Knut Næss (11 March 1927 – 11 September 2015) was a 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 ...

and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

who coached

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 ...

to the club's first three major trophies: the

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 ...

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Janu ...

and

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 – In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patria ...

, and the 1967 League Championship. Næss joined Rosenborg in 1937 and spent his entire player career there, except during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

when he played for an illegal team called "Falkenkameratene" at a time when all organized football in Norway was suspended because of the wartime sports boycott which lasted from 1941 until the end of the war. He played around 200 games for Rosenborg as a left half (midfielder), and also was their captain. He had to retire in 1960 due to an injury. In the 1959-60 season Næss coached Rosenborg, with fellow player Olav Wang as his assistant, and secured both victory in the 1960 Norwegian Cup (the first club from

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 ...

to do so) as well as the club's first-ever promotion to the top division. Næss then left Rosenborg, and coached

Nidelv IL Nidelv Idrettslag is a Norwegian sports club from Trondheim, Sør-Trøndelag. It has sections for association football, team handball, floorball, track and field, weightlifting and Nordic skiing. Nidelv IL ski also owns, and organises the annual ...

to double promotion (from fourth to second division), before returning to Rosenborg at the end of the 1963 season.''Nidelvs trener Knut Næss trener Rosenborg neste år'', '' VG'', 29 October 1963. With Næss as coach, Rosenborg won the Norwegian Cup for the second time in

and again secured a promotion to the top division. In 1967, Næss guided Rosenborg to its first-ever league title, and finished second in

1968 Events January–February * January 1968, January – The I'm Backing Britain, I'm Backing Britain campaign starts spontaneously. * January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Cze ...

. Næss then chose to retire from coaching, and was succeeded by George Curtis from England.Tor Kleveland
Minneord om Knut Næss
, rbk.no, accessed 15 September 2015.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Naess, Knut 1927 births 2015 deaths Norwegian men's footballers Rosenborg BK players Norwegian football managers Rosenborg BK managers Footballers from Trondheim Men's association football midfielders 20th-century Norwegian sportsmen