Lars-Christopher Horst Jan Vilsvik (born 18 October 1988) 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 plays as a defender for the

Eliteserien 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 ...

side

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). ...

. Vilsvik, who has a German mother and a Norwegian father, grew up in Germany where he played for the amateur sides

Tennis Borussia Berlin Tennis Borussia Berlin is a German football club based in the locality of Westend in Berlin. History The team was founded in 1902 as ''Berliner Tennis- und Ping-Pong-Gesellschaft Borussia'' taking its name from its origins as a tennis and ...

and

Lichterfelder FC Lichterfelder FC was a German association football club from the Berlin district of Lichterfelde. The club had approximately 1,300 members and included the country's largest youth department. History The history of the association was marked ...

. In 2010, he made his professional debut in Norway with Strømsgodset. Being eligible to play for both Norway and Germany, Vilsvik made his debut for the Norwegian national team in 2012.

Career

Club career

Vilsvik was born in

West Berlin West Berlin ( or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin from 1948 until 1990, during the Cold War. Although West Berlin lacked any sovereignty and was under military occupation until German reunification in 1 ...

to a Norwegian father and a German mother, and began his football career as a 6-year old for the club

, where he played with his good friend

Jérôme Boateng Jérôme Agyenim Boateng (; born 3 September 1988) is a German professional footballer who plays for Austrian Bundesliga club LASK. Boateng started his career at Hertha BSC where he developed from the youth ranks to the first team. After his deb ...

Lichterfelder FC

When he was 16 years old he began playing for the German fifth-tier club

. He played half a season as a junior for the club, before he as the youngest player (17) was promoted to the first team, where he played for four years. He also had trials at

Rosenborg BK Rosenborg Ballklub, commonly referred to simply as Rosenborg () or RBK, is a Norwegian professional association football, football club from Trondheim that plays in Eliteserien (football), Eliteserien. The club has won a record 26 league titles ...

Hamburger SV Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), or HSV (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its Association football, football department. Though the current HSV was founde ...

and

Eintracht Braunschweig Braunschweiger Turn- und Sportverein Eintracht von 1895 e.V., commonly known as Eintracht Braunschweig () or BTSV (), is a German football and sports club based in Braunschweig, Lower Saxony. They compete in the 2. Bundesliga, the second tier o ...

Strømsgodset

In November 2009, Vilsvik went on trial for the Norwegian club

, mostly as a favor to his uncle, who was a sponsor. He impressed the coach and sports director, and was given a three-year contract with the club. He became a regular starter in his first season, with 21 league games, and won the Norwegian Cup the same year. In 2013, he declined a move to

because he wanted to win the league with his club. By 11 August 2017, when he signed a new 4.5-year-contract, Vilsvik had made 243 appearances for the club, placing him 8th in club history. He won the cup in 2010, the league in 2013, and runner-up in the league in 2012 and 2014.

International career

With both a German and Norwegian citizenship, Vilsvik was eligible to represent both his mother's and father's country. In November 2011 he was called up in the

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 ...

squad, for their game with

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

as a replacement for Tom Høgli. Vilsvik made his debut for the national team in January 2012 for the

King's Cup King's Cup (incl. translations), may refer to: Sports Football * Copa del Rey, Spanish for "King's Cup," the main national knockout tournament in men's football * King's Cup (Bahrain), the premier national knockout football tournament * King's ...

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

, where he played his first two international matches. He was again called up for the national team for in June 2012 as a replacement for Jonathan Parr, and with Vilsvik's teammate Kim André Madsen also in the squad, Strømsgodset had two players in the Norwegian squad for the first time since 1970.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Club

: **

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 ...

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

Norwegian Football 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 ...

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

Individual

Defender of the Year:

References

External links

Profile
at ''Godset.no'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Vilsvik, Lars Christopher 1988 births Living people Footballers from Berlin Norwegian men's footballers German men's footballers Norway men's youth international footballers Norway men's international footballers Norwegian people of German descent Men's association football defenders Strømsgodset Toppfotball players Eliteserien players Tennis Borussia Berlin players 21st-century German sportsmen 21st-century Norwegian sportsmen