Geir "Bolla" Johansen (born 7 July 1960) is a retired Norwegian

football midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

Career

As a young player he was on trials with

FC Eindhoven Football Club Eindhoven, commonly known as FC Eindhoven, is a professional association football, football club based in Eindhoven, Netherlands, that competes in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football league system, Dutch football ...

and spent a fortnight with

Borussia Mönchengladbach Borussia Verein für Leibesübungen 1900 e.V. Mönchengladbach, better known as Borussia Mönchengladbach () and colloquially known as just Gladbach, is a professional Association football, football club based in Mönchengladbach, North Rhine-W ...

. He did not like the prospect of playing and living alone in a foreign country. He played for Eik-Tønsberg most of the 1980s, but joined

Moss FK Moss Fotballklubb is a Norwegian football club, founded on 28 August 1906. They play in the 1. divisjon, the second highest division in the Norwegian football league system. They played in the Norwegian top flight between 1937–1939, 1953–5 ...

ahead of the 1988 season. With Moss being the reigning champions, the team contested the

1988–89 European Cup The 1988–89 European Cup was the 34th season of the European Cup football club tournament. The competition was won by Milan, the first time since 1969 and third time overall, comfortably defeated former winners Steaua București in the final. ...

but was knocked out by

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

. In 1990 Johansen rejoined Eik. Johansen was capped eight 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 ...

in 1981, and then four times for

in 1983. Eik was relegated from the 1985 Norwegian First Division. When Johansen was offered a contract by Moss in the closing months of 1987, he was enticed by the prospect of playing in the top tier as well as in European competition. Johansen would commute with the Moss–Horten Ferry. Johansen recorded one assist in his debut match for Moss. To complicate matters somewhat, Moss also drafted a young defender from their junior ranks into their senior squad, whose name was Geir Johansen as well. Ahead of the 1994 season he went on to minnows IL Ivrig, becoming player-manager for the Fourth Division team. In the winter of 1996 he returned to Eik, appearing in pre-season friendlies. Among others, he scored 5 goals against Tønsberg FK. Ahead of the 1997 season he was offered the positionas assistant manager. He took over as manager in August 1998.

Playing style

He was described as a "petite, light, technically brilliant player". Johansen was also an old school player, did not like stamina training and regularly had the lowest performance among the team members in stamina tests. In line with this, he

smoked Smoking is the process of flavoring, browning, cooking, or preserving food, particularly meat, fish and tea, by exposing it to smoke from burning or smoldering material, most often wood. In Europe, alder is the traditional smoking wood, but ...

throughout his playing career. He preferred the ball to be passed directly to his feet, and if it was not, he had a tendency to "protest" by placing his hands on his hips. The direct pass was often used when Johansen lurked inside the penalty area, his back facing the goal, and when he turned around he was often fouled, causing a penalty kick.

Personal life

His nickname was "Bolla" ("The

Bun A bun is a type of bread that is round and small enough that it can generally be eaten hand-held. Whether a bun is considered sweetened or unsweetened differs between countries: it is considered sweetened in the United Kingdom, a savory bread in ...

"). He acquired the nickname in his family, as a toddler, because of his round cheeks. When working as a manager, he preferred that his players did not use the nickname. His favourite English team was

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

. A main hobby outside of football was

Harness racing Harness racing is a form of horse racing in which the horses race at a specific gait (a trot or a pace). They usually pull a two-wheeled cart called a sulky, spider, or chariot occupied by a driver. In Europe, and less frequently in Australia ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johansen, Geir 1960 births Living people Norwegian men's footballers FK Eik Tønsberg players Moss FK players Norwegian First Division players Norway men's under-21 international footballers Norway men's international footballers Place of birth missing (living people) Men's association football midfielders 20th-century Norwegian sportsmen