Leo Skiri Østigård (born 28 November 1999) is a Norwegian 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 plays as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

for French club

Rennes Rennes (; ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in Northwestern France at the confluence of the rivers Ille and Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the Brittany (administrative region), Brittany Regions of F ...

and the Norway national team.

Club career

Early career

In the winter of 2017, Østigård signed a three-year contract with

Molde FK Molde Fotballklubb () is a association football, football club based in Molde Municipality, Molde, Norway, that competes in Eliteserien, the top flight of Norwegian football league system, Norwegian football. Founded on 19 June 1911, the club w ...

. Ahead of the 2018 season, he went on loan to

Viking FK Viking Fotballklubb, commonly known as Viking or Viking Stavanger internationally, is a Norwegian professional football club from the city of Stavanger. The club was founded in 1899. It is one of the most successful clubs in Norwegian football, ...

1. divisjon The Norwegian First Division, also called 1. divisjon () and OBOS-ligaen (due to sponsoring ties with OBOS), is the second-highest level of the Norwegian football league system. Each year, the top finishing teams in the 1. divisjon are promo ...

Brighton & Hove Albion

After the loan with Viking expired, Østigård signed for

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club, commonly referred to as Brighton, is a professional football club based in Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Their home gr ...

Loan to St. Pauli

On 19 July 2019,

FC St. Pauli Fußball-Club St. Pauli von 1910 e.V., commonly known as simply FC St. Pauli (), is a German professional association football, football club based in the St. Pauli district of Hamburg. The team plays in the Bundesliga from the 2024–25 Bundesli ...

signed Østigård on a loan deal until the end of 2019–20 season. He made his debut for the

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

based club on 31 August coming on as a substitute in a 3–3 draw against

Dynamo Dresden Sportgemeinschaft Dynamo Dresden e.V., commonly known as SG Dynamo Dresden or Dynamo Dresden, is a German association football club based in Dresden, Saxony.Grüne, Hardy (2001). Enzyklopädie des deutschen Ligafußballs 7. Vereinslexikon. Kasse ...

. He made his first start for St. Pauli which was against fierce rivals

Hamburger SV Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), or HSV (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its Association football, football department. Though the current HSV was founde ...

where ''Kiezkicker'' won 2–0, claiming a first home win in 59 years against their local side.

Loan to Coventry City

On 27 August 2020, Østigård joined

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

side

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Coventry, West Midlands. The club plays in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club is nicknamed The Sky Blues after the sky blue colou ...

on a season-long loan deal. He made his debut on 12 September in which was his first senior game in English football where he played the full game in a 2–1 away defeat at

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England. The team compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded in 1894, the club competed in the Southern League and Western L ...

. On 27 February 2021, Østigård was sent off in a 1–1 away draw at

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

after picking up a second yellow card. Østigård scored his first goal in English football on 5 April opening the scoreline in an eventual 3–1 home victory over Bristol City. Østigård returned to ''The Seagulls'' with two remaining games of the season due to a thigh injury. He made 39 appearances in the league scoring two goals – 40 apprarances, two goals overall – helping ''The Sky Blues'' to safety on their return to the Championship after eight years.

Loan to Stoke City

On 10 August 2021, Østigård joined

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, the cl ...

on loan for the 2021–22 season. He made his debut that evening, playing the whole match of the 2–1 EFL Cup first round victory at home over League One side Fleetwood Town in what was also his League Cup debut. Four days later he made his league debut for ''The Potters'' keeping a clean sheet in a 0–0 stalemate away at

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. The team compete in the ...

. On his third appearance he scored Stoke's third goal knocking in a rebound in a 3–1 away victory over

Swansea City Swansea City Association Football Club ( ; ) is a Welsh professional football club based in Swansea, Wales. It competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Swansea have played their home matches at ...

on 17 August. On 27 December 2021, Østigård was recalled from his loan spell by Brighton.

