Bjørn Hansen (15 January 1939 – 25 April 2018) was a Norwegian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player and coach. Hansen was head coach for Rosenborg BK in part of the 1985 season and assistant coach 1988-89 and 1991–96. The club dominated Norwegian football at this time, winning the premier league most seasons, as well as the Norwegian cup in several of them. He was also assistant coach for Norwegian national team from 1994 to 1998, including at the

1998 FIFA World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 1 ...

Career

Born in Trondheim, Hansen played soccer as a midfielder for

FK Kvik Fotballklubben Kvik (FK Kvik) is a Norwegian association football club from Trondheim. To avoid confusion with the other Norwegian football club named Kvik, which was also known as FK Kvik until 1997, FK Kvik is sometimes referred to as Kvik ...

in the 1960s. He played for the club when they were promoted to 2.divisjon which was Norway's second highest level at the time and subsequently played for the club in that division. He also played a couple of matches for

Sandefjord BK Sandefjord Ballklubb is a Norwegian football club from Sandefjord, currently playing in Norwegian Fourth Division, the fifth tier in the Norwegian football league system. The club was founded on 27 February 1917. Their home matches are played at ...

in 1.divisjon, the highest level. In addition he played for Oppdal. Educated as a teacher and working in school, he started coaching teams after his active playing career, including local

Trøndelag Trøndelag (; or is a county and coextensive with the Trøndelag region (also known as ''Midt-Norge'' or ''Midt-Noreg,'' "Mid-Norway") in the central part of Norway. It was created in 1687, then named Trondhjem County (); in 1804 the county was ...

clubs like Stjørdals-Blink og

Strindheim Strindheim is a neighbourhood in the city of Trondheim in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is located in the borough of Østbyen in Trondheim Municipality Trondheim ( , , ; ), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros, and Trondhjem (), is a city and ...

. During his career he also coached Flatås, the Norwegian U15, U16, U17, U18, U19 and teams. In 1984, he was hired as coach for

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 ...

in Trondheim which played at the highest level. The club finished sixth in the serie and reached a quarter-final in the

Norwegian Football 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 ...

. The next season, Rosenborg was fighting for the championship when Hansen resigned in August 1985 after feeling he did not manage to motivate the players enough. The club won the championship in October that year with

Arne Dokken Arne Dokken (born 27 August 1955) is a Norwegian former football player and coach. He played as forward for several Norwegian clubs and two Greek clubs and 24 matches for Norway national football team scoring two goals. In eight seasons in the N ...

as temporary coach.Bjørn Hansen, tidligere assistenttrener
RBKweb. Retrieved 25 April 2018 After this, he was out of RBK for a couple of seasons, but came back as assistant coach to

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 ...

in 1988. His main focus was on defense. This was the start of the most successful time in Rosenborg's history. Under Eggen and Hansen, the club won both the serie and cup in 1988 and followed up by placing second in the serie in 1989. Hansen has a pause when the club repeated the double in 1990, but came back for the 1992 season when the club again took the double. Hansen continued to 1996 and the club won the championship all these years, and in 1995 also won the cup. In 1994, Hansen also started as assistant coach to Egil "Drillo" Olsen for the Norwegian national team. Under Olsen and Hansen the team qualified for the

and as assistant coach Hansen was part of Norway's victory over Brazil in the group play. The team lost against Italy in round of 16.Norges Fotballforbund
/ref> He thereafter worked two years from 1998 to 2000 coaching the U21 as well as working with developing player skills for RBK. He also led player development nationally in Norway for several years, traveling much around the country. In 2005, he again worked as coach for Rosenborg, in the spring as consultant for

Per Joar Hansen Per Joar Hansen (born 17 August 1965) is a Norwegian football coach. He grew up in the small community of Trofors in Nordland. He played for and managed Rosenborg BK, and he has managed GIF Sundsvall, Aalesunds FK, Ranheim and the Norwegian un ...

Rune Skarsfjord Rune Skarsfjord (born 23 May 1970) is a Norwegian football coach and former player. He worked as head coach for FK Haugesund and as an assistant coach for Rosenborg BK. He was promoted to head coach of SK Brann in 2010 after Steinar Nilsen wa ...

and in the autumn as assistant coach to

Per-Mathias Høgmo Per-Mathias Høgmo (born 1 December 1959) is a Norway, Norwegian football manager and former player. who is the head coach of Eliteserien club Molde FK, Molde. He has previously been head coach of Norway women's national football team and the Tipp ...

. The club was struggling in the serie that season, but managed to avoid demotion.

Death and legacy

As a person and coach, Hansen was described by players and co-workers as calm, patient, sensible and good with people. Coach and football expert

Lars Tjærnås Lars is a common male name in Scandinavian countries. Origin ''Lars'' means "from the city of Laurentum". Lars is derived from the Latin name Laurentius, which means "from Laurentum" or "crowned with laurel", and is therefore related to the name ...

described Hansen as his best mentor.Lars Tjærnås (25 April 2018
«Han ble min største mentor»
''Aftenposten''. Retrieved 26 April 2018 In 2017, he was ranked as Norway's 25th most important male soccer coach through all times by Knut Espen Svegaarden in ''

Verdens Gang (), generally known under the abbreviation ''VG'', is a Norway, Norwegian Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper. In 2016, circulation numbers stood at 93,883, declining from a peak circulation of 390,510 in 2002. Nevertheless, ''VG'' is ...

''.Petter Fløttum and Trond Johannessen (25 April 2018
Trenerlegenden Bjørn Hansen er død: – En hedersmann med et stort hjerte
VG. Hansen went through heart surgery in 1997 after a heart attack. He was diagnosed with cancer for the first time in 2002. He died on 25 April 2018 at the age of 79. Rosenborg players will play with black armbands in his honour in the match against Lillestrøm on 26 April 2018.

References

External links

RBKweb: Bjørn Hansen
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hansen, Bjorn 1939 births 2018 deaths Norwegian men's footballers Norwegian football managers Footballers from Trondheim Rosenborg BK managers Men's association football midfielders 20th-century Norwegian sportsmen