local club FL Fart where he at age 16 scored two goals against Løten in 1993 that made the team win promotion to

3. divisjon 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 ...

. He transferred to the local

Norwegian First Division 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 ...

side

HamKam Hamarkameratene (literally ''the Hamar Comrades''), often abbreviated to HamKam or Ham-Kam, is a Norwegian football club based in the town of Hamar. The club was founded in 1918, originally under the name Freidig. HamKam were most recently pro ...

, at the age of 18, and played for the club between 1995 and 1997. Helstad joined the

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 ...

side Brann ahead of the 1998 season. He became one of the biggest stars in the team, and was Tippeliga top scorer in both

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

and 2001 and won the

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 ...

as the best striker in 2000. Helstad was sold to Austria Wien alongside

Raymond Kvisvik Raymond Kvisvik (born 8 November 1974) is a Norwegian former professional footballer who played as a winger. He is most noted for his spells at Brann, but he did also play for Moss, Austria Wien and Fredrikstad. Kvisvik won the Norwegian Cup ...

, where he won both the Austrian Bundesliga, the Austrian Cup and the Austrian Supercup. After scoring 14 goals in 69 matches for the Austrian side, Helstad returned to Norway where he signed a four-year deal with Rosenborg. With Steffen Iversen as the preferred striker, Helstad never managed to gain a regular spot in the first squad, but was often used a winger in a 4–3–3 system. After scoring 24 goals in 58 matches, Helstad returned to Brann in June 2006. Since he transferred in the middle of the season he won both gold with Rosenborg and silver with Brann. In July 2008, Brann accepted a €2 million bid for Helstad from French club Le Mans, where he was installed as their starting striker. Helstad scored 21 goals in

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

. In June 2011, Helstad made a free transfer move to recently relegated and former Champions League finalist

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

. He announced his retirement from playing in April 2014.

Career statistics

Club

International goals

:''Scores and results list Norway's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Helstad goal.''

Honours

Austria Wien * Austrian Bundesliga: 2002–03 * Austrian Cup: 2002–03 * Austrian Supercup: 2003 Rosenborg *

: 2004, 2006 Brann *Tippeligaen: 2007 Individual * Tippeligaen top scorer:

, 2001, 2007 *

Attacker of the Year:

, 2007 *

Norwegian Football Association Gold Watch The Norwegian Football Association Gold Watch () is an honorary proof that's awarded to all Norwegian footballers who reaches 25 caps for the Norway national football team. The watch is awarded by the Norges Fotballforbund. Gunnar Andersen was the ...

References

External links

Helstad profile
at Norwegian FA {{DEFAULTSORT:Helstad, Thorstein 1977 births Living people Sportspeople from Hamar Norwegian footballers Norway international footballers Norway under-21 international footballers FL Fart players Hamarkameratene players FK Austria Wien players Rosenborg BK players SK Brann players Le Mans FC players Lillestrøm SK players Expatriate footballers in Austria Expatriate footballers in France Expatriate footballers in Monaco Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Austrian Football Bundesliga players Eliteserien players Norwegian First Division players Kniksen Award winners Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in Austria Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in France Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in Monaco Norwegian expatriate footballers Association football forwards