Ørjan Berg (born 20 August 1968) 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 lea ...
who played as a
midfielder
In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...
. He is the current sporting director of Bodø/Glimt.
Berg retired at the end of the 2006 season, having played for Bodø/Glimt,
Wettingen
Wettingen is a residential community in the district of Baden in the Swiss canton of Aargau. With a population about 20,000, Wettingen is the second-largest municipality in the canton.
Geography
Wettingen is located on the right bank of the Li ...
,
TSV 1860 Munich
, commonly known as TSV 1860 München (; ''sechzig'' locally ; lettered as ) or 1860 Munich, is a sports club based in Munich. The club's association football, football team plays in the 3. Liga, the third tier of German football league system ...
,
Basel
Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...
and Rosenborg. He is the brother of Bodø/Glimt player Runar Berg and the son of midfielder and playmaker
Harald Berg
Harald Johan «Dutte» Berg (born 9 November 1941) is a Norwegian former association football, footballer who played as a midfielder. Nickname "Dutte", he is the brother of Knut Helmer Berg, Knut Berg, the father of Ørjan Berg, Runar Berg and A ...
.
Club career
Berg first played – as his father had – at Bodø/Glimt, then playing in the 2nd division, later moving up to the 1st. In 1988 Rosenborg coach Nils Arne Eggen brought him and his friend Jahn Ivar "Mini" Jakobsen from Bodø/Glimt to Rosenborg, where they won the double in their debut year in the Norwegian top division.
After two seasons at Rosenborg, Berg was sold to Swiss club FC Wettingen during the winter break of the 1990–91 Nationalliga A. Berg played the first half of the 1991–92 Nationalliga A season with Wettingen, but could not save the team from slumping to the bottom of the league table. He spent the second half of the season playing in Germany for
1860 Munich
, commonly known as TSV 1860 München (; ''sechzig'' locally ; lettered as ) or 1860 Munich, is a sports club based in Munich. The club's football team plays in the 3. Liga, the third tier of the German football pyramid. Their current home gr ...
.
Berg joined Basel's first team for their 1992–93 season under head-coach
Friedel Rausch
Friedel Rausch (27 February 1940 – 18 November 2017) was a German football player and manager. As a manager, he won with FC Luzern the Swiss championship in 1989 and the cup in 1992, thereby becoming the most successful manager in the club's ...
. Basel at that time were playing in the Nationalliga B and their priority aim was the promotion. After playing in three test games, Berg played his domestic league debut for his new club in the first game of the season, an away game, on 18 July 1992 as Basel were defeated 0–1 by
Grenchen
Grenchen () is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Lebern (district), Lebern in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Solothurn (canton), Solothurn in Switzerland.
It is located at the foot of the Jura mountains betwee ...
. Berg scored his first goal for the club in the home game in the
St. Jakob Stadium
The St. Jakob Stadium was a football (soccer), football stadium in Basel, Switzerland and the former home of Swiss club FC Basel. It was built in view of the 1954 FIFA World Cup, and as well as serving as a club stadium, it hosted several import ...
on 18 August. It was the third goal of the match as Basel won 7–0 against Bümpliz. Berg was a regular starter, he played 35 of the 36 league matches scoring nine goals, but Basel missed their promotion aim finishing fourth in the league table.
During Basel's 1993–94 season, under new head-coach
Claude Andrey
Claude "Didi" Andrey (born 13 June 1951) is a former Swiss footballer, who most recently managed Yverdon-Sport FC in the Challenge League.
Andrey took over FC Basel for their 1993–94 season. His team included the likes of Swiss internation ...
, his teammates were the likes of Swiss international goalkeeper Stefan Huber, defenders
Massimo Ceccaroni
Massimo Ceccaroni (born 15 August 1968) is a Swiss former professional footballer who played as a defender or midfielder. He played for FC Basel for very nearly his entire career. He was later trainer at amateur club BSC Old Boys and then trai ...
Admir Smajić
Admir Smajić (born 7 September 1963) is a Bosnian professional football manager and former player.
He played in the Yugoslavia national team and the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team.
