Elias Valderhaug (born 26 April 1990) 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

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

Åkra Åkra is a former municipality in the traditional district of Haugaland in Rogaland county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1892 until 1965 and it encompassed the central part of the western coast of the island of Karmøy. The adminis ...

in 3. divisjon. He has previously played for

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 ...

Tippeligaen 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 has also had spells with

Start Start can refer to multiple topics: * Takeoff, the phase of flight where an aircraft transitions from moving along the ground to flying through the air * Starting lineup in sports * Track and field#Starts use in race, Starts use in sport race * S ...

and

Kongsvinger Kongsvinger () is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Glåmdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Kongsvinger. Other settlements in the municipality include Aust ...

Career

Valderhaug was born in Valderøy and played for IL Valder and Åkra IL before joining

in 2007. He made his debut on the first-team, when he replaced

Knut Dørum Lillebakk Knut Dørum Lillebakk (born 27 April 1978) is a Norwegian former football goalkeeper. Lillebakk has been the second-choice goalkeeper in Molde FK throughout his career, but he had short spells on loan in Bryne FK, Aalesunds FK, Bærum SK and IL ...

in the 87th minute in the quarter-final of the 2009 Norwegian Football Cup against Rosenborg on 9 August 2009. Valderhaug was sent on loan together with his team-mate Jacob Meidell to the nabour club

Kristiansund BK Kristiansund BK is a Norwegian football club located in Kristiansund that currently plays in Eliteserien. The team plays its home matches in the 4,444-capacity Kristiansund Stadion. Kristiansund BK was formed in the autumn of 2003, when two riva ...

in August 2012, where he played nine matches in the Second Division. Valderhaug made his debut in

against

Sarpsborg 08 Sarpsborg 08 Fotballforening, commonly known as Sarpsborg 08 or simply Sarpsborg (), is a Norwegian professional football club based in Sarpsborg, playing in Eliteserien. Sarpsborg 08 and its predecessors played in 1. divisjon from 2005 to 2010. ...

on 20 November 2011, after

Ole Gunnar Solskjær Ole Gunnar Solskjær (; born 26 February 1973) is a Norwegian professional football manager and former player who currently manages Süper Lig club Beşiktaş. He spent the majority of his playing career with Manchester United and made 67 appea ...

decided to let him play the last two games of the season instead of Espen Bugge Pettersen, since Molde already had won

that year. Valderhaug joined

on a short-term loan-deal on 12 April 2012, due to injuries on both their goalkeepers, Alexander Lund Hansen and Johnny Kristiansen. Valderhaug played Start's match against

HamKam Hamarkameratene (), often abbreviated to HamKam or Ham-Kam, is a Norwegian professional football club based in the town of Hamar. The club was founded in 1918, originally under the name Freidig. HamKam were most recently promoted to the Elites ...

three days later, but returned to Molde in the middle of June even though the loan lasted to 1 August as both Start's goalkeeper had returned from their injuries. Valderhaug joined

in August 2012 on a short-term contract to the end of the 2012 season, and played 12 matches for the team in the First Division. After seeing out his short-term contract, Valderhaug moved back to his home-county

Møre og Romsdal Møre og Romsdal (; ) is a Counties of Norway, county in the northernmost part of Western Norway, Western Norway. It borders the counties of Trøndelag, Innlandet, and Vestland. The county administration is located in the Molde (town), town of M ...

and signed a two-year contract with the newly promoted First Division side Kristiansund BK.

Club statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Valderhaug, Even 1990 births Living people Footballers from Møre og Romsdal Norwegian men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Molde FK players Kristiansund BK players IK Start players Kongsvinger IL Toppfotball players Eliteserien players Norwegian First Division players Norwegian Third Division players People from Giske 21st-century Norwegian sportsmen