Øystein Wormdal is a retired Norwegian

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 for

Orkdal IL Orkdal Idrettslag is a Norwegian sports club from Fannrem, Sør-Trøndelag. It has sections for association football, team handball, frisbee, Nordic skiing, alpine skiing and biathlon. History The club traces its roots back to 15 October 1903, w ...

and

Rosenborg BK Rosenborg Ballklub, commonly referred to simply as Rosenborg () or RBK, is a Norwegian professional association football, football club from Trondheim that plays in Eliteserien (football), Eliteserien. The club has won a record 26 league titles ...

. A

right back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

, he was capped five times for

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

Club career

He played for Orkdal during his youth, but after the club was relegated to Fourth Division after the 1970 season, Wormdal transferred to Rosenborg in the First Division. He debuted against

Frigg Frigg (; Old Norse: ) is a goddess, one of the Æsir, in Germanic mythology. In Norse mythology, the source of most surviving information about her, she is associated with marriage, prophecy, clairvoyance and motherhood, and dwells in the wetl ...

on 5 September 1971. He originally played as a center back, but was quickly transferred to the right back position. Despite Rosenborg winning the

double Double, The Double or Dubble may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Multiplication by 2 * Double precision, a floating-point representation of numbers that is typically 64 bits in length * A double number of the form x+yj, where j^2=+1 * A ...

in his inaugural season, Wormdal did not have sufficient matches to claim either title. In the 1971 Cup Final he would have been awarded the title if he had played, but coach

Nils Arne Eggen Nils Arne Eggen (17 September 1941 – 19 January 2022) was a Norwegian footballer, manager and teacher from Orkdal Municipality. Eggen was closely tied to Rosenborg, the club he managed for 23 years between 1970 and 2010. He is Norway's most s ...

instead chose to use his last substitution for

Tor Røste Fossen Tor Røste Fossen (19 June 1940 – 7 August 2017) was a Norwegian football player and coach. He played for Rosenborg from 1964 to 1971, earning two Norwegian Premier League titles and one Norwegian Cup championship. He coached several Norwegi ...

. Eggen told Wormdal that he would have ample opportunities later, but Rosenborg would not claim a title again until 1985, the season after Womdal retired. His ultimate match was against

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. 9� ...

on 24 August 1984. In 1984 season, Wormdal was plagued with injuries and manager Bjørn Hansen decided that Wormdal's services would not be needed for the 1985 season. The resulting public outcry led Hansen to change his position, but the offer was the rejected by Wormdal. Wormdal played 201 league matches for Rosenborg, of which 17 were played in the Second Division, and scored one goal. He is the Rosenborg player with the twelfth-most league matches. He played three

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

and two

UEFA European Cup The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by top-division European clubs. The competition begins with a round robin ...

matches. Only seven players have played more seasons for Rosenborg.

International career

Wormdal made his way to the national football team in 1979 and helped Norway qualify for the

1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad () and officially branded as Moscow 1980 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1980 in Moscow, Soviet Union, in present-day Russ ...

, including winning over

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

. However, Norway joined in on the

1980 Summer Olympics boycott The 1980 Summer Olympics boycott was the largest boycott in Olympic history and one part of a number of actions initiated by the United States to protest against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The Soviet Union, which hosted the 1980 Summ ...

, hindering Wormdal from becoming an Olympian. He was capped five times for Norway.

Playing style

Wormdal played a right back who was particularly noted for being able to quickly bring the ball from the defense to the offense, also in difficult circumstances. He was offensive and popular among the fans, but controversial and unorthodox. He was best between the two

penalty area The penalty area or 18-yard box (also known less formally as the penalty box or simply box) is an area of an association football pitch. It is rectangular and extends to each side of the goal and in front of it. If any part of the ball is ove ...

s. ''

Adresseavisen (; commonly known as ''Adressa'') is a regional newspaper published daily, except Sundays, in Trondheim, Norway. The paper has been in circulation since 1767 and is one of the oldest newspapers in Norway after Norske Intelligenz-Seddeler which ...

'' declared him Rosenborg's all-time right back in 2010, ahead of

Vegard Heggem Vegard Heggem (born 13 July 1975) is a Norwegian former professional footballer who played as a right back. He rose to prominence with Rosenborg, winning three league titles and a cup, and scoring a goal to knock Milan out of the UEFA Champions ...

and

Christer Basma Christer Basma (born 1 August 1972) is a Norwegian former footballer who played as a defender. He played 16 consecutive seasons Tippeligaen, for Kongsvinger, Stabæk and Rosenborg. With 350 top division appearances, Basma has made the eight ...

. The reason was his abilities to get the ball from the defense to the offense, his popularity among the fans and his loyalty to the club.

Personal life

Wormdal lived in

Orkdal Municipality Orkdal is a List of former municipalities of Norway, former municipality in Trøndelag Counties of Norway, county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 2020 when it joined Orkland Municipality. It was part of the O ...

during his footballing career, commuting twice a week to

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; ), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros, and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2022, it had a population of 212,660. Trondheim is the third most populous municipality in Norway, and is ...

. After retirement, he chose to not play at lower levels and retired completely from football. Wormdal runs a

plant nursery A nursery is a place where plants are plant propagation, propagated and grown to a desired size. Mostly the plants concerned are for gardening, forestry, or conservation biology, rather than agriculture. They include retail nurseries, which se ...

in Orkdal Municipality along with his brother.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wormdal, Oystein 1951 births Living people Norwegian men's footballers Norway men's international footballers Men's association football fullbacks Orkdal IL players Rosenborg BK players Eliteserien players People from Orkdal Footballers from Trøndelag 20th-century Norwegian sportsmen