Solveig Gulbrandsen

[Alan]

The queen of football in Norway is expecting her second child and has hinted that she will retire immediately.  This has not been totally confirmed but the signs are very strong.

Solveig's last match was a Toppserien league match on Saturday October 30 when her team Stabæk had a 3-0 win over Trondheims-Ørn.  Although there is still one match left to play this season and before the match Røa could still have taken the title, Røa in fact lost 4-0 to Kolbotn with a hat-trick from Rebecca (Becky09) Angus.  So with a lead of 5 points Stabæk received their trophy from the NFF President after the match.  Solveig will not travel to next Saturday's away match because of morning sickness, according to Stabæk's trainer Roger Finjord.

The match was one of the good ones in the Norwegian league and midfielder Gulbrandsen had a lively match on the right and assisted two of the goals.  A great way to finish a distinguished career which included Gold at the Sydney Olympics.

Highlights of Solveig's last match: http://www.tv2sporten.no/fotball/toppserien/stabaek-er-seriemestere-3329363.html

Perhaps Solveig's most famous match was the European Cup semifinal in June 2005 at Warrington, UK, when Norway beat Sweden 3-2 in a cliffhanger after extra time.  She scored twice and assisted the other goal.  Also she had a yellow card for hoisting her shirt over her head

BBC interview after the European Cup Final 2005:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/sol/newsid_4100000/newsid_4109200/4109244.stm?bw=bb&mp=wm&news=1&ms3=6&ms_javascript=true&bbcws=2

[Alan]

Solveig Gulbrandsen's career reached its end on Saturday.  She kept up the typically brilliant quality of her play right to the finish.  Her club Stabæk took the Toppserien league title and she was one of the best players on the pitch, assisting two of the best goals of the season in the 3-0 win.

For Norway she has played 154 matches and scored 47 goals.  Gulbrandsen has been one of the stars of Norwegian football for many years.  "It will be good to have free weekends.  It's exhausting to be away from the family so much", she told NRK.

She debuted on the national team as far back as 1998.  Since then she has become an Olympic champion (Sydney 2000) and played in both the World Cup in 2007 and the 2008 Olympics.  In the European Cup semifinal in 2005 she was the best player, scored two goals and assisted the third, something she describes as a high point in her career.  "The whole tournament was a great experience.  Our expectations were not high, but it was a success.  Norway lost to Germany in the Final in Blackburn", she said.

Gulbrandsen has contributed on and off the pitch.  She has been technically good, a strong runner and a very good attacking midfielder, according to NRK's expert Karl-Petter Løken.  She finished her international career on September 15 in the vital playoff against Ukraine for a place in next year's World Cup, assisting the first goal and scoring the second with an elegant lob, four minutes from full time.

Gulbrandsen is 29, and as well as her long international career she has been important in Norwegian club football.  She was a League Champion with Kolbotn and Stabæk and won the Cup with Kolbotn in 2007.  This year she also became a champion with FC Gold Pride in California, realising her ambition of being a professional footballer in the USA.  

She has a wish to try her skills as a trainer in the future, and could one day be a trainer in the Toppserien.  She has decided views on football and is excited about the future.  "We have good players in Norway, but there is some variation", she told NRK.

On Saturday the Toppserien season comes to an end.  It is highly unlikely that she will travel with Stabæk to their away match on the south coast against Amazon Grimstad as she has been suffering from sickness and injuries recently.

Thanks Solveig for a fantastic career!      

Olav Traaen http://www.nrksport.no/fotball/toppserien/1.7370101

[Alan]

It's been confirmed that Solveig Gulbrandsen is expecting her second child.  "I have made up my mind to put my boots on the shelf for good - both in club and national team football.  Now what I am looking forward to most is that Theodor will have a brother or sister in about five months time", said 29-year-old Gulbrandsen to VG.  

Solveig Gulbrandsen played her 154th and last international match against Ukraine on September 15, lobbing Norway's second goal in the 86th minute of the World Cup qualification playoff.  Altogether the elegant midfielder scored 47 goals with the flag on her shirt.  "I am not ruling out coming back to football one day.  I have had some thoughts about a future career as a trainer and have competed the 'C' course.  I have had some offers as well", she said.

Gulbrandsen was the last of the present Norwegian team to have played in the Sydney Olympics in 2000 where Norway won Gold.  Eli Landsem understands the decision.  "Solveig Gulbrandsen has been a brilliant footballer.  She has undoubtedly been one of Norway's best players through the times", said the national team trainer.

She had her first child Theodor on June 8, 2006.  At the end of the 2006 season she was with her club Kolbotn when they took the Toppserien League championship.  "Now I will enjoy all my free time and concentrate fully on my job at Møller Bil.  But I will continue to follow women's football", said Solveig Gulbrandsen.

Dag Langholm http://www.vg.no/sport/fotball/kvinner/artikkel.php?artid=10020392

[Alan]

After the birth of her second child, a daughter named Lilly, on June 19, Solveig Gulbrandsen was back on the football field on Saturday in the blue shirt of Vålerenga, a first-division Oslo club that she joined as assistant trainer at the end of last season.

Vålerenga is coached by former Toppserien defender Cecilie Berg-Hansen, who used to be a teammate of Gulbrandsen at Kolbotn.  Vålerenga is aiming for promotion to the Toppserien at the end of 2011.

[Alan]

When Solveig Gulbrandsen announced her retirement from football after a successful 2010 season with Stabaek, the Norwegian international could already look back with pride on an impressive career.  But little did she know that there were more chapters to be written in Gulbrandsen's football story.  "Expect the unexpected" should be the Norwegian's motto . . .
http://www.fifa.com/aboutfifa/footballdevelopment/technicalsupport/women/news/newsid=1900914/index.html

All-time top scorers in Norway's elite league:
1. Marianne Pettersen 148 goals
2. Kjersti Thun 145
3. Ragnhild Gulbrandsen 141
4. Hege Riise 138
5. Ann Kristin Aarønes 133
6. Kristy Moore 132 (inc. 7 this season)
7. Linda Medalen 131
8. Solveig Gulbrandsen 130 (inc. 4 this season)
9. Brit Sandaune 127
10. Elene Moseby 124