Glenn Solberg (born 18 February 1972) is a Norwegian

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of thr ...

coach and former player. He is regarded as one of the best Norwegian handball players of all time and won fourteen titles during his career playing for clubs in Norway, Germany and Spain. He was previously the head coach of the Swedish men's national handball team, with whom he won the 2022 European Championship, placed second at the 2021 World Championship and finished third at the 2024 European Championship. Solberg was capped 122 times and scored 250 goals for the Norwegian national team. He was awarded the

Håndballstatuetten Håndballstatuetten is a Norwegian Handball award given to Norwegian players who has represented the Norwegian national team. The awardee must have played at least 200 matches and played at least 60% of matches in a 6-year period. It is awarded a ...

trophy from the

Norwegian Handball Federation The Norwegian Handball Federation (, NHF) is the national handball association in Norway. The Norwegian Handball Federation was founded in 1937, and is a member of the Norwegian Olympic and Paralympic Committee and Confederation of Sports (NIF) ...

in 2011.

Club career

Solberg began his professional handball career at Reistadt IL in the early 1980s. In 1992, Reistadt and

IF Sturla Idrettsforeningen Sturla is a Norwegian sports club from Drammen, founded in 1923. It has sections for athletics, orienteering and skiing. The athletics uses Marienlyst stadion as their home field. Among its most prominent members are long-di ...

merged their senior teams to create the club

Drammen HK Drammen Håndballklubb is a Norwegian handball team located in Drammen, Norway. They compete in REMA 1000-ligaen, which is the highest league for men's handball clubs in Norway. History The club was founded on March 3, 1992. The foundation ...

. With the new club, Solberg won the

EHF City Cup The EHF European Cup is an annual men's handball club competition organised by the European Handball Federation (EHF). It is the third-tier competition of European club handball, after the EHF Champions League and the EHF European League. Founde ...

in 1996 and the Norwegian Championship the following year. In 1997, he moved to German club

HSG Nordhorn HSG Nordhorn-Lingen (''HSG Nordhorn'' until September 2008) is a handball club from Nordhorn, Germany. As of the season 2021/22 HSG Nordhorn-Lingen competes in the 2. Handball-Bundesliga. In 2008 the club won the EHF Cup, which was their first a ...

, where he helped the team secure a promotion to the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

in 1999. Solberg joined

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

in 2002 and won the

EHF Cup The EHF European League is an annual men's handball club competition organised by the European Handball Federation (EHF) since 1981. It is the second-tier competition of European club handball, ranking only below the EHF Champions League. Previo ...

, EHF Supercup, Spanish Championship,

Spanish Cup The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanish f ...

and Spanish Super Cup during a two-year spell with the club. Solberg transferred to German club

SG Flensburg-Handewitt SG Flensburg-Handewitt is a professional handball club from Flensburg and Handewitt in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Currently, they compete in the Handball-Bundesliga and EHF European League. They play home matches at Flens-Arena. Since formin ...

in 2004 and won the

German Cup The DFB-Pokal (), also known as the German Cup in English, is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundes ...

the following year. In 2006, he returned to Drammen and won the Norwegian Championship in 2007 and 2008, and the

Norwegian Cup The Norwegian Football Cup () is the main knockout cup competition in Norwegian football. It is run by the Football Association of Norway and has been contested since 1902, making it the oldest football tournament in the country. The tournament ...

in 2008. Solberg retired after the 2007–08 season, but following an injury crisis at Drammen in November 2009, he returned to the club and retired a second time in 2010 after winning a fourth Norwegian league title.

International career

Solberg made his debut for the Norwegian national team in 1994. He made 122 appearances and scored 250 goals before retiring from the national team in 2008. He represented Norway at the World Championship in

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

and

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

, captaining the team during the latter, and the 2008 European Championship.

Coaching career

In 2014, Solberg became the assistant coach for the

Norway men's national handball team The Norway men's national handball team represents Norway at international handball competitions, and is governed by the Norges Håndballforbund (NHF). As of 2024, Norway has been in two finals and won three medals. Honours In 2016, they w ...

. The following year, he signed a three-year contract as head coach for the Norwegian handball club St. Hallvard HK. In 2016, Solberg terminated his contract with the national team to focus on St. Hallvard following their promotion to the Norwegian premiership. From 2018 to 2019, he was a part of the coaching staff at

. In 2020, Solberg became the head coach of the Swedish men's national handball team. He led the team to a second-place finish at the 2021 World Championship and placed fifth at the

2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

. Solberg won the 2022 European Championship with the Swedish national team. He became the assistant coach for the Norwegian club Fjellhammer IL in 2023. Solberg and the Swedish national team placed third at the 2024 European Championship and seventh at the

2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

. He left the national team in September 2024.

Honours

Player

Drammen HK *

: 1996 * Norwegian Championship: 1997, 2007, 2008, 2010 *

: 2008 HSG Nordhorn * 2. Handball-Bundesliga: 1999 FC Barcelona *

: 2003 * EHF Supercup: 2003 *

Liga ASOBAL Liga Asobal is the premier professional handball league in Spain. It was founded in 1958 with the name of División de Honor, changing its name to the current name in 1990. The Liga ASOBAL, which is played under EHF rules, currently consists of ...

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

Copa del Rey The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanis ...

: 2004 *

Supercopa ASOBAL The Supercopa ASOBAL or the Supercopa de España de Balonmano was an annual cup competition for Spanish handball teams. It was organised by the Liga ASOBAL. It was first played for in 1985 and was disputed between the Liga ASOBAL champions and the ...

: 2004 * Pyrenees League: 2003 SG Flensburg-Handewitt *

DHB-Pokal The DHB-Pokal (English: German Handball Federation Cup) is an elimination handball tournament held annually in Germany. It is the second most important handball national title in the country after the Handball-Bundesliga championship. DHB-Pokal ...

: 2005

Manager

Sweden *

World Men's Handball Championship The IHF Men's Handball World Championship has been organized indoor by the International Handball Federation since 1938. In the twenty-nine tournaments held, twelve national teams have won the title. France is the most successful team with six ...

: ** :

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

European Men's Handball Championship The European Men's Handball Championship is the official competition for senior men's national handball teams of Europe and takes place every two years since 1994, in the even-numbered year between the World Championship. In addition to crowning ...

: ** :

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

** :

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Solberg, Glenn 1972 births Living people Norwegian male handball players Norwegian handball coaches FC Barcelona Handbol players Norwegian expatriate handball players in Spain Norwegian expatriate handball players in Germany Sportspeople from Drammen Handball coaches of international teams Coaches at the 2020 Summer Olympics Coaches at the 2024 Summer Olympics Expatriate handball coaches Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in Sweden HSG Nordhorn-Lingen players SG Flensburg-Handewitt players