Nils Unneberg Lexerød (born 7 March 1976) is a Norwegian footballer and manager. Working several years as a youth national team coach, his main accolades as a manager are two

Toppserien The Toppserien is the top level of women's association football in Norway. It was founded in 1984. History Women's league football was introduced on a county basis in 1977. These leagues acted as qualification for the regional (South) league in ...

titles with

Vålerenga Vålerenga () is a neighbourhood in the city of Oslo, Norway, belonging to the borough of Gamle Oslo. Vålerenga is located between the neighbourhoods of Gamlebyen, Jordal, Ensjø, Etterstad and Lodalen. Vålerenga is in particular known for i ...

Playing career

He grew up in

Halden Halden (), between 1665 and 1928 known as Fredrikshald, is both a List of cities in Norway, town and a Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Østfold Counties of Norway, county, Norway. The municipality borders Sarpsborg to the northwest, R ...

with family ties to

Aremark Aremark is a municipality in Østfold county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Fosby. Aremark was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). The new municipality of Øymar ...

. He was the captain of Halden FK's boys' team before moving to

Kvik Halden FK Kvik Halden FK is a Norwegian football club, founded on 19 June 1906. The club plays in the 2. divisjon after their promotion from the 2018 3. divisjon. In 2010 they contested a playoff to win promotion, and succeeded by beating Eik-Tønsberg ...

. He made his senior debut for Kvik Halden in a 1992 pre-season friendly. Ahead of the 1998 season he moved to

Kolbotn Kolbotn is an Urban areas in the Nordic countries#Urban areas in Norway, urban area in Norway's Nordre Follo municipality in Akershus county. Kolbotn is in the centre of the traditional district, Oppegård. The population is about 6,000. Kolbotn ...

. He studied nearby, at the

Norwegian College of Agriculture The Norwegian University of Life Sciences (, NMBU) is a public university located in Ås, Norway. It is located in Akershus county and has around 7,700 students. History The institution was established in 1859 as the Higher Agricultural Coll ...

. He took the cand.agric. degree before being employed as a

research fellow A research fellow is an academic research position at a university or a similar research institution, usually for academic staff or faculty members. A research fellow may act either as an independent investigator or under the supervision of a p ...

for a period. After spending the 2000 season playing for

Rakkestad IF Rakkestad Idrettsforening is a Norway, Norwegian sports club from Rakkestad, Østfold. It has sections for association football, team handball, floorball, volleyball, track and field, gymnastics, skiing and speed skating. It was founded on 11 No ...

he moved to the new cooperation team in

Sarpsborg Sarpsborg ( or ), historically Borg, is a List of cities in Norway, city and Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Østfold Counties of Norway, county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Sarpsborg. Sarpsbor ...

, which eventually was named Borg Fotball.

Managing career

Lexerød gave up his playing career when offered the position as assistant manager of

FK Sparta Sarpsborg Fotballklubben Sparta Sarpsborg is the football department of IL Sparta. Founded in 1928, the club got its present name in 2004. The club currently plays in 4. divisjon, the fifth tier of the Norwegian football league system. History 1950s: The ...

, which the cooperation club was now called. After the 2005 season he assumed a position as player developer, while also being in charge of the B team. Lexerød left as assistant manager after the 2006 season. The club assumed yet another identity in

Sarpsborg 08 FF Sarpsborg 08 Fotballforening, commonly known as Sarpsborg 08 or simply Sarpsborg (), is a Norwegian professional football club based in Sarpsborg, playing in Eliteserien. Sarpsborg 08 and its predecessors played in 1. divisjon from 2005 to 2010. ...

, where Lexerød continued until announcing his resignation in 2010. In this season, Sarpsborg 08 won promotion to the highest league, with Lexerød being among the people credited for developing several players to their first team as well as youth national teams. In November 2010 Lexerød was announced as the new director of sports in Kvik Halden. Two years later he was announced as their new manager, succeeding Ørjan Christiansen. On 1 August 2014, before Kvik Halden's season was over, Lexerød was announced as the new head coach of the Norwegian women's national U19 team, succeeding Jarl Torske. After contesting the

2019 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship The 2019 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship (also known as UEFA Women's Under-19 Euro 2019) was the 18th edition of the UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship (22nd edition if the Under-18 era is included), the annual international youth football champ ...

, he left to take over the Norwegian women's national U23 team. Lexwerød was also mentioned in discussions to take over the Norwegian women's national team in both 2016, 2022 and 2023. However, he went straight from Norway U23 to being announced as the new manager of

Vålerenga Fotball Damer Vålerenga Fotball Damer is the women's association football, women's football branch of Vålerenga Fotball. Based in Oslo, the team plays in Norway's top league, Toppserien. The team first won promotion to Toppserien in 2011 Norwegian First D ...

in January 2022. He led the team to back-to-back

titles in

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

and

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

. In 2024 he was awarded as Coach of the Year in Toppserien. Moreover, he led Vålerenga to the 2024–25 UEFA Women's Champions League group stage.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lexeroed, Nils 1976 births Living people People from Halden Norwegian men's footballers Kvik Halden FK players Kolbotn Fotball players Norwegian football managers Toppserien managers Sarpsborg 08 FF non-playing staff Norwegian College of Agriculture alumni Men's association football players not categorized by position 20th-century Norwegian sportsmen