Benedicte Iversen Håland (born 10 February 1998) is a Norwegian professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

for

Women's Championship The Women's Super League 2, also known as Barclays Women's Super League 2 for sponsorship reasons, is a professional football league in England, operated by WSL Football. It is the second-highest division of women's football in England. The div ...

side

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

. Håland has played for the Norwegian

U17 U17 or U-17 may refer to: Naval vessels * * , various vessels * , a submarine of the Austro-Hungarian Navy Other uses * Cessna U-17 Skywagon, an American utility aircraft * Nonconvex great rhombicuboctahedron In geometry, the nonconvex g ...

and U19 national teams.

Club career

Håland was born in Norway and started her professional career at

Arna-Bjørnar Arna-Bjørnar Fotball is a Norwegian football club from Arna, Bergen. It was founded in late 2000 as a merger between the football branches from ''IL Bjørnar'' and ''Arna T&IL'', and replaced Bjørnar IL in the league system from 2001. The ...

. She then spent a short time at

Sandviken Sandviken is a locality and the seat of Sandviken Municipality in Gävleborg County, Sweden with 26,438 inhabitants in 2023. It is situated about 25 km west of Gävle and lies approximately 190 km north of Stockholm. The rail journey t ...

, which included a spell on

loan In finance, a loan is the tender of money by one party to another with an agreement to pay it back. The recipient, or borrower, incurs a debt and is usually required to pay interest for the use of the money. The document evidencing the deb ...

Fyllingsdalen Fyllingsdalen () is a borough of the city of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway. The borough is located southwest of the city centre in the Fyllingsdalen valley, west of the mountain Løvstakken. The neighbourhoods of Fyllingsdalen mainly consis ...

. Håland agreed a one-year contract with

Swiss Women's Super League The Women's Super League is the highest-level league competition for Women's association football, women's football clubs in Women's football in Switzerland, Switzerland. It was established in 1970 (formerly named Nationalliga A). League winners ...

club

Lugano Lugano ( , , ; ) is a city and municipality within the Lugano District in the canton of Ticino, Switzerland. It is the largest city in both Ticino and the Italian-speaking region of southern Switzerland. Lugano has a population () of , and an u ...

in January 2020, before moving to

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England. The team compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded in 1894, the club competed in the Southern League and Western L ...

of the

FA WSL The Women's Super League (WSL), also known as the Barclays Women's Super League for sponsorship reasons, and formerly the FA WSL, is a professional association football league and the highest level of women's football in England. Currently oper ...

in September 2020. After finishing the season at the bottom of the table, Bristol City were relegated. Straight off the back of the completion of the

season, Håland joined Icelandic top league team

UMF Selfoss Ungmennafélag Selfoss (, ), commonly known as Selfoss or UMF Selfoss, is an Icelandic multisport club, located in the town of Selfoss in the Southern Region. In May 2019, the Selfoss men's handball team won the national handball championship ...

, until the end of the season. She spent the second half of the 2021–22 season at Italian side

Hellas Verona Hellas Verona Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Hellas Verona (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Verona, Veneto, that currently plays in Serie A. The team won ...

. In May 2022, it was announced that Benedicte would join the Scottish side

Hibernian Hibernian may refer to: * Of Hibernia, Latin name for Ireland; hence ** Irish (disambiguation) Hibernian, Hibernians or The Hibernian may refer to: Sports clubs * Hibernian F.C., a Scottish football club, founded 1875 * Hibernian W.F.C., a Sc ...

. Håland settled in as the number one choice goalkeeper and played the majority of league matches as well as several cup matches. Håland helped Hibernian lift the Capital Cup in November 2022 by saving a

penalty Penalty, The Penalty, Penalization, Penalisation, Penalize or Penalise may refer to: Sports * Foul (sports) ** Penalty (golf) ** Penalty (gridiron football) ** Penalty (ice hockey) ** Penalty (rugby) ** Penalty (rugby union) ** Penalty kick (assoc ...

during the

penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

in the final. She left the club at the end of the season, returning to

on a short-term contract. On 19 January 2024, she left Bristol City. Four days later, she signed for

side

. On 1 July 2025 it was announced that Håland was departing the club upon the expiry of her contract at the end of the 2024-25 season, having made two appearances overall.

International career

Håland was selected to train with the Norwegian under-17 national team in 2014. She played three matches and was called-up to the

UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship The UEFA European Women's Under-17 Championship or simply UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship, is an annual European championship football tournament, organized by UEFA, for national teams of women under age seventeen. The tournament was first play ...

in Iceland in the summer of 2015. She was also selected for the U19 team and played four matches.

Personal life

Håland is an open member of the

LGBT Community The LGBTQ community (also known as the LGBT, LGBT+, LGBTQ+, LGBTQIA, LGBTQIA+, or queer community) comprises LGBTQ people, LGBTQ individuals united by LGBTQ culture, a common culture and LGBTQ movements, social movements. These Community, comm ...

. According to social media, she and her partner became engaged in November 2022.https://www.instagram.com/p/Ck3eq72ou3I/

Career statistics

Club

References

External links

*
Benedicte Håland
Bristol City profile {{DEFAULTSORT:Haland, Benedicte 1998 births Living people Women's association football goalkeepers Bristol City W.F.C. players Norwegian women's footballers 21st-century Norwegian sportswomen Women's Super League players Expatriate women's footballers in England Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in England Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland SK Brann (women) players Arna-Bjørnar players Toppserien players FF Lugano 1976 players Women's Super League (Switzerland) players Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in Iceland Selfoss women's football players Expatriate women's footballers in Iceland Expatriate women's footballers in Italy Expatriate women's footballers in Switzerland SSD Women Hellas Verona players Serie A (women's football) players Southampton F.C. Women players