Kristin Blystad-Bjerke (born 7 July 1980) 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 striker for

Kolbotn Kolbotn is an Urban areas in the Nordic countries#Urban areas in Norway, urban area in Norway's Nordre Follo municipality in Akershus county. Kolbotn is in the centre of the traditional district, Oppegård. The population is about 6,000. Kolbotn ...

of the

Toppserien The Toppserien is the top level of women's association football in Norway. It was founded in 1984. History Women's league football was introduced on a county basis in 1977. These leagues acted as qualification for the regional (South) league in ...

and

Norway women's national football team The Norway women's national football team () represents Norway in international Women's association football, football, and is controlled by the Norwegian Football Federation. The team is former European, World and Olympic champions and thus one ...

Club career

Blystad-Bjerke started her career playing for

in 1997. Later on, she moved to

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

to play for Idrætsklubben Aalborg Freja for a couple of years, then to return eventually to

in 2002. After over 200 games and around 60 goals, she was released in 2008, the same year when she was the club's top scorer with 13 goals.

International career

Blystad-Bjerke played for the Norway women's team, in which she got a silver medal after finishing second in the

UEFA Women's Euro 2005 The 2005 UEFA Women's Championship, also referred to as UEFA Women's Euro 2005, was a football tournament for women held from 5 June to 19 June 2005 in Lancashire and Cheshire, England. The UEFA Women's Championship is a regular tournament involvi ...

, coming at 87th minute in the final against

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Personal life

In January 2009, Blystad-Bjerke married national team-mate

Trine Rønning Trine Bjerke Rønning (born 14 June 1982) is a former Norwegian footballer. She has previously played for Trondheims-Ørn and Kolbotn. Since making her Norway women's national football team debut in October 1999, she has won over 150 caps. R� ...

, shortly after

same-sex marriage in Norway Same-sex marriage has been legal in Norway since 1 January 2009 when a gender-neutral marriage law came into force after being passed by the Storting in June 2008. Norway was the first Scandinavian country, the fourth in Europe, and the sixth in ...

was made legal.

References

1980 births Living people Norway women's international footballers Norwegian women's footballers 21st-century Norwegian sportswomen Kolbotn Fotball players Toppserien players Norwegian LGBTQ footballers Women's association football forwards Norwegian lesbian sportswomen {{Norway-women-footy-bio-stub