Gard Simenstad (born 12 April 1999) 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 ...

who plays as a wing back or midfielder for

Hamkam Hamarkameratene (literally ''the Hamar Comrades''), often abbreviated to HamKam or Ham-Kam, is a Norwegian football club based in the town of Hamar. The club was founded in 1918, originally under the name Freidig. HamKam were most recently pr ...

. He started his youth career in

Vind IL Vind is a Danish surname meaning ''wind''. Notable people with the surname include: *Ditte Vind (born 1994), Danish handball player * Jens Juel-Vind (1694–1726), Danish nobleman *Jens Krag-Juel-Vind (1724–1776), Danish nobleman *Marianne Vind ...

and then

SK Gjøvik-Lyn SK may refer to: Businesses and organizations * SK Foods, an American agribusiness company * SK Hand Tools, an American tool manufacturer * Sangguniang Kabataan, Philippines youth councils * SK Group, South Korean conglomerate * Scandinavian Airl ...

. For the latter team he started his senior career, but experienced relegation from the

2016 2. divisjon The 2016 2. divisjon (referred to as PostNord-ligaen for sponsorship reasons) was a Norwegian football third-tier league season. The league consisted of 56 teams divided into 4 groups of 14 teams. In February 2016 it was announced a change in fo ...

. In the summer of 2017, during a

russ Russ is a masculine given name, often a short form of Russell, and also a surname. People Given name or nickname * Russ Abbot (born 1947), British musician, comedian and actor * Russ Adams (born 1980), American retired baseball player * Russ ...

trip to

Kos Kos or Cos (; el, Κως ) is a Greek island, part of the Dodecanese island chain in the southeastern Aegean Sea. Kos is the third largest island of the Dodecanese by area, after Rhodes and Karpathos; it has a population of 36,986 (2021 census), ...

, he experienced the

2017 Aegean Sea earthquake A magnitude 6.6 earthquake struck on 21 July 2017, about south southeast of Bodrum, Turkey, at depth of 7.0 km. Two people were killed and more than 120 others were injured on the Greek island of Kos, while at least 360 injuries were report ...

. After the 2018 season he started training with First Division club

Raufoss IL Raufoss IL is a sports club from Raufoss, Norway. The club was formed in 1918. The football section played in the Norwegian top flight between 1937–1948, between 1957–1960, in 1964 and between 1973–1974. The club currently plays in 1. divis ...

. His older brother Stian already played for that team. Simenstad progressed from played a third of Raufoss' league games in 2019, to half of their league games in 2020. He then lost the entire 2021 season due to long-term injury. He made a comeback in March 2022, in the

cup game A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, c ...

against Strømsgodset, where he also scored. With Simenstad being a mainstay in the Raufoss team in 2022 and 2023, his contract was due to expire and he was followed by a number of teams, choosing to sign for

Eliteserien 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 ...

club Hamkam. At Hamkam, Simenstad made a breakthrough and especially became known as one of

's most proficient

free kick A free kick is an action used in several codes of football to restart play with the kicking of a ball into the field of play. Association football In association football, the free kick is a method of restarting the game following an off ...

takers. On 8 May he scored from about 25 metres against Vålerenga in the

cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, c ...

. The

NRK NRK, an abbreviation of the Norwegian ''Norsk Rikskringkasting AS'', generally expressed in English as the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, is the Norwegian government-owned radio and television public broadcasting company, and the largest ...

commentators Tete Lidbom and

Carl-Erik Torp Carl-Erik Nordanger Torp (born 17 September 1984) is a former Norwegian footballer who last played for SK Brann as a central midfielder. He also played futsal for NFF Futsal Eliteserie club KFUM Oslo Futsal. Torp was forced to retire from p ...

said, respectively: "It's

David Beckham David Robert Joseph Beckham (; born 2 May 1975) is an English former professional footballer, the current president and co-owner of Inter Miami CF and co-owner of Salford City. Known for his range of passing, crossing ability and bending f ...

against Greece for England!" and "Give the man his own documentary film!". On 20 May he scored the winning goal against reigning champions Bodø/Glimt, and on 1 June he scored against Brann. Comparisons to

Trent Alexander-Arnold Trent John Alexander-Arnold (born 7 October 1998) is an English professional footballer who plays as a right-back for club Liverpool and the England national team. Known for his range of passing, crossing and assists, he is regarded as one o ...

and James Ward Prowse were drawn as well.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Simenstad, Gard 1999 births Living people Footballers from Gjøvik Norwegian men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Norwegian Second Division players Norwegian Third Division players Norwegian First Division players Eliteserien players FK Gjøvik-Lyn players Raufoss IL players Hamarkameratene players 21st-century Norwegian sportsmen