Ståle Solbakken (born 27 February 1968) is a Norwegian professional

football manager ''Football Manager'' (also known as ''Worldwide Soccer Manager'' in North America from 2004 to 2008) is a series of football management simulation video games developed by British developer Sports Interactive and published by Sega. The game bega ...

and former

player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who is ...

who is the manager of the Norway national team. During his playing career, Solbakken was named 1995 Norwegian midfielder of the year, and he won the Danish Superliga championship with both

Aalborg BK Aalborg Boldspilklub is a Danish sports club based in the city of Aalborg. The club is also known as AaB for short (cf. logo) or Aalborg BK. Through time the club has had branches in cricket, tennis, ice hockey, handball, and basketball, but curre ...

and Copenhagen (in 1999 and 2001 respectively). He played 58 matches and scored nine goals for the

Norway national football team The Norway national football team ( no, Norges herrelandslag i fotball, or informally ''Landslaget'') represents Norway in men's international football and is controlled by the Norwegian Football Federation, the governing body for football in ...

during the end of the 1990s, and represented

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, 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 ...

at the

1998 World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the football world championship for men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. The country was chosen as the host nation by FIFA for the ...

and 2000 European Championship tournaments. He ended his active career in March 2001 following a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...

. As a manager, he was named 2004 Norwegian Manager of the Year, and has won eight

Danish Superliga The Danish Superliga ( da, Superligaen, ) is the current Danish football championship tournament, and administered by the Danish Football Association. It is the highest football league in Denmark and is currently contested by 12 teams each yea ...

championships with

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan a ...

. Solbakken was also in charge of German club

1. FC Köln 1. Fußball-Club Köln 01/07 e. V., commonly known as simply FC Köln () or FC Cologne in English, is a German professional football club based in Cologne in North Rhine-Westphalia. It was formed in 1948 as a merger of the clubs ''Kölner Ball ...

during the 2011–12 season and then managed English side

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' ...

in a six-month tenure.

Club career

Early clubs

Solbakken, a midfielder, started his career in Norway, playing for his local lower league team Grue. After five seasons with Grue he moved to

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 ...

, a then- second tier club, in 1989. He was the club's top goalscorer in the 1990 season, where he netted nine times. The following season he scored 14 goals to help the club to

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

to the top-flight

Norwegian Premier League 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 ...

. After narrowly avoiding relegation in his first season at the top level, Solbakken was part of the HamKam side that finished 5th in 1993 - a position they have not bettered since.

Lillestrøm

In 1994, he transferred to their Premier League rivals

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 b ...

where he finished as runner-up in the league during his first season. Although the club finished in fourth during the following campaign, Solbakken's performances saw him win 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 Norwegian Midfielder of the Season. He was appointed club captain by Lillestrøm and helped the side again finish runners-up in 1996 before he serving one final season in 1997 for ''the Canaries''. In total, he made 99 league appearances for the club, scoring 34 times.

Moves abroad

In October 1997, Solbakken joined English Premier League club Wimbledon for £250,000. In his six league games for Wimbledon, Solbakken scored one goal against

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

, and was twice named " man of the match", but he fell out with team manager

Joe Kinnear Joseph Patrick Kinnear (born 27 December 1946) is an Irish former football manager and player. Kinnear played as a defender, spending the majority of his career—ten seasons—with Tottenham Hotspur. With Tottenham he won the FA Cup, the EFL ...

and was banned from club training shortly thereafter. He was quickly sold to Danish side

in March 1998. Solbakken became Aalborg BK's captain, and guided the club to the

1998–99 Danish Superliga The 1998–99 Danish Superliga season was the 9th season of the Danish Superliga league championship, governed by the Danish Football Association. It took place from the first match on July 26, 1998, to final match on June 16, 1999. The Danish c ...

championship, as well as the final of the 1998–99 Danish Cup tournament. He won Danish football's Player of the Year Award in 2000. In total, he played 79 games and scored 13 goals for AaB in the Danish Superliga. In August 2000, he departed to Danish league rivals

. Solbakken quickly became a regular player in the side and helped push them to the top of the table but he was unable to complete the season after suffering a

in March 2001. The club went on to win the 2001 Superliga championship and give Solbakken a second championship medal as a player.

Health problems

During training on 13 March 2001, Solbakken had a

. He was rapidly attended to by the club doctor, Frank Odgaard, who found that Solbakken's heart had stopped beating. Odgaard asked a player to call an ambulance and to tell them it was critical, while he continued to administer cardiac massage. Upon the ambulance's arrival, Solbakken was pronounced

clinically dead Clinical death is the medical term for cessation of blood circulation and breathing, the two criteria necessary to sustain the lives of human beings and of many other organisms. It occurs when the heart stops beating in a regular rhythm, a conditio ...

at the scene.Marcus Christenson
Why football is not a matter of life and death for Solbakken

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

, 1 November 2006. On the way to the hospital in the ambulance, he was revived nearly seven minutes later. He survived the episode and now has a

pacemaker An artificial cardiac pacemaker (or artificial pacemaker, so as not to be confused with the natural cardiac pacemaker) or pacemaker is a medical device that generates electrical impulses delivered by electrodes to the chambers of the heart ei ...

fitted. The heart attack was the result of a previously undetected heart defect. Shortly after, on medical advice, he announced his retirement from playing.

