Edvard Skagestad (born 6 July 1988) is a Norwegian

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

centre back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

for Follo. Skagestad played five seasons for Aalesund in

Eliteserien Eliteserien () is a professional association football league in Norway and the highest level of the Norwegian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the Norwegian First Division ...

and one season for

IFK Norrköping Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna Norrköping, more commonly known as IFK Norrköping or simply Norrköping, is a Swedish professional association football, football club based in Norrköping. The club is affiliated to Östergötlands Fotbollför ...

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; ), also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan (, ) is a professional association football league in Sweden and the highest level of the Swedish football league system. Founded in 1924, it operates on a system of promotion and relegatio ...

. He has represented Norway at youth international level.

Early life

Born and raised in Ås,

Akershus Akershus () is a county in Norway, with Oslo as its administrative centre, though Oslo is not located within Akershus. Akershus has been a region in Eastern Norway with Oslo as its main city since the Middle Ages, and is named after the Akers ...

. Skagestad was involved in athletics while attending senior high school. He initially played Basketball, and did not start focusing on football until around the age of 18. He describes himself as a moderate supporter of

Arsenal FC The Arsenal Football Club, commonly known as simply Arsenal, is a professional football club based in Islington, North London, England. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. In domestic football, Arsenal h ...

Club career

Starting his youth career in his community, Skagestad previously played for

Ås IL Ås is the Scandinavia, Scandinavian language word for an esker, a ridge of sand and gravel. Ås may also refer to: People *Ås (surname) *Berit Ås (born 1928), a Norwegian politician and Professor Emerita of social psychology at the Universit ...

. Skagestad later played for local club Follo from 2006 to 2010, and he played the cup final against

Strømsgodset Strømsgodset is a former municipality in Vestfold county (from 1964 Buskerud county) in Norway which is today a part of the city of Drammen. History Strømsgodset was originally a small rural annex to the city parish of Bragernes (Drammen). ...

in 2010, which Follo lost 2–0. He joined Aalesund ahead of the 2011-season as a free agent. He immediately stated that his goal for the season was to play for a permanent spot. After making a series of good performances in the 2011 pre-season, Skagestad suffered a bout of hamstring-injuries which kept him on the sidelines until late April. He made his debut in the cup-win against

Stranda Stranda may also refer to: Places *Stranda Municipality, a municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway * Stranda, Møre og Romsdal, a village within Stranda Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway * Stranda Hundred, a hundred of Smålan ...

, and his first league debut came later on 29 May in the 2–0 home win against

Viking Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

. He was again injured in the 4–0 win over

IF Elfsborg Idrottsföreningen Elfsborg, more commonly known as IF Elfsborg or simply Elfsborg (), is a professional association football, football club based in Borås, Sweden, and is affiliated to the Västergötlands Fotbollförbund. They play in the Alls ...

but quickly recovered. During the last half of the 2011 season there was an acute shortage of qualified strikers in Aalesund's squad. Skagestad, who originally was a right back, was then forced to play as a striker and occasionally as a winger. He went on to receive praise for his performance At one point, Skagestad made the starting-eleven as a striker while the actual strikers

Sander Post Sander Post (born 10 September 1984 in Viljandi) is an Estonian football coach and former player who played as a centre back. Club career Early career Post made his first-team debut for FC Elva at the age of 16 in 2001, as a defender. After ...

, Didrik Fløtre and Solomon Okoronkwo was referred to the bench. His first goal for the club came on 30 October in a 1–1 away draw against

Lillestrøm Lillestrøm is a municipality in Akershus county. It is located in the traditional district of Romerike. With a population of 85,757 inhabitants, it is the fourth most populated municipality in Viken. It was founded on 1 January 2020 as a merger ...

. The 2011 season ended triumphantly for Skagestad as he was chosen to start, again as a striker, the 2011 Cup final against Brann. A match which Aalesund won 2–1. In the run-up to the 2012 season, Skagestad was again chosen as a striker, this time due to rampant injuries suffered by Leke James,

Demar Phillips Demar Constantine Phillips (born 23 September 1983) is a Jamaican former footballer who played as a left wingback. Early life Demar Phillips was born on 23 September 1983 in a small town in the district of St Thomas outside Kingston. He descr ...

and

Lars Fuhre Lars Mendonça Fuhre (born 29 September 1989) is a Norwegian association footballer who plays for Asker. Club career Described as a major youth talent, Fuhre started his career with the native club Hokksund IL before moving to Strømsgodset w ...

. He answered by actively part-taking in defeating Dutch powerhouse

FC Twente Football Club Twente (), sometimes known internationally as FC Twente Enschede, is a Dutch professional Association football, football club from the city of Enschede. The club was formed in 1965 by the merger of 1926 Dutch champions Sportclub E ...

in the Maspalomas Cup. His strong performances in the pre-season as a striker earned him a starting spot throughout the first half of the season, which again made him target of the local media, who were frustrated by the club's inability to produce an actual striker. Despite being brought to the club as a

center back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

, Skagestad ended up playing most of the matches as a striker. After the home loss against rivals

Molde Molde () is a List of towns and cities in Norway, town and the seat of Molde Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Romsdal. It is located on the Romsdal Pen ...

on 6 May, Aalesund's head coach

Kjetil Rekdal Kjetil André Rekdal (born 6 November 1968) is a Norwegian football manager and a former player. He is the manager of Norwegian club Aalesund. Rekdal began his playing career in Molde FK, playing afterwards for clubs in the Bundesliga, Ligue 1 ...

were facing outside pressure and slowly started utilizing Skagestad as a full back, replacing him as a forward with the Jamaican newcomer

Tremaine Stewart Tremaine Stewart (5 January 1988 – 18 April 2021) was a Jamaican professional footballer who played as a forward or winger. Club career Nicknamed 'Tan Tan', he began his career in his native homeland, playing for August Town and Portmore U ...

. By mid-season however, Skagestad found himself playing midfielder, once again due to injuries devastating the squad. Commentators noted that the full-back had essentially played in every single position except as goalkeeper after arriving at the club. Skagestad played for Aalesund for three seasons, and played 28 matches when the team finished fourth in the

2013 Tippeligaen The 2013 Tippeligaen was the 69th completed season of top division football in Norway. The competition began 15 March 2013 and ended on 10 November 2013, when Strømsgodset defeated Haugesund 4–0 to win their second league title. The league wa ...

, which was his last season. On 29 November 2013 he was presented as a new signing for the Swedish club

, and he joined the club in January 2014.

Career statistics

References

External links

Profile
at altomfotball.no * {{DEFAULTSORT:Skagestad, Edvard 1988 births Living people People from Ås, Akershus Footballers from Akershus Norwegian men's footballers Norway men's youth international footballers Men's association football defenders Follo FK players Aalesunds FK players IFK Norrköping players Fredrikstad FK players Kongsvinger IL Toppfotball players Norwegian First Division players Norwegian Second Division players Eliteserien players Allsvenskan players Norwegian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in Sweden 21st-century Norwegian sportsmen