Erik Brakstad (born 19 April 1951) is a Norwegian former football player and

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

. He is best known for his career as coach. Brakstad has both played for and been head coach for

Molde Molde () is a town and List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Møre og Romsdal Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Romsdal. It is located on the Romsdal Pen ...

and Træff. He is the brother of

Torkild Brakstad Torkild Brakstad (20 September 1945 – 14 May 2021) was a Norwegian football player and manager. Brakstad played as a central defender for his hometown team Molde FK from 1962 to 1978. Between 1974 and 1978, while Molde was in the Norwegian Pre ...

Coaching career

Early career

Brakstad was born in

. As a coach, he began his career as a playing coach in Træff. After several years as Træff coach he went on to coach Hødd. As Hødd coach, Brakstad won the

1994 Norwegian First Division The 1994 1. divisjon, Norway's second-tier football league, began play on 1 May 1994 and ended on 2 October 1994. The league was contested by 24 teams, divided in two groups. Due to an expansion from 12 to 14 teams in Tippeligaen, the top two tea ...

and gained promotion to the

1995 Tippeligaen The 1995 Tippeligaen was the 51st completed season of top division football in Norway. Each team played 26 games with 3 points given for wins and 1 for draws. Number twelve, thirteen and fourteen are relegated. The winners of the two groups of th ...

. The team reached the semifinal in the 1995 Norwegian Cup, and in the league they finished 12th in their first season back in the top flight and was relegated.

Molde

After three seasons in Hødd, Brakstad went on to Molde to be assistant coach under

Åge Hareide Åge Fridtjof Hareide (born 23 September 1953) is a Norwegian football manager and player, currently managing Malmö FF as the interim manager. In his playing career, he played for Hødd and Molde in Norway as well as Manchester City and Norwi ...

. When Hareide left the club after the 1997 season, Brakstad took over as head coach in Molde. With Brakstad as head coach, Molde were runners-up in

Tippeligaen Eliteserien () is a Norwegian professional league for association football clubs. At the top of the Norwegian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotio ...

in both

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

and

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school s ...

. In 1998 he led the club during a 21-game unbeaten run, which still, as of 2019, is a club record. In 1999, under Brakstad's management, Molde became the second Norwegian club to enter the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

. On 20 October 1999, he led the team to their first Champions League win in club history by defeating

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós ( el, Ολυμπιακός Σύνδεσμος Φιλάθλων Πειραιώς, Olympic Club of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number ...

3–2 at home. On 31 October 2000, Brakstad was sacked from his position as head coach in Molde.

Bryne

Brakstad went on to coach

Bryne Bryne () is a town in Time municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. The city is the administrative centre of the municipality of Time and it is also one of the 50 largest towns/cities in Norway. Bryne's location in the region of Stavanger/Sand ...

in 2001. He signed a three-year contract with the club. On 18 June 2001, Brakstad resigned from his position as Bryne's head coach, effecting immediately.

Moss

After leaving Bryne, Brakstad had a short spell back in Hødd in 2001. 21 August 2001 was Brakstad presented as head coach in

Moss Mosses are small, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic division Bryophyta (, ) '' sensu stricto''. Bryophyta ('' sensu lato'', Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryophytes, which comprise liverworts, mosses, and ...

, starting 1 January 2002. On 28 August 2002, he was removed from his position as head coach in Moss and was succeeded by Rune Tangen.

Later career

On 17 November 2003, Brakstad was appointed as the first head coach in the recently founded 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 riv ...

. With Kristiansund, he won the 2005 Third Division play-offs and gained promotion to the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

in 2006. In 2006, Brakstad was appointed as head coach in Hødd for the third time in his career. In 2009, Brakstad started his second spell as head coach in Træff. After the 2014 season, Brakstad chose to quit his job as head coach in Træff.

Personal life

Brakstad currently works as a teacher at in Molde.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Brakstad, Erik 1951 births Living people People from Molde Norwegian footballers Norwegian football managers Association football defenders Eliteserien players Molde FK players SK Træff players Molde FK managers Bryne FK managers Moss FK managers Kristiansund BK managers Sportspeople from Møre og Romsdal