Emilie Bragstad (born 16 December 2001) is a Norwegian footballer who plays as a defender for Swedish club

Hammarby IF Hammarby Idrottsförening ("Hammarby Sports Club"), commonly known as Hammarby IF or simply Hammarby ( or, especially locally, ), is a Swedish sports club located in Stockholm, with a number of member organizations active in a variety of differ ...

and the Norway national team. At the age of 18, UEFA placed her on their list of ten players to watch in 2020.

Club career

In her youth, Bragstad played for Trond and

Strindheim Strindheim is a neighbourhood in the city of Trondheim in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is located in the borough of Østbyen in Trondheim Municipality Trondheim ( , , ; ), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros, and Trondhjem (), is a city and ...

before she joined at the time

Trondheims-Ørn Rosenborg Ballklub Kvinner (previously known as Sportsklubben Trondheims-Ørn) is a Norwegian women's professional football club in Trondheim, Trøndelag. History The club was founded as a multi-sports club on May 18, 1917, and became a mem ...

(now Rosenborg) in 2017. She was part of the team when Rosenborg came second in

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 ...

in both

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

and

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

. They were also undefeated in Toppserien 2020, and according to UEFA (in their follow up on the ten players to watch in 2020) she played an important role in the team that year. In 2021, she got nominated to the young player of the year in Toppserien. In January 2022, when Bragstad was 20 years old and already had played 5 seasons in Toppserien, she signed a contract until 30 June 2025 for German side

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), commonly known as Bayern Munich (), FC Bayern () or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. They are most known for their men's professional football team, ...

. She decided to stay on loan in Rosenborg until summer 2022 since she wanted to be part of the Norway national team during Euro 2022, and to achieve that it was important to play enough matches during the spring. During the 2022–23 season, she made 14 appearances for senior Bayern Munich team, and played four matches for the reserve team. In June 2023, she was loaned out to fellow German club

Bayer 04 Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen, officially known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH () and commonly known as Bayer Leverkusen or simply Leverkusen, is a German professional association football, football club based in Leverkusen, North Rhine-Westphalia. ...

. Upon the conclusion of the 2023–24 season, her transfer to Leverkusen became permanent, by signing a two-year contract.

International career

Bragstad has played matches for the Norway youth national teams U15, U16,

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 ...

, U19, and U23. At the age of 17, she got selected to part of the Norwegian team for the 2019 UEFA Under-19 Championship. During the championship, she scored 3 goals. She got called up to the Norway national team for the first time in September 2020, but had withdraw due to a knee injury. In April 2021, she got called up again. She got her debut during her third call up (excluding the one she had to withdraw from), in the match against

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

Ullevaal Stadion Ullevaal Stadion () is an all-seater football stadium located in Oslo, Norway. It is the home ground of the Norway national football team, and the site of the Norwegian Cup Final. From its opening in 1926 to 2009 it was the home ground of ...

, which Norway won 10–0. The match was on 16 September 2021, and was the same match

Guro Bergsvand Guro Bergsvand (; born 3 March 1994) is a Norwegian professional footballer who plays as a defender for German Frauen-Bundesliga club VfL Wolfsburg and the Norway women's national team. She got her debut at the national team at the age of 27, ...

debuted in.

Style of play

Bragstad usually plays as a defender, but has also played as a striker at Norway U19, as well as

centre midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

and winger in other situations. According to herself and her father, Bjørn Otto Bragstad, this has made her into a

centre-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 ...

that has a bigger role in the game, having good technique and taking the ball with her higher up on the field. Martin Sjögren adds that she has good overview and is good in duels. The jury that nominated her to the young player of the year in 2021, agrees in that she has good technique, good at bringing the ball with her towards the opponent's goal, and often wins aerial duels. They conclude she has all the prerequisites needed to become one of the world's best centre-backs.

Personal life

She is daughter of the retired football player Bjørn Otto Bragstad.

Honours

Bayern Munich *

Frauen-Bundesliga The Frauen-Bundesliga (German language, German for ''Women's Federal League''), currently known as the Google Pixel Frauen-Bundesliga for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of league competition for women's association football in Germany. I ...

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bragstad, Emilie 2001 births Living people Footballers from Trondheim Norwegian women's footballers 21st-century Norwegian sportswomen Norway women's youth international footballers Norway women's international footballers SK Trondheims-Ørn players Rosenborg BK Kvinner players Toppserien players Women's association football defenders Expatriate women's footballers in Germany FC Bayern Munich (women) players Footballers from Derby Frauen-Bundesliga players Norwegian expatriate women's footballers Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in Germany