Rune Bratseth

Rune Bratseth

Bratseth in 2010
Personal information
Date of birth	19 March 1961 (1961-03-19)
Place of birth	Trondheim, Norway
Height	1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)
Playing position	Sweeper
Youth career
	Nidelv
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
0000–1982	Nidelv
1983–1986	Rosenborg	83	(2)
1987–1994	Werder Bremen	230	(12)
National team
1986–1994	Norway	60	(4)
Teams managed
2006	Rosenborg
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Rune Bratseth (born 19 March 1961) is a former Norwegian footballer who played as a sweeper.

Nicknamed Elk due to his long stature, he is best known for his spell with SV Werder Bremen, also having appeared in the 1994 FIFA World Cup with Norway, its first since 1938, at the age of 33.

Club career

Born in Trondheim, Bratseth started his career at local club Rosenborg BK. There, he would only be a part-time professional, until he left for Germany's SV Werder Bremen in January 1987, for a mere €93.000. He was immediately cast into the starting XI, making his club debut in a 1–5 loss at 1. FC Nuremberg, on 21 February, after the winter break; he would also win the first of his two national championships in his first full season.

Bratseth's finest moment came when Werder won the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1991–92, in a 2–0 victory against AS Monaco FC. During the campaign, he played in eight (out of nine) complete matches, managing to add two goals (in both legs against Romania's FCM Bacău).

After a second league title with Bremen, Bratseth began suffering knee problems, even needing injections to play. After only one match in 1994–95, he called it quits, at 34, having amassed 230 league matches, with 12 goals, in eight and a half professional seasons. In the 1993–94 UEFA Champions League, Braseth was on the scoresheet at the incredible 5–3 home win against R.S.C. Anderlecht; the Belgian led 3–0 with 25 minutes to go, and he helped to the final comeback with the 2–3.

Bratseth was named Norway's Golden Player – the best Norwegian footballer of the past 50 years by the Norwegian Football Association, in November 2003, to celebrate UEFA's Jubilee.

Subsequently, he became chairman and general manager of Rosenborg, forming a successful partnership with coach Nils Arne Eggen. The club maintained its domestic superiority in the following years.

Bratseth was actually registered as a player when he started his job at Rosenborg, and since the club did not have 25 players in its first team squad to be registered for the Champions League, he was included as a backup. Even though he did not want to play, he agreed to sit on the bench for one game in case of "emergency".

He was manager of Rosenborg between 10 June and 8 November 2006, leaving his post to Knut Torbjørn Eggen, Nils Arne's son.

International career

Bratseth made his debut in the Norwegian national team in 1986. He was a regular in the following eight years, retiring subsequently with 60 caps.

During the 1994 FIFA World Cup, Bratseth was captain of the Norwegian squad. As the nation exited in the group stage (albeit with four points), their third and last game against Republic of Ireland proved to be his last international.

Honors

Team

• Norwegian League: 1985
• UEFA Cup Winners' Cup: 1991–92
• German League: 1987–88, 1992–93
• German Cup: 1990–91, 1993–94; Runner-up 1988–89, 1989–90

Individual

• Norwegian Footballer of the Year: 1991, 1992, 1994

External links

• Rune Bratseth at fussballdaten.de (German)
• Rune Bratseth at National-Football-Teams.com