Espen Ruud (born 26 February 1984) is a Norwegian

football defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

who plays for Odd.

Club career

He joined the

Odd Grenland Odd means unpaired, occasional, strange or unusual, or a person who is viewed as eccentric. Odd may also refer to: Acronym * ODD (Text Encoding Initiative) ("One Document Does it all"), an abstracted literate-programming format for describing X ...

from local team Hei in 2003. Ruud established himself in the Odd squad by 2005.

International career

Ruud has 35 caps for his country on youth level including 13 caps for

Norway U-21 Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and th ...

, and received his first call-up to the senior squad for the Euro 2008 qualifiers against

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

and

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croa ...

. He made his debut for

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

in a

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

against Switzerland on 14 November 2009, and scored his first goal for Norway in a friendly match against

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. North ...

on 29 February 2012. Ruud received the Gold Watch after his 25th cap against Switzerland on 12 October 2012.

Career statistics

International goals

References

External links

OB Profile
* 1984 births Living people Norwegian footballers Norway international footballers Odds BK players Odense Boldklub players Eliteserien players Danish Superliga players Norwegian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Denmark Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Sportspeople from Porsgrunn {{Norway-footy-defender-stub Association football midfielders Association football defenders