Jakob Glesnes (born 25 March 1994) is a Norwegian 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 lea ...

who plays as a defender for the

Philadelphia Union The Philadelphia Union are an American professional soccer club based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. Founded on February 28, 2008, the Union began ...

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

Club career

Early career

He hails from Steinsland in

Sund Sund may refer to: Places In northern Europe, there are more than a hundred straits named ''Sund'', see: Sound (geography). *Sund, Åland, a municipality in Finland * Sund, Norway, a former municipality in Vestland county, Norway * Sund, Flakstad, ...

and started his career in local Skogsvåg IL. In 2010, he started playing regular senior football as he transferred to Hald FK. After half a season he went on to Løv-Ham, which was soon merged to form

FK Fyllingsdalen FK Fyllingsdalen is a football club from Fyllingsdalen, a borough in the Norwegian city of Bergen. The club is a result of a merge between the two football clubs Fyllingen and Løv-Ham. In 2011, the last season before the merge, Løv-Ham pla ...

. He stayed with Fyllingsdalen until the summer of 2015, when he stepped up one tier to First Division club

Åsane Åsane is a borough of the city of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway. The borough makes up the northern part of the city, north of the city centre. Åsane is connected to downtown Bergen by the E16/ E39 highway. The E16 highway continues on ...

Sarpsborg 08

Glesnes had been on trial with multiple clubs domestic and abroad, including

Liverpool FC Liverpool Football Club is a professional football club based in Liverpool, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Founded in 1892, the club joined the Football League the following year and has ...

FC København Football Club Copenhagen (, ), commonly known as F.C. København, F.C. Copenhagen, Copenhagen, or simply FCK, is a Danish professional football club based in Copenhagen. FCK was founded in 1992 as a superstructure on top of Kjøbenhavns Boldklub ...

, Brann,

Sogndal Sogndal is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is located on the northern shore of the Sognefjorden in the Districts of Norway, traditional district of Sogn. The village of Hermansv ...

Hønefoss __NOTOC__ Hønefoss is a town and the administrative center of the municipality of Ringerike in Buskerud county, Norway. Hønefoss is an industrial center of inner Østlandet, containing several factories and other industry. As of 1 January 2022 ...

Lillestrøm Lillestrøm is a municipality in Akershus county. It is located in the traditional district of Romerike. With a population of 85,757 inhabitants, it is the fourth most populated municipality in Viken. It was founded on 1 January 2020 as a merger ...

and

Nest-Sotra Nest-Sotra Fotball is a Norwegian association football club from Sotra, Hordaland. In 2020, their elite license was taken over by the new club Øygarden FK, which is a cooperation between Øygarden clubs Nordre Fjell, Sund SK, Skogsvåg IL, Telav ...

. In 2016, he finally joined a first-tier club,

Sarpsborg 08 Sarpsborg 08 Fotballforening, commonly known as Sarpsborg 08 or simply Sarpsborg (), is a Norwegian professional football club based in Sarpsborg, playing in Eliteserien. Sarpsborg 08 and its predecessors played in 1. divisjon from 2005 to 2010. ...

, and made his first-tier debut in March 2016 against Haugesund.

Strømsgodset

In March 2017, Glesnes was named

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

for

Strømsgodset Strømsgodset is a former municipality in Vestfold county (from 1964 Buskerud county) in Norway which is today a part of the city of Drammen. History Strømsgodset was originally a small rural annex to the city parish of Bragernes (Drammen). ...

. He scored his first goal for the club on 29 May 2017.

Philadelphia Union

On 31 January 2020, Glesnes moved to the

. Glesnes made headlines with his first goal for the Union, scoring a free kick from over 35 yards from goal against

Los Angeles FC Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC) is an American professional association football, soccer club based in Los Angeles. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. It was establi ...

. On 20 June 2021, Glesnes scored a late equalizer from well outside the 18-yard box to secure a 2–2 draw vs.

Atlanta United Atlanta United FC is an American professional association football, soccer club based in Atlanta. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. Domestically, the club has won o ...

. In the first round of the 2021 MLS Cup Playoffs on 20 November, he scored a long-distance screamer in the 123rd minute versus the

New York Red Bulls The New York Red Bulls are an American professional association football, soccer club based in the New York metropolitan area. The Red Bulls compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conferenc ...

to seal a 1–0 victory and send the Union to the Eastern Conference semifinals. On 8 December 2021, Glesnes signed a new, multi-year contract extension with the Union through the 2024 season. On 19 October 2022, Glesnes was awarded the

MLS Defender of the Year Award The Major League Soccer Defender of the Year Award is an annual award handed out to the top defender in Major League Soccer annually since the league's inception in 1996.

, becoming the first Philadelphia Union defender to win the award.

International career

In November 2016, Glesnes played for the Norway national under-21 team for

2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification The 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifying competition was a men's under-21 football competition that determined the 11 teams joining the automatically qualified hosts Poland in the 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship tournament ...

. In October 2019, he was selected for the Norway national team for the first time.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Philadelphia Union *

Supporters' Shield The Supporters' Shield is an annual award given to the Major League Soccer team with the best regular season record, as determined by the MLS points system. The Supporters' Shield has been annually awarded at the MLS Supporters' Summit since 199 ...

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

MLS Cup MLS Cup is the annual championship game of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the culmination of the MLS Playoffs. The game is held in November or December and pits the winner of the Eastern Conference Final against the winner of the Western Confere ...

runner-up:

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 ...

Individual *

MLS All-Star The Major League Soccer All-Star Game is an annual Association football, soccer game held by Major League Soccer featuring selected players from the league against an international club or selected players from another league. MLS initially ado ...

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

MLS Defender of the Year The Major League Soccer Defender of the Year Award is an annual award handed out to the top defender in Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest lev ...

MLS Best XI The MLS Best XI is an annual acknowledgment of the best eleven players in Major League Soccer. The selection is determined by a collection of media, players, and MLS club technical staffs. Winners Appearances by player The following players ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Glesnes, Jakob 1994 births Living people People from Sund, Norway Norwegian men's footballers 21st-century Norwegian sportsmen Løv-Ham Fotball players Åsane Fotball players Sarpsborg 08 FF players Strømsgodset Toppfotball players Philadelphia Union players Norwegian First Division players Eliteserien players Men's association football defenders Norwegian expatriate men's footballers Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Major League Soccer players Footballers from Vestland