Club career Partizan
Born in Bijeljina,Reto Baumgartner and the Swiss international strikers
Dario Zuffi
Dario Zuffi (born 7 December 1964) is a Swiss football coach and former international player. He is currently employed as assistant coach for FC Winterthur.
Career Playing career
Zuffi played his youth football with the local Winterthur team FC ...
and
Philippe Hertig
Philippe Hertig (born 2 July 1965) is a Swiss former association football, footballer who played as a striker (association football), striker during the 1980s and 1990s. He is banker and is now assistant director of Mirabaud Group. In 2009 Herti ...
. Together they won the promotion/relegation group and became Nationalliga B champions and thus won promotion to the top flight of Swiss football. This after six seasons in the second tier.
Despite being regular starter and winning the second division championship Berg decided to move on. During his two seasons with the club Berg played a total of 102 games for Basel scoring a total of 27 goals. 65 of these games were in the Nationalliga A, 11 in the
Swiss Cup
The Swiss Cup (; ; ; ) is a football cup competition that has been organised annually since 1925–26 season by the Swiss Football Association.
The Swiss Cup final is usually the most important game of the year with a high attendance. The co ...
and 26 were friendly games. He scored 18 goals in the domestic league, four in the cup and the other five were scored during the test games.
Thus, he returned to his home club Bodø/Glimt in 1996. The team was now back in the top division, Berg played for three seasons losing a cup final against
Tromsø IL
Tromsø Idrettslag () is a Norwegian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Tromsø. They play their home games at the Romssa Arena which has a seating capacity of 6,801. Tromsø play in the Eliteserien.
Despi ...
in 1996. In 1999 Rosenborg needed to strengthen its team to play in the
UEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...
, and Berg went on loan to Rosenborg. Later that year he was traded to Rosenborg.
In mid-season 2006, he returned to his home town Bodø, trying to recover from injuries which has plagued him in the last (almost) two years. If he recovered, he said he would join Rosenborg again when preseason starts at the beginning of 2007 – which would have been his last season according to his contract. However, it became increasingly clear that his injury would never be completely healed, and he decided to terminate his contract a year early. His official farewell ceremony took place in the recess of the Rosenborg –
Viking
Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden),
who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9â ...
match on 29 October.
International career
Berg made his debut for the Norwegian national team in 1988, but after Egil Olsen became coach Berg was rarely found good enough for the squad. He got a second chance when Norway got Nils Johan Semb as coach in 1998 and Berg played on the national team again 10 years after his debut. He earned a total of 19 caps, scoring 1 goal. His last international match was a February 2000 friendly match against
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...
.
In 2002, Berg declared that he retired from the national team.
Personal life
He is married and has two sons, Bodø/Glimt player
Patrick Patrick may refer to:
*Patrick (given name), list of people and fictional characters with this name
* Patrick (surname), list of people with this name
People
*Saint Patrick (c. 385–c. 461), Christian saint
* Gilla Pátraic (died 1084), Patrick ...
and Marius.
Honours
Rosenborg
*
Norwegian top division
Eliteserien () is a professional association football league in Norway and the highest level of the Norwegian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the Norwegian First Division ...
:
1988
1988 was a crucial year in the early history of the Internet—it was the year of the first well-known computer virus, the Morris worm, 1988 Internet worm. The first permanent intercontinental Internet link was made between the United State ...
,
1990
Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...
,
1999
1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons.
Events January
* January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers.
* January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...
,
2000
2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year.
Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...
,
2001
The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...
,
2002
The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...
,
2003
2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater.
In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War.
Demographic ...
,
2004
2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO).
Events January
* January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...
,
2006
2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification.
Events
January
* January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute.
* January 12 – A stampede during t ...
*
Norwegian Cup
The Norwegian Football Cup () 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 tournament in the country. The tournament ...
:
1988
1988 was a crucial year in the early history of the Internet—it was the year of the first well-known computer virus, the Morris worm, 1988 Internet worm. The first permanent intercontinental Internet link was made between the United State ...
,
1999
1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons.
Events January
* January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers.
* January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...
,
2003
2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater.
In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War.
Demographic ...
Basel
* Nationnaliga B and promotion:
1994
The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations.
In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...
2001
The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...
2000
2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year.
Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...
,
2001
The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...
,
2002
The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...