Loan to Genoa

Østigård signed for

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

side

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

on loan for the rest of the season on 5 January, after progressive previous loan spells and this signing giving him the chance to play at the top level. He made his debut four days later, playing the whole match of the 1–0 home loss against

Spezia La Spezia (, or ; ; , in the local ) is the capital city of the province of La Spezia and is located at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the southern part of the Liguria region of Italy. La Spezia is the second-largest city in the Liguri ...

in the league, in what was his 100th club career appearance. In the week day away fixture against

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

in the Coppa Italia Round of 16 on 13 January, Østigård scored his first ever domestic cup goal opening the scoring in the eventual 3–1 after extra-time loss. He came on as a substitute in the 0–0 away draw at

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: People, characters, figures, names * Roma or Romani people, an ethnic group living mostly in Europe and the Americas. * Roma called Roy, ancient Egyptian High Priest of Amun * Roma (footballer, born 1979), born ''Paul ...

on 5 February, where he was shown a straight red card on the 68th minute. Østigård was sent off for a second time in five matches, this time being shown two yellows after just 24 minutes of play in the 1–0 home victory over

Torino Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

on 18 March.

Napoli

On 10 July 2022, Østigård transferred to

Napoli Naples ( ; ; ) is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its province-level municipality is the thir ...

on a permanent transfer. On 26 October 2022, he scored a goal on his Champions League debut in a 3–0 win against

Rangers A ranger is typically someone in a law enforcement or military/paramilitary role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called "ranging" or "scouting". The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with prot ...

Rennes

On 30 July 2024, Østigård transferred to

Ligue 1 Ligue 1 (; ), officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald's France, McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de ...

for €7 million to stay until 2027. He made his debut for Rennes on 18 August against

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

in a 3–0 win, playing all 90 minutes. Against

Reims Reims ( ; ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French Departments of France, department of Marne (department), Marne, and the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 12th most populous city in Fran ...

on 1 September, Østigård recorded his first goal for Rennes in the 13th minute, assisted by Ludovic Blas. Rennes went on to lose the game 1–2.

Loan to Hoffenheim

On 3 February 2025, Østigård was loaned by

TSG Hoffenheim Turn- und Sportgemeinschaft 1899 Hoffenheim e.V. (), commonly known as TSG Hoffenheim (), are a German professional football club based in Sinsheim. Originally founded in 1899 as a gymnastics club, Hoffenheim came into being in their modern fo ...

in Germany.

International career

After being capped at all youth levels he made his senior debut for the Norwegian national team playing the whole match helping keep a clean sheet in a 2–0 friendly win at home over

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

on 25 March 2022. He scored his first senior international goal on his eighth appearance on 17 November, heading home from a

Martin Ødegaard Martin Ødegaard (born 17 December 1998) is a Norwegian professional association football, footballer who plays as a midfielder for and Captain (association football), captains both Premier League club Arsenal F.C., Arsenal and the Norway nati ...

corner in the 2–1 friendly win away at the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Norway score listed first, score column indicates score after each Østigård goal.''

Honours

Napoli *

: 2022–23

Personal life

His older sister Rikke was a very talented handball player at top level, but had to suspend her career at the age of 23 due to her many knee injuries.

References

External links

Profile
at the SSC Napoli website {{DEFAULTSORT:Ostigard, Leo Skiri 1999 births Living people Footballers from Molde Norwegian men's footballers Norway men's youth international footballers Norway men's under-21 international footballers Men's association football forwards Molde FK players Viking FK players FC St. Pauli players Coventry City F.C. players Stoke City F.C. players Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players Genoa CFC players SSC Napoli players Stade Rennais FC players TSG 1899 Hoffenheim players Eliteserien players Norwegian First Division players English Football League players 2. Bundesliga players Serie A players Ligue 1 players Bundesliga players Norwegian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in France Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in France 21st-century Norwegian sportsmen