International career

Solbakken made his international debut for the

on 9 March 1994, in a 3–1 friendly win in

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

. Although he was not named in the squad for the

1994 World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States w ...

, he became a regular feature in the squad soon after. He was a member of the Norwegian team that qualified for

, where he appeared in two of their group games (against

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to A ...

and

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

) as well as their second round exit to

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. His country qualified for the next major tournament, the 2000 European Championship, but Solbakken picked up an injury shortly before the finals. In the end, he was only able to appear in one tournament game: a goalless draw with

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, and ...

that eliminated them in the group stage. After this exit, he announced his international retirement, aged 32. In total, he won 58 caps for Norway, scoring nine times.

International goals

:''Scores and goals list Norway's goal tally first''

Managerial career

Ham-Kam

In 2002, Solbakken returned to Norway and started his managerial career at his old club HamKam, positioned at the second tier. He had great success at HamKam, as the club won the league and was promoted to the top-flight Tippeligaen. His "resurrection", and the "salvation" (i.e. promotion) of HamKam, earned him the nickname "Ståle Salvatore", often cited in Norwegian press since. The next season, Solbakken managed HamKam to a fifth place in the

Tippeligaen 2004 The 2004 Tippeligaen was the 60th completed season of top division football in Norway. The season began on 12 April 2004 and ended on 30 October 2004. Each team played 26 games with three points given for wins and one point for a draw. Number thi ...

season, and he won the 2004 Kniksen award as Norwegian Manager of the Year. In late 2005, Solbakken was named as new manager of another of his former clubs,

Copenhagen

In his first years at the club, Solbakken guided Copenhagen to the

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro votes to declare independence from Serbia; The 2006 ...

and

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple Inc., Apple's first iPhone (1st generation), iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakis ...

championship, as well as the

Royal League The Royal League was an annual Scandinavian football tournament held three times between teams from the three Scandinavian monarchies (Denmark, Sweden, and Norway), starting after the end of the regular domestic seasons of Norway and Sweden. Denm ...

trophy. He managed Copenhagen through to the group stage of the

2006–07 UEFA Champions League The 2006–07 UEFA Champions League was the 15th season of UEFA's premier European club football tournament, the UEFA Champions League, since it was rebranded from the European Cup, and the 52nd season overall. The final was contested by Milan ...

, after beating

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * ''Ajax'' (play), by the ancient Gree ...

in the final qualifying round on 23 August 2006. Copenhagen finished last in its group, though they won a meriting 1–0 victory against later semi-finalists

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...

. In May 2009, Solbakken led Copenhagen to the Double of both the 2009 Danish Cup and the 2009 Superliga championship, the seventh championship in club history. On 3 November 2009, it was announced that he would not renew his contract which ended on 30 June 2011. Instead, he agreed a

letter of intent A letter of intent (LOI or LoI, or Letter of Intent) is a document outlining the understanding between two or more parties which they intend to formalize in a legally binding agreement. The concept is similar to a heads of agreement, term sh ...

to become Norway national team manager either in January 2012 or after the

Euro 2012 The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2012 or simply Euro 2012, was the 14th European Championship for men's national football teams organised by UEFA. The final tournament, held between 8 June and 1 ...

, should Norway qualify. However, this agreement was ultimately not to come to fruition.

1. FC Köln

On 15 May 2011, it was announced that Solbakken would take over as manager of

of the German

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footb ...

from sporting director

Volker Finke Volker Finke (born 24 March 1948) is a German football manager. He was the coach of SC Freiburg for 16 years. Coaching career On 6 December 2008, Japanese club Urawa Red Diamonds announced they signed a contract with Finke as head coach unt ...

, who acted as interim manager after Frank Schaefer quit during the season. Solbakken had been due to take the Norway national team job in January 2012 but Köln bought out his contract for a reported €400,000. He won his first game in charge, a

DFB Cup The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considere ...

tie at SC Wiedenbrück, but took four league games to register his first victory. By the winter break Köln sat in 10th place, but their form plummeted in the second half of the campaign and they dropped into a relegation battle. This decline in form was coupled with several negative incidents involving their squad misbehaving off the field. Solbakken later quipped that "

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and relig ...

and

José Mourinho José Mário dos Santos Mourinho Félix GOIH (; born 26 January 1963), is a Portuguese professional football manager and former player who is the current head coach of Italian Serie A club Roma. Once dubbed "The Special One" by the Britis ...

would have struggled together at that club this year". Solbakken was dismissed by Köln on 12 April 2012 following a 0–4 loss at

Mainz Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-west, with Ma ...

