Claus Lundekvam (born 22 February 1973) 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 le ...

who played as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

. Lundekvam began his career with Brann before moving to English side

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

in 1996 where he played until his retirement in 2008. He made a total of 413 appearances for the club where 290 was in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

. He notably played for Southampton in the

2003 FA Cup Final The 2003 FA Cup Final was the 122nd final of the FA Cup, the world's oldest domestic football cup competition. The final took place on Saturday 17 May 2003 at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, in front of a crowd of 73,726. It was the third co ...

against

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

. Lundekvam was capped 40 times for

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 ...

and often captained the national team.

Playing career

Born in

Austevoll Austevoll is a municipality and an archipelago in Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Midthordland in Western Norway. The administrative centre is the village of Storebø on the island of Huftarøy. Other vill ...

, Norway, Lundekvam joined Brann as a junior player with his senior debut coming in 1993. He eventually gained a regular place at

before being sold to English side

in the autumn of 1996. He was the team's first choice for captain for several years. Lundekvam made his debut for Norway in November 1995, but did not become a regular until 2002. He was

capped In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the ea ...

40 times, scoring twice. His first international goal, against

Bosnia-Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and Pars pro toto#Geography, often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of Southern Europe, south and southeast Euro ...

in 2002, was the 1,000th goal in the history of the Norwegian national team. He scored only two goals during his Saints career. His first came against

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

on 3 April 2004 in a 4–1 win, and his second against

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

in 2006 – coincidentally, both teams were managed at the time by former Saints manager Dave Jones. In 2002–03, he contributed to what was undoubtedly Southampton's best season since the 1980s, when they finished eighth in the

and reached the FA Cup final, where they narrowly missed out on silverware in a 1–0 loss to Arsenal. This was during the management of

Gordon Strachan Gordon David Strachan ( born 9 February 1957) is a Scottish former football coach and player. He played for Dundee, Aberdeen, Manchester United, Leeds United and Coventry City, as well as the Scotland national team. He has since managed Cove ...

, who famously joked when Lundekvam was stretchered off injured in a game against

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

in the 2003–04 season that he "didn't have a clue" whether the player was unconscious as "that's what he's always like". Lundekvam remained at Southampton after their relegation from the Premier League in 2005. He went off injured after five minutes of the first game of the 2006–07 season, away to

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 1884 ...

on 6 August 2006 (being replaced in the centre of defence by

Chris Baird Christopher Patrick Baird (born 25 February 1982) is a Northern Irish former professional footballer who last played for Derby County and represented the Northern Ireland national football team from 2003 to 2016. His preferred position was righ ...

) and missed the first two months of the season. He then enjoyed a long run in the team before another injury in March put him out for another month. In the game at St Mary's against

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. Southend are known as ...

on 6 May 2007, he fell awkwardly sustaining a serious ankle injury which put him out of action. On 18 March 2008, it was announced that his injury was such that his playing career was over.

Later career

Lundekvam later had problems with depression, abusing cocaine and alcohol following his retirement. About his addiction he said: "I would drink two litres of hard liquor and do between five and ten grams of cocaine every day." Lundekvam got help to overcome his addiction and issues at Sporting Chance Clinic, a recovery facility for athletes set up by former Arsenal captain Tony Adams. In July 2012, Lundekvam claimed that he, team-mates and opposing captains were involved in betting fraud during their playing days. "We could make deals with the opposing captain about, for example, betting on the first throw, the first corner, who started with the ball, a yellow card or a penalty. Those were the sorts of thing we had influence over." These allegations were later denied by Lundekvam's former team-mate and captain,

Francis Benali Francis Vincent Benali (born 30 December 1968) is an English football coach and former professional player. As a player, he was a full back who notably spent most of his career in the Premier League with Southampton, during a sixteen-year spe ...

. Following his retirement, Lundekvam later returned to Norway with his then-wife Nina, their two children and a dog named Lucky. In 2015, he released his biography detailing his career and struggles with addiction and mental health. Lundekvam worked regularly as a pundit for TV 2, the largest commercial broadcaster in Norway, until 2016. Lundekvam now works with the Psychiatry Alliance in Bergen to help others with mental health and drug issues by sharing his own experiences.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Southampton *

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

runner-up: 2002–03

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lundekvam, Claus 1973 births Living people People from Austevoll Norwegian footballers Association football defenders SK Brann players Southampton F.C. players Eliteserien players Premier League players English Football League players FA Cup Final players Norway international footballers Norwegian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in England Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in England Sportspeople from Vestland