Erik Fuglestad (born 13 August 1974) is a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

former professional

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 ...

and is currently head coach of

Randaberg Randaberg is a municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Jæren, at the northern end of the Stavanger Peninsula. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Randaberg. Randaberg ...

. During his professional career, Fuglestad played for

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to 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 s ...

and

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 2 ...

and made appearances for Norway at the under-21 level.

Player career

Fuglestad, nicknamed "Fuglis", was born in

Stavanger Stavanger (, , US usually , ) is a city and municipality in Norway. It is the fourth largest city and third largest metropolitan area in Norway (through conurbation with neighboring Sandnes) and the administrative center of Rogaland county. T ...

and began his senior career with

Viking FK Viking Fotballklubb, commonly known as Viking or Viking Stavanger internationally, is a Norwegian football club from the city of Stavanger. The club was founded in 1899. It is one of the most successful clubs in Norwegian football, having won 8 ...

, having arrived from

Randaberg IL Randaberg Idrettslag is a Norwegian sports club from Randaberg. It has sections for football, swimming, gymnastics and volleyball. Football Before the 2007 season the football team made the national news as it increased its budget significantly ...

as a junior. He made his debut in a friendly in 1993, and his league debut in the final game of the 1994 season, replacing Øyvind Mellemstrand at left back. Fuglestad's break-through followed in the 1995 season, when he featured in 25 of the club's 26 league games, scoring two goals, both against

IK Start Idrettsklubben Start (or simply IK Start, translates to The sports club Start ) is a Norwegian football club from the city of Kristiansand that currently plays in the 1. divisjon, the second tier of the Norwegian football league system. The cl ...

in the space of two weeks during July. Being a local lad, Fuglestad excited the Viking following with his attacking style and good crossing. He remained the first-choice left back at Viking for a further two seasons, before

Mike Walker Mike Walker is the name of: Sports * Mike Walker (rugby union) (1930–2014), Scottish rugby union player * Mike Walker (English footballer) (born 1945), former English footballer * Mike Walker (Welsh footballer) (born 1945), former Welsh footbal ...

brought him to

on a Bosman free transfer in November 1997. He made 80 appearances, scoring 2 goals against

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games a ...

and

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a market town in the Kirklees district in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confluence into t ...

, for the Canaries before his contract was cancelled towards the end of the 1999–00 season and he returned to former club Viking. Upon returning to Norwegian football, Fuglestad retrained as a midfielder, playing both in the centre and on the left wing, and he remained a midfielder for the rest of his career. In the 2001 season, he started all 26 league games for Viking, scoring nine goals. In addition, he scored three goals in six cup games, when his club won the

2001 Norwegian Football Cup The 2001 Norwegian Football Cup was the 96th edition of the Norwegian Football Cup. Viking won their 5th Norwegian Championship title after defeating Bryne in the final with the score 3–0. Calendar Below are the dates for each round as given b ...

, Viking's first cup-win in twelve years. However, he missed the

cup final The FA Cup Final, commonly referred to in England as just the Cup Final, is the last match in the Football Association Challenge Cup. It has regularly been one of the most attended domestic football events in the world, with an official attend ...

due to an injury. The 2001 Norwegian Cup trophy was his only trophy as a senior footballer. Fuglestad remained a first-choice midfielder throughout the 2002 season, but he missed all of 2003 through injury. His comeback in 2004 lasted only 15 league games, before a

kidney The kidneys are two reddish-brown bean-shaped organs found in vertebrates. They are located on the left and right in the retroperitoneal space, and in adult humans are about in length. They receive blood from the paired renal arteries; bloo ...

illness forced him into retirement. He remained as an employee of Viking, where he had a role in the administration and was later the head coach of the junior team. An attempted comeback with home club Randaberg IL in 2007 was cut short as Fuglestad's illness returned, and he announced his definitive retirement on 7 August 2007.

Coaching career

Ahead of the 2008 season he went from being coach of Viking FK's junior team to player developer in

Bryne FK Bryne Fotballklubb () is a professional football club in Bryne, Norway, that competes in the 1. divisjon, the second tier of Norwegian football. History Bryne has played a total of 17 seasons in the top flight of Norwegian football since thei ...

. In 2012, he became the head coach of Randaberg IL.

References

*''Canary Citizens'' by Mark Davage, John Eastwood, Kevin Platt, published by Jarrold Publishing, (2001), *''Drømmen om de mørkeblå'' by Ole J. Askeland and Arild I. Olsson, published by Stavanger Aftenblad, (1999),

External links

Career information at ex-canaries.co.uk
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fuglestad, Erik 1974 births Living people Footballers from Stavanger Norwegian men's footballers Randaberg IL players Viking FK players Norwich City F.C. players Eliteserien players English Football League players Expatriate men's footballers in England Norwegian expatriate men's footballers Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in England Viking FK non-playing staff Norwegian football managers Men's association football defenders