, with the team sat in 16th place. He was replaced by former coach Frank Schaefer who oversaw the final four games of the season during which the club dropped to 17th place and so were relegated.

Wolverhampton Wanderers

On 11 May 2012, English club

announced that Solbakken was to become their new manager. He officially took over from acting manager

Terry Connor Terence Fitzroy Connor (born 9 November 1962) is an English former professional football player turned coach who is assistant manager at Blackpool. He was born in Leeds and was a pupil at Foxwood School, Seacroft, Leeds. As a player, Connor sc ...

on 1 July 2012. Solbakken began his Wolves tenure with the club in the

Football League Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the E ...

having been relegated from the English Premier League at the end of the 2011–12 season. His first competitive game in charge was a

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

tie against

Aldershot Town Aldershot Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Aldershot, Hampshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in the spring ...

, which his side won on penalties. Solbakken failed to stop the club's slump that had brought relegation and despite at one time lifting the club to third place, they had slumped as low as 18th by the turn of the year. He was sacked on 5 January 2013 following an

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 compet ...

elimination by at that time non-league

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1885, it is nicknam ...

, which was his fourth consecutive defeat.

Return to Copenhagen

On 21 August 2013, Solbakken returned as head coach of

, two years after his departure. Solbakken had a seven-year reign at Copenhagen in which he won three championships in 2016, 2017 and 2019. However, due to a bad start to the

2020–21 Danish Superliga The 2020–21 Danish Superliga (officially the 3F Superliga for sponsorship reasons) was the 31st season of the Danish Superliga. The season began on 11 September with reigning champions FC Midtjylland playing against the winners of the Danish C ...

, poor domestic results during 2020 and a failure to qualify for the

2020–21 UEFA Europa League The 2020–21 UEFA Europa League was the 50th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 12th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. Villarreal defeated Manchester United in ...

group stage, Solbakken was fired as manager on 10 October 2020. For his two tenures at Copenhagen, Solbakken was awarded the title as the 'Biggest Manager in Superliga History' by a jury of 38 experts on the Danish Superliga including former Danish national coach

Morten Olsen Morten Per Olsen (born 14 August 1949) is a Danish football manager and former player. He was the head coach of the Denmark national team for 15 years from 2000 until 2015, guiding Denmark to the 2002 FIFA World Cup, 2004 European Championshi ...

and former football player Rasmus Würtz, who is accredited with most Superliga games played to date with 452 caps.

Norway national team

On 3 December 2020, Solbakken became the Norway international manager on a four-year deal, after the resignation of

Lars Lagerbäck Lars Edvin "Lasse" Lagerbäck (; born 16 July 1948) is a Swedish football manager and former player, who is the technical director of the Iceland national football team. Lagerbäck has managed a number of national teams prior to his current pos ...

. In his first match the following 24 March, the side won 3–0 away to

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = "Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gibr ...

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup is an international football tournament contested by the men's national teams of FIFA's member associations. The 22nd FIFA World Cup is taking place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022; it is the first Wor ...

qualification. Norway failed the qualify, and Solbakken criticised the decision to host the tournament in Qatar due to human rights issues and the manner of the vote; the

Norwegian Football Federation The Norwegian Football Federation ( nb, Norges Fotballforbund, nn, Noregs Fotballforbund; NFF) is the governing body of football in Norway. It was formed in 1902 and organises the men's and women's national teams, as well as the league systems f ...

sent only one representative, an analyst to monitor the team's next opponents,

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

AaB *

: 1998–99 Copenhagen *Danish Superliga: 2000–01

Manager

Copenhagen *

: 2005–06 *

: 2005–06, 2006–07, 2008–09, 2009–10,

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. ...

, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2018–19 *

Danish Cup The Danish Cup ( da, Landspokalturneringen; often referred to as Pokalen) is the official "knockout" cup competition in Danish football, run by the Danish Football Association. The cup has been contested annually since 1955. The winner will quali ...

: 2008–09, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17

Individual

* 1995 Kniksen award as Norwegian Midfielder of the Year * 2004 Kniksen award as Norwegian Manager of the Year *

Manager of the Year:

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrates ...

References

External links

FC København profile

FC København player statistics

AaB profile

Ham-Kam profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Solbakken, Staale 1968 births Living people Sportspeople from Kongsvinger Norwegian footballers Association football midfielders Hamarkameratene players Lillestrøm SK players Wimbledon F.C. players AaB Fodbold players F.C. Copenhagen players Eliteserien players Premier League players Danish Superliga players Kniksen Award winners Norway international footballers 1998 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2000 players Norwegian football managers Norwegian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Denmark Expatriate footballers in England Hamarkameratene managers F.C. Copenhagen managers 1. FC Köln managers Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. managers Norway national football team managers Eliteserien managers Danish Superliga managers Bundesliga managers English Football League managers Norwegian expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Denmark Expatriate football managers in England Expatriate football managers in Germany Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in England Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in Germany