Roger Nilsen

Roger Nilsen (born 8 August 1969) is a Norwegian football coach and former player. A defender, he played for the Norwegian clubs Tromsø, Viking, Molde and Bryne, and spent time abroad at 1. FC Köln, Sheffield United, Tottenham Hotspur and Grazer AK. He made 32 appearances and scored three goals for Norway. He later worked as assistant coach at Viking.

Roger Nilsen

Nilsen during a show game against Liverpool
Personal information
Date of birth	(1969-08-08) 8 August 1969 (age 55)
Place of birth	Tromsø, Norway
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position(s)	Defender
Youth career
	Kvaløysletta
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1987–1988	Tromsø	3	(0)
1989–1993	Viking	90	(11)
1993	→ 1. FC Köln (loan)	10	(0)
1993–1999	Sheffield United	166	(0)
1999	Tottenham Hotspur	2	(0)
1999–2000	Grazer AK	13	(0)
2000–2001	Molde	20	(2)
2002–2003	Bryne	24	(0)
Total		329	(13)
International career
1989–1992	Norway U21	19	(2)
1990–2000	Norway	32	(3)
Managerial career
2006	Stavanger
2007–2010	Viking (assistant)
2014–	Fløya (women)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Club career

Viking FK

Born in Tromsø, Nilsen's career began in Tromsø, but it was after he moved on to Viking that he became established, winning Tippeligaen, the Norwegian top division in 1991.^[1] In his four seasons at Viking, Nilsen successfully became a regular in Norway's U21 team, and won his first senior cap in 1990. He was loaned to 1. FC Köln, and was put up for sale towards the end of the 1993 season.

Sheffield United

Having already signed Norwegian team-mate Jostein Flo, Sheffield United boss Dave Bassett added Nilsen in November 1993 for the fee of £500,000, beating Aberdeen to his signature.^[2] Nilsen joined as the club fought unsuccessfully against relegation from the Premier League, and was a regular at left-back.

A popular figure at Bramall Lane, Nilsen played six seasons under five different managers, with a number of games at centre-back - particularly after United switched to a wing-back formation in 1997/98. He started the 1997 playoff final defeat at Wembley against Crystal Palace, and United's defeat to Newcastle in the FA Cup semi-final in 1998. It was in that cup-run where Nilsen had arguably his most memorable moment, during the quarter-final penalty shootout win over Coventry City. Never scoring for the Blades, and with Gareth Taylor having missed the first United penalty, Nilsen stepped up to convert the second - powering the ball past Steve Ogrizovic to put the Blades 1–0 up.^[3]

Nilsen's final appearance came as he helped keep a clean sheet in a 3–0 win over West Brom in Feb 1999, before a surprise return to the Premier League saw him transferred to Tottenham Hotspur on a free.^[4]

Later career

After making just two appearances at Spurs, Nilsen had a brief spell at Grazer AK before he returned home to play for Molde and Bryne.^[1] He left Bryne in 2003, but continued his career in the Norwegian third division with Stavanger IF.^[5]

International career

Nilsen represented Norway at youth international level and played for the under-20 team in the 1989 FIFA World Youth Championship.^[6] He played 19 matches and scored two goals for Norway U21.^[7]

Nilsen made his debut for the senior team in the friendly match against Cameroon on 31 October 1990. He scored his first goal for Norway against Sweden on 26 August 1992, and scored two goals in the 10–0 win against San Marino two weeks later. Nilsen was a part of the 1994 FIFA World Cup squad, but did not play any matches in the tournament. He played his last match for Norway against Sweden on 4 February 2000. Nilsen was capped a total of 32 times, and scored three goals.^[8]

Coaching career

In 2006, he retired and took over as head coach for Stavanger IF, guiding the club to promotion to the second division. At the end of the season, Nilsen left the club to take up the assistant coach position at the Norwegian top-flight side Viking.^[9] After manager Uwe Rösler left in November 2009 he was briefly caretaker manager.^[10] He was downsized from his assistant job after the 2010 season.^[11]

In 2014, he succeeded Odd-Karl Stangnes as manager of IF Fløya's women's team, combined with a teaching job at the Norwegian College of Elite Sports in Tromsø.^[12] In September 2018 Nilsen was sacked from his role managing FK Vidar with the club 2nd bottom in the 2nd division.^[13]

Personal life

Roger Nilsen is the brother of the former player and coach Steinar Nilsen.^[14]

References

1. "Norske fotballspillere i utlandet" (in Norwegian). Retrieved 18 May 2009.^{[permanent dead link‍]}
2. "Aberdeen loses the cash race for Nilsen". The Herald. Glasgow. Retrieved 13 July 2015.
3. "Arsenal and Sheffield United Through on penalties". BBC. Retrieved 15 July 2015.
4. "Tottenham låner Nilsen" (in Norwegian). VG. Retrieved 13 July 2015.
5. "Profil: Roger Nilsen" (in Norwegian). Tromsø IL. Archived from the original on 4 June 2008. Retrieved 18 May 2009.
6. "Norway squad, 1989 FIFA U-20 World Cup". FIFA. Archived from the original on 23 November 2007. Retrieved 20 October 2012.
7. "Roger Nilsen's profil". fotball.no (in Norwegian). Football Association of Norway. Archived from the original on 22 February 2013. Retrieved 20 October 2012.
8. "Roger Nilsen". home.no. Retrieved 6 February 2013.
9. Grøndal, Kjell-Ivar (18 April 2008). "Nilsen holder ambisjonene for seg selv" (in Norwegian). Stavanger Aftenblad. Archived from the original on 23 February 2012. Retrieved 18 May 2009.
10. "Roger Nilsen overtar". Bladet Tromsø (in Norwegian). 7 October 2010. p. 31.
11. Fisketjøn, Lars (7 October 2010). "Ber Viking-ledelsen kutte millioner". Rogalands Avis (in Norwegian). pp. 18–19.
12. Hanssen, Anders Mo (4 June 2014). "Vil rykke opp i løpet av to år". Nordlys (in Norwegian). p. 27.
13. "Roger Nilsen er ferdig som Vidar-trener" (in Norwegian). 25 September 2018.
14. Sonstad, Trym Oust (17 June 2007). "Fotball foran søskenkjærlighet" (in Norwegian). Dagbladet. Retrieved 18 May 2009.