Harald Brattbakk

Harald Martin Brattbakk (born 1 February 1971) is a Norwegian former professional footballer who played as a striker. He was the all-time top scorer in the Norwegian top division with 166 goals in 255 matches, before being surpassed by Sigurd Rushfeldt in 2011. After his retirement from playing he became a pilot.

Harald Brattbakk

Personal information
Full name	Harald Martin Brattbakk
Date of birth	(1971-02-01) 1 February 1971 (age 53)
Place of birth	Trondheim, Norway
Height	1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)
Position(s)	Striker
Youth career
–1989	Kolstad IL
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1990–1991	Rosenborg	14	(2)
1992–1993	Bodø/Glimt	41	(24)
1994–1997	Rosenborg	100	(94)
1997–2000	Celtic	44	(12)
2000–2001	Copenhagen	31	(14)
2001–2006	Rosenborg	109	(55)
2005	→ Bodø/Glimt (loan)	11	(5)
2008	Kolstad	5	(2)
Total		355	(208)
International career
1995–2004	Norway	17	(5)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Club career

Brattbakk was born in Trondheim. He has played for Kolstad, Rosenborg BK, Celtic, F.C. Copenhagen and Bodø/Glimt (loan).

Brattbakk is most known for his goalscoring abilities for the Norwegian club Rosenborg BK where he has enjoyed three spells (1990–91, 1994–97 and 2001–06) scoring most of his goals which has helped him reach the top of the all-time goalscoring chart in the Norwegian Premier League.

At Celtic, where he played from December 1997 to January 2000, Brattbakk seemed overawed by the pressures of playing for one of Scotland's Old Firm clubs. Though he did enjoy some success with the club — including hitting the clinching goal against St Johnstone to help them win the SPL title on the final day of the 1997–1998 season, and scoring all four goals in a 4–0 win over Kilmarnock that same year — his spell in Glasgow was generally characterised by nervous performances and insufficient goals.

However, Brattbakk has been very successful in Norway. With 166 goals he was the highest-scoring player in the history of the Norwegian Premier League, until his record was beat by Sigurd Rushfeldt on 29 May 2011. Moreover, his record in the Champions League is an impressive one, and includes goals against such top sides as Real Madrid and Milan. He scored 28 goals in 66 matches for Rosenborg BK and scored 4 goals in 9 matches for Celtic in various European Cups.^[1] In November 2001, he scored twice against his old club Celtic as Rosenborg defeated them 2–0 in a Champions League tie in Trondheim.

Brattbakk returned to Rosenborg after being on a loan to Bodø/Glimt in the last half of the 2005 season, but on 20 February 2006 it was announced that he had been relieved from his contract and he has now retired from the game.

In 2008 Brattbakk made a comeback in football after signing a contract with his native Kolstad, an amateur club in the Norwegian 3rd Division Dep. 19. However, the comeback lasted only for the rest of the 2008 season.^[2]

International career

Brattbakk made his debut for Norway in a February 1995 friendly match against Estonia in which he scored two goals. He went on to play seventeen times for his country, scoring five goals.^[3]

Retirement

On 21 November 2006, Brattbakk announced on the Norwegian television channel TV3 that he intended to become an airline pilot after his retirement from professional football. He trained as a pilot in Florida at Phoenix East Aviation, Inc. and got his commercial aircraft certification in 2008. Until 2010 he flew for the aircraft company Helitrans, based at Trondheim Airport, Værnes.^[2] This included missions for Norwegian Coast Guard. From 2010 he has been working as a pilot for Norwegian Air Shuttle.

Personal life

His son Filip Brattbakk plays for Rosenborg.

Career statistics

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition^[4][5]

Club	Season	League			Cup		Continental		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Rosenborg	1990	Tippeligaen	3	1	0	0	0	0	3	1
	1991		11	1	4	2	2	0	17	3
	Total		14	2	4	2	2	0	20	4
Bodø/Glimt	1992	First Division	19	14	5	5	–		24	19
	1993	Tippeligaen	22	10	7	4	–		29	14
	Total		41	24	12	9	0	0	53	33
Rosenborg	1994	Tippeligaen	22	17	7	10	4	3	33	30
	1995		26	26	10	10	7	4	43	40
	1996		26	28	4	11	10	2	40	41
	1997		26	23	5	7	8	5	39	35
	Total		100	94	26	38	29	14	155	146
Celtic	1997–98	Scottish Premier League	17	7	4	3	–		21	10
	1998–99		25	5	2	1	7	2	34	8
	1999–2000		2	0	0	0	2	2	4	2
	Total		44	12	6	4	9	4	59	20
Copenhagen	1999–2000	Danish Superliga	14	7	2	1	0	0	16	8
	2000–01		17	7	2	0	–		19	7
	Total		31	14	4	1	0	0	35	15
Rosenborg	2001	Tippeligaen	25	15	3	3	8	3	36	21
	2002		25	17	4	10	8	3	37	30
	2003		25	17	6	9	8	5	39	31
	2004		25	4	5	11	9	3	39	18
	2005		9	2	3	2	0	0	12	4
	Total		109	55	21	35	33	14	163	104
Bodø/Glimt (loan)	2005	Tippeligaen	11	5	0	0	–		11	6
Kolstad	2008	Third division	5	2	0	0	–		5	2
Career total			355	208	73	89	73	32	501	329

Honours

Bodø/Glimt

• Norwegian Cup: 1993

Rosenborg^[6]

• Tippeligaen: 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004
• Norwegian Cup: 1995, 2003

Celtic

• Scottish Premier Division: 1997–98

Copenhagen

• Danish Superliga: 2000–01

Individual

• Tippeligaen top scorer: 1994, 1995, 1996, 2002, 2003
• Kniksen Award Striker of the Year: 1994, 1995, 1997, 2003

External links

• Harald Brattbakk at National-Football-Teams.com

References

1. Harald Martin Brattbakk – Matches in European Cups – RSSSF
2. "Proffklemma" (in Norwegian). Norgesnytt. Retrieved 21 April 2009.
3. Norway – International Players – Landslaget
4. "Brattbakk, Harald". FitbaStats. Retrieved 6 April 2015.
5. "Harald Brattbakk". Soccerbase. Retrieved 6 April 2015.
6. "Mestvinnende med RBK" (in Norwegian). Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation. 19 October 2006. Retrieved 20 August 2009.