Christine Colombo Nilsen (married Hajo; born 30 April 1982) is a retired Norwegian

football goalkeeper The goalkeeper (sometimes written as goal-keeper, abbreviated as GK, keeper, keeps, or goalie) is a position in association football. It is the most specialised position in the sport. The goalkeeper's main role is to stop the opposing team from ...

. She currently (2012) plays for

Vålerenga Vålerenga () is a neighbourhood in the city of Oslo, Norway, belonging to the borough of Gamle Oslo. Vålerenga is located between the neighbourhoods of Gamlebyen, Jordal, Ensjø, Etterstad and Lodalen. Vålerenga is in particular known for i ...

in the

Toppserien The Toppserien is the top level of women's association football in Norway. It was founded in 1984. History Women's league football was introduced on a county basis in 1977. These leagues acted as qualification for the regional (South) league in ...

. She is also a member of the

Norway women's national football team The Norway women's national football team () represents Norway in international Women's association football, football, and is controlled by the Norwegian Football Federation. The team is former European, World and Olympic champions and thus one ...

. She appeared twelve times for the national team following her debut on 11 March 2006 in a match against Finland. She was a member of the

2007 Women's World Cup The 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup, the fifth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, was an international football competition for women held in China from 10 to 30 September 2007. Originally, China was to host the 2003 edition, but the outbreak o ...

squad. On 9 June 2008, Nilsen was named to the Norwegian roster for the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

held in

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

, China. Where her team beat defending olympic champions USA and made it to the quarter finals In 2009, she joined French champions

Olympique Lyonnais Olympique Lyonnais (), commonly referred to as simply Lyon () or OL, is a French professional association football, football club based in Lyon, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France. With origins dating back to 1899, they were founded in 1950 and p ...

where she played in the

UEFA Women's Champions League The UEFA Women's Champions League, previously called the UEFA Women's Cup (2001–2009), is a European women's association football competition. It involves the top club teams from countries affiliated with the European governing body UEFA. ...

, which OL won in 2010 by beating

Turbine Potsdam 1. Frauenfußballclub Turbine Potsdam 71 e. V., commonly known as 1. FFC Turbine Potsdam (or Turbine Potsdam outside of Germany), is a German women's football club located in Potsdam, Brandenburg. They are one of the most successful women's footb ...

in the Final. Nilsen left Olympique Lyonnais in July 2010 and returned to Norway to work as a hairdresser. She was persuaded to stand in goal for

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 ...

in Autumn 2010 while Erika Skarbø was injured, and was also a member of the Norway national squad that in September qualified for the 2011 World Cup. In Autumn 2011, she played a further two matches for Arna-Bjørnar. In January 2012, she joined the newly promoted

club Vålerenga, trained by her former Kolbotn teammates Cecilie Berg-Hansen and

Solveig Gulbrandsen Solveig Ingersdatter Gulbrandsen (born 12 January 1981) is a Norwegian former footballer played a midfielder. At club level she has previously represented Kolbotn, FC Gold Pride, Vålerenga Fotball Damer and Stabæk. With the Norwegian nati ...

. She was member of Norway's squad at the

2012 Algarve Cup The 2012 Algarve Cup was the nineteenth edition of the Algarve Cup, an invitational Women's association football, women's football tournament held annually in Portugal. It began on 29 February and ended on 7 March 2012. Format The twelve invited ...

References

External links

Official Kolbotn club siteFootballMagasinet.no profile
* 1982 births Living people Footballers from Akershus Norwegian women's footballers 21st-century Norwegian sportswomen Norway women's youth international footballers Norway women's international footballers Women's association football goalkeepers Athene Moss players Arna-Bjørnar players OL Lyonnes players Kolbotn Fotball players Vålerenga Fotball Damer players Footballers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers for Norway Norwegian expatriate women's footballers Expatriate women's footballers in France Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in France 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup players Première Ligue players {{Norway-women-footy-bio-stub