Ståle Solbakken

Ståle Solbakken (born 27 February 1968) is a Norwegian professional football manager and former player who is the manager of the Norway national team.

After five seasons with Grue he moved to HamKam, a then-second tier club, in 1989.

He played 58 matches and scored nine goals for the Norway national football team during the end of the 1990s, and represented Norway at the 1998 World Cup and 2000 European Championship tournaments.

He was the club's top goalscorer in the 1990 season, where he netted nine times.

The following season he scored 14 goals to help the club to promotion to the top-flight Norwegian Premier League.

After narrowly avoiding relegation in his first season at the top level, Solbakken was part of the HamKam side that finished 5th in 1993 - a position they have not bettered since.

In 1994, he transferred to their Premier League rivals Lillestrøm where he finished as runner-up in the league during his first season.

Although the club finished in fourth during the following campaign, Solbakken's performances saw him win the Kniksen award as the Norwegian Midfielder of the Season.

Solbakken made his international debut for the Norway national football team on 9 March 1994, in a 3–1 friendly win in Wales.

Although he was not named in the squad for the 1994 World Cup, he became a regular feature in the squad soon after.

During his playing career, Solbakken was named 1995 Norwegian midfielder of the year, and he won the Danish Superliga championship with both Aalborg BK and Copenhagen (in 1999 and 2001 respectively).

He was appointed club captain by Lillestrøm and helped the side again finish runners-up in 1996 before he serving one final season in 1997 for the Canaries.

In total, he made 99 league appearances for the club, scoring 34 times.

In October 1997, Solbakken joined English Premier League club Wimbledon for £250,000.

In his six league games for Wimbledon, Solbakken scored one goal against West Ham United, and was twice named "man of the match", but he fell out with team manager Joe Kinnear and was banned from club training shortly thereafter.

He was quickly sold to Danish side Aalborg BK in March 1998.

Solbakken became Aalborg BK's captain, and guided the club to the 1998–99 Danish Superliga championship, as well as the final of the 1998–99 Danish Cup tournament.

He was a member of the Norwegian team that qualified for 1998 World Cup, where he appeared in two of their group games (against Morocco and Scotland) as well as their second round exit to Italy.

He won Danish football's Player of the Year Award in 2000.

In total, he played 79 games and scored 13 goals for AaB in the Danish Superliga.

In August 2000, he departed to Danish league rivals Copenhagen.

His country qualified for the next major tournament, the 2000 European Championship, but Solbakken picked up an injury shortly before the finals.

In the end, he was only able to appear in one tournament game: a goalless draw with Slovenia that eliminated them in the group stage.

After this exit, he announced his international retirement, aged 32.

In total, he won 58 caps for Norway, scoring nine times.

He ended his active career in March 2001 following a heart attack.

Solbakken quickly became a regular player in the side and helped push them to the top of the table but he was unable to complete the season after suffering a heart attack in March 2001.

The club went on to win the 2001 Superliga championship and give Solbakken a second championship medal as a player.

During training on 13 March 2001, Solbakken had a heart attack.

He was rapidly attended to by the club doctor, Frank Odgaard, who found that Solbakken's heart had stopped beating.

Odgaard asked a player to call an ambulance and to tell them it was critical, while he continued to administer cardiac massage.

Upon the ambulance's arrival, Solbakken was pronounced clinically dead at the scene.

On the way to the hospital in the ambulance, he was revived nearly seven minutes later.

He survived the episode and now has a pacemaker fitted.

The heart attack was the result of a previously undetected heart defect.

Shortly after, on medical advice, he announced his retirement from playing.

In 2002, Solbakken returned to Norway and started his managerial career at his old club HamKam, positioned at the second tier.

As a manager, he was named 2004 Norwegian Manager of the Year, and has won eight Danish Superliga championships with Copenhagen.

Solbakken was also in charge of German club 1. FC Köln during the 2011–12 season and then managed English side Wolverhampton Wanderers in a six-month tenure.

Solbakken, a midfielder, started his career in Norway, playing for his local lower league team Grue.