Kristoffer Ajer
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Kristoffer Vassbakk Köpp Ajer (born 17 April 1998) 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
centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...
or
right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...
for club
Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...
and the Norway national team. Ajer has previously played for
Start Start can refer to multiple topics: * Takeoff, the phase of flight where an aircraft transitions from moving along the ground to flying through the air * Starting lineup in sports * Track and field#Starts use in race, Starts use in sport race * S ...
in the
Tippeligaen Eliteserien () is a professional association football league in Norway and the highest level of the Norwegian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the Norwegian First Division ...
and
Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...
in the
Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, also known as the William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Scotland and the highest level of the Scottish football league system. Th ...
, where he also had a loan spell with
Kilmarnock Kilmarnock ( ; ; , ), meaning "the church of Mernóc", is a town and former burgh in East Ayrshire situated in southwest Scotland. The town has served as the administrative centre of East Ayrshire Council since 1996 and is the region's main ...
.


Early and personal life

Kristoffer Vassbakk Ajer was born in
Rælingen Rælingen is a village and Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Akershus Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Districts of Norway, traditional region of Romerike. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village ...
,
Akershus Akershus () is a county in Norway, with Oslo as its administrative centre, though Oslo is not located within Akershus. Akershus has been a region in Eastern Norway with Oslo as its main city since the Middle Ages, and is named after the Akers ...
County in
Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...
on 17 April 1998. In his younger years he participated in athletics, handball and ice hockey before ending up playing football. As a youth player he originally started his footballing career at Rælingen FK before joining
Lillestrøm SK Lillestrøm Sportsklubb is a Norwegian professional football club based in the city of Lillestrøm, just outside of the capital Oslo. Lillestrøm SK is a Norwegian football club based in Lillestrøm, playing in Eliteserien. The club was founde ...
when he was eleven years old. He was eventually picked up by IK Start in 2014, which marked the start of his professional footballing career as a result of his parents moving to the city of
Kristiansand Kristiansand is a city and Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder county, Norway. The city is the fifth-largest and the municipality is the sixth-largest in Norway, with a population of around 116,000 as of January 2020, following th ...
on the Southern coast of Norway. While playing professionally for
IK Start Idrettsklubben Start (or simply IK Start) is a Norwegian Association football, football club from the city of Kristiansand that currently plays in the Norwegian First Division, the second tier of the Norwegian football league system. The club was ...
, he attended ''Kristiansand Katedralskole Gimle'' (High School) where he was known as a very conscientious and diligent student receiving a total of 18 straight A's. He attributed this to his strong competitive instinct and self-discipline, as well as the support from his teachers and parents and the fact that he values having a good education outside of his footballing career. Ajer originally planned enrolling at the Faculty of Medicine at the
University of Oslo The University of Oslo (; ) is a public university, public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation#Europe, oldest university in Norway. Originally named the Royal Frederick Univ ...
while simultaneously playing football professionally, but he has since put those plans on hold. On the reasons why he excelled as a footballer, he attributed this to his early physical development, strength and maturity: He is also a mentor/ambassador for the
Equinor Equinor ASA (formerly Statoil and StatoilHydro) is a Norwegian multinational energy company headquartered in Stavanger, Norway. It is primarily a petroleum company, petroleum company operating in 36 countries with additional investments in renew ...
campaign for future athletes, entrepreneurs and talents in Norway called ''Morgendagens Helter'' ("Heroes of Tomorrow").


Club career


Start

He made his professional debut for Start on 19 July 2014 in a 2–1 win against Bodø/Glimt. At 16 years of age, Ajer captained Start in a 1–1 draw against Lillestrøm on 7 April 2015, becoming the youngest ever footballer to captain a team in the
Tippeligaen Eliteserien () is a professional association football league in Norway and the highest level of the Norwegian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the Norwegian First Division ...
. While playing for IK Start he played both as a central midfielder, but was gradually placed as a central defender.


Celtic

In early January 2016, Ajer had a one-week trial with Scottish club
Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...
. On 17 February 2016, he signed a four-year contract with Celtic and joined the club in June 2016 for a fee which could rise up to £650,000. He was loaned to
Kilmarnock Kilmarnock ( ; ; , ), meaning "the church of Mernóc", is a town and former burgh in East Ayrshire situated in southwest Scotland. The town has served as the administrative centre of East Ayrshire Council since 1996 and is the region's main ...
in January 2017 and returned to his parent club to become a mainstay in central defence. On 14 May 2018, Ajer penned a new four-year deal with
Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...
. On 30 August, Ajer scored his first goal for Celtic in a 3–0 win against
FK Sūduva FK Sūduva is a Lithuanian professional Association football, football club based in the city of Marijampolė. Founded in 1968, the club competes in the A Lyga, the top flight of Football in Lithuania, Lithuanian football. The club has been pla ...
. On 24 October 2019, Ajer made his 100th appearance in all competitions for Celtic's first team in a
Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...
match against
Lazio Lazio ( , ; ) or Latium ( , ; from Latium, the original Latin name, ) is one of the 20 Regions of Italy, administrative regions of Italy. Situated in the Central Italy, central peninsular section of the country, it has 5,714,882 inhabitants an ...
.


Brentford

On 21 July 2021, Ajer completed a move to
Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...
club
Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...
on a five-year deal for an undisclosed fee. He made his Premier League debut on 13 August 2021 in a 2–0 win against
Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...
. He scored his first goal for Brentford against
Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...
on 7 May 2022. On 21 November 2023, Ajer signed a new deal with Brentford until the summer of 2028, with the club keeping an option to extend his contract for a further season. He scored his second goal against
Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2021 population of 78,266. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River B ...
on 16 March 2024.


International career

On 13 March 2018, Ajer received his first call-up to the Norwegian senior squad for friendly matches against
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
and
Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...
, debuting in the former match to honour his late grandfather.


Career statistics


Club


International

''Scores and results list Norway's goal tally first.''


Honours

Celtic *
Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, also known as the William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Scotland and the highest level of the Scottish football league system. Th ...
: 2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20 *
Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20Celtic win fourth straight Scottish Cup as Hazard's shootout saves break Hearts
Ewan Murray, ''The Guardian'', 20 December 2020
*
Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup, also known as the Premier Sports Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League cup in ...
: 2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20 Brentford B * Premier League Cup:
2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...
Individual *
PFA Scotland Team of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Scotland Team of the Year (often called the PFA Scotland Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 44 footballers in the four national tiers of the Scottish foo ...
:
2018–19 Scottish Premiership The 2018–19 Scottish Premiership (known as the Ladbrokes Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the sixth season of the Scottish Premiership, the highest division of Scottish football. The fixtures were published on 15 June 2018 and the sea ...
,
2020–21 Scottish Premiership The 2020–21 Scottish Premiership was the eighth season of the Scottish Premiership, the 124th edition of the highest division of Scottish football. The fixtures were published on 6 July 2020, with the season beginning on 1 August, following ...


References


External links


Profile
at the Brentford F.C. website * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ajer, Kristoffer 1998 births Living people People from Rælingen Footballers from Akershus Norwegian men's footballers Men's association football defenders Men's association football midfielders Lillestrøm SK players IK Start players Celtic F.C. players Kilmarnock F.C. players Brentford F.C. players Eliteserien players Scottish Professional Football League players Premier League players Norway men's youth international footballers Norway men's under-21 international footballers Norway men's international footballers Norwegian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Scotland Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in England Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in Scotland 21st-century Norwegian sportsmen