Espen Hægeland (born 27 September 1981) 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 played as a winger for

Bryne Bryne (, ) is a List of towns and cities in Norway, town in Time, Norway, Time municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. The town is the administrative centre of the municipality of Time and it is also List of urban areas in Norway by population ...

, Mandalskameratene and

Sandnes Ulf Sandnes Ulf is a Norwegian association football club from Sandnes, Rogaland, currently playing in the 2. divisjon, the third highest division in the Norwegian football league system. The club play their home matches at Øster Hus Arena. The cl ...

in the

Norwegian First Division The Norwegian First Division, also called 1. divisjon () and OBOS-ligaen (due to sponsoring ties with :no:OBOS, OBOS), is the second-highest level of the Norwegian football league system. Each year, the top finishing teams in the 1. divisjon ...

. He has later been

player-coach A player–coach (also playing coach, captain–coach, or player–manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. Player–coaches may be head coaches or assistant coaches, and they may make chang ...

at Hana and assistant player-coach at Mandalskameratene and

Lyngdal is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Lister Region, Lister. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Alleen ...

Career

Hægeland was born in

, and started his career in the local club Lyngdal IL. He scored 25 goals in 22 matches for Lyngdal in the Third Division in the 2004 season and was invited on a trial with Mandalskameratene ahead of the 2005 season, but was not offered a contract with the club and joined

instead. Hægeland, who worked as a carpenter while playing for Bryne, scored nine goals in his first eight matches in the

First Division 1st Division or First Division may refer to: Military Airborne divisions *1st Parachute Division (Germany) *1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom) * 1st Airmobile Division (Ukraine) * 1st Guards Airborne Division Armoured divisions *1st Armoure ...

including two goals in the 5–1 victory against Skeid on 6 June 2005 and a hat-trick when Bryne won 4–0 against Løv-Ham two weeks later. After 12 matches of the season, Bryne were leading the First Division and Hægeland only had

Daniel Nannskog Daniel Paul Gustav Nannskog (born 22 May 1974) is a Swedish former professional association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), striker. During a club career that spanned between 1994 and 2010, he represented H� ...

ahead of him on the goal-scoring list. The Bryne-team struggled with their offensive play during the second half of the season, and after Tommy Bergersen and

André Danielsen André Saltvold Danielsen (born 20 January 1985) is a Norwegian former footballer who played as a right-back or central midfielder. Club career Born in Stavanger, Danielsen started his career with Stavanger IF before joining Viking in 2003. In ...

was transferred to Bryne during the summer, Hægeland lost his place in the first-team. He scored 11 goals in the 2005 season, and finished 10th in the top goalscorer list. Hægeland was sent on loan to Mandalskameratene half-way through the 2006 season, and joined the club permanently on a three-year contract ahead of the 2007 season. He was one of Mandalskameratene's best players in 2007, and scored 11 goals in 30 matches when the team was relegated from the First Division. After the season, he was wanted by seven clubs, and stated that he wanted to play for a club in

Rogaland Rogaland () is a Counties of Norway, county in Western Norway, bordering the North Sea to the west and the counties of Vestland to the north, Telemark to the east and Agder to the east and southeast. As of 1 January 2024, it had a population of 49 ...

as he was building a house in

. Hægeland played for

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 the first half of the 2008 season, before he transferred to

in July 2008. He scored five goals in 14 matches for Sandnes Ulf in the First Division in

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

. After the 2009 season he joined the Third Division side Hana IL as a

, but left the club after only one season and returned to Mandalskameratene where he became playing assistant coach. Following Peer Danefeld's resignation as head coach of Mandalskameratene, Hægeland was temporarily working as head coach during the pre-season in 2011, but stated that he didn't want that position permanently. After rejoining Lyngdal, he scored more than 50 goals for the team in the Fourth Division during the 2012 season. Ahead of the 2013 season he became playing assistant coach of Lyngdal.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Haegeland, Espen 1981 births Living people People from Lyngdal Norwegian men's footballers 21st-century Norwegian sportsmen Bryne FK players FK Mandalskameratene players Randaberg IL players Sandnes Ulf players Norwegian First Division players Norwegian football managers Men's association football wingers Footballers from Agder