Ole Martin Årst (born 19 July 1974) is a Norwegian retired 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. He is a former top scorer in both Belgium's and Norway's top leagues.

Club career

Born in

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula o ...

, Årst grew up in

Tromsø Tromsø (, , ; se, Romsa ; fkv, Tromssa; sv, Tromsö) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Tromsø. Tromsø lies in Northern Norway. The municipality is the ...

. He made his professional debut for

Tromsø IL Tromsø Idrettslag is a Norwegian professional football club founded in 1920, based in the city of Tromsø. They play their home games at Alfheim Stadion. Tromsø play in the Eliteserien. Tromsø have won the Norwegian Cup twice, in 1986 and 19 ...

on 22 April 1995 against

Hamarkameratene 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 Briskeby stadion. After the 1997 season he was sold to Anderlecht for . He then moved to K.A.A. Gent in Belgium and became as a top goalscorer in 2000 with 30 goals. Then

Standard Liège Royal Standard de Liège, commonly referred to as Standard Liège (; nl, Standard Luik ; german: Standard Lüttich ) or simply Standard in Belgium, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Liège. They are one of the most ...

signed him for NOK 24 million. He returned to Tromsø IL in the summer of 2003 for NOK 5 million. Årst became the top scorer in 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 ...

2005, with 16 goals. After a hat-trick against

IK Start Idrettsklubben Start (or simply IK Start, translates to The sports club Start ) is a Norwegian football club from the city of Kristiansand that currently plays in the 1. divisjon, the second tier of the Norwegian football league system. The c ...

on 2 October 2005 Årst was ranked as the top league scorer of all times in Tromsø IL with 51 goals. On 9 July 2007, he transferred to

. Start went down that season, but as Start won a direct promotion in 2008, Årst did not participate in any games due to a serious injury. The same injury limited him to only two games in the 2009 season. He announced his retirement in October 2009. He made a comeback for the club in a friendly match in early 2010. He then signed a contract for the duration of 2010, with possibilities of renewal. Årst signed a one-year deal with Tromsø IL ahead of the

2012 Tippeligaen The 2012 Tippeligaen was the 68th completed season of top division football in Norway. The competition began on 23 March 2012 and ended on 18 November 2012, with a summer break from 28 May to 30 June. Molde were the defending champions, while Hø ...

season. This was his third spell at the club.

International career

Årst made his debut for the Norway national team in a January 2000 friendly match against

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

and went on to earn 22 caps, scoring two goals.

Career statistics

Honours

Tromsø *

Norwegian 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 football ...

: 1996 Individual *

Belgian First Division The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 te ...

top scorer: 2000 *

top scorer: 2005 *

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 ...

: striker of the year: 2005

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arst, Ole Martin 1974 births Living people Sportspeople from Tromsø Norwegian footballers Association football forwards Norway international footballers Norway under-21 international footballers Belgian Pro League players Eliteserien players Norwegian First Division players Tromsø IL players R.S.C. Anderlecht players K.A.A. Gent players Standard Liège players IK Start players Kniksen Award winners Norwegian expatriate footballers Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate footballers in Belgium