Magnar Ødegaard (; born 11 May 1993) 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 for

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. ...

as a

centre back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

Club career

Ødegaard was born in

Fredrikstad Fredrikstad (; previously ''Frederiksstad''; literally "Fredrik's Town") is a List of cities in Norway, city and Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Østfold Counties of Norway, county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipal ...

and played for Skjeberg SK and Borgen IL during his youth. He later joined

, where he made his debut for the first-team in the

2009 Norwegian First Division The 2009 1. divisjon (referred to as Adeccoligaen for sponsorship reasons) was a Norwegian second-tier football season. The season began play on 5 April 2009 and will end on 1 November 2009. The club relegated from the Tippeligaen in 2008 was ...

. He was wanted by Italian club

Brescia Brescia (, ; ; or ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the region of Lombardy, in Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Lake Garda, Garda and Lake Iseo, Iseo. With a population of 199,949, it is the se ...

in June 2010, but Sarpsborg 08 did not give Ødegaard permission to go on a trial mid-season. Following Sarpsborg 08's promotion to

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 ...

Ødegaard made his debut in at the first tier on 3 April 2011, when Sarpsborg 08 won 1–0 against

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 ...

. In total Ødegaard played 19 matches in the 2011 Norwegian Premier League, when Sarpsborg 08 was relegated. Ødegaard stayed at the club after their relegation to the First Division, and the centre back was chosen by Norwegian TV2 in their "all-star team" half-way through the 2012 season. In July 2012 Ødegaard stated that he would not renew his contract with Sarpsborg 08 which expired at the end of the 2012 season, and said that one of the reason was that he wanted to join a fully professional club. On 12 August 2012 it was announced that Ødegaard had joined

Molde Molde () is a List of towns and cities in Norway, town and the seat of Molde Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Romsdal. It is located on the Romsdal Pen ...

for an undisclosed fee, reported by VG to be 500,000 NOK. Ødegaard, who signed a 3,5-year contract with the club, was brought to Molde as a back-up for the centre-backs Vegard Forren and

Even Hovland Even Hovland (born 14 February 1989) is a Norwegian professional footballer who plays as a centre back for Swedish side IF Brommapojkarna. Club career In his youth, Hovland played for the local clubs Vadheim IL and IL Høyang, before joining So ...

, and to play for Molde's U19-team in the NextGen Series. Ødegaard made his debut for Molde when he replaced Martin Linnes after 67 minutes in the 3–2 victory against

Sandnes Ulf Sandnes Ulf is a Norwegian association football club from Sandnes, Rogaland, currently playing in the 2. divisjon, the third highest division in the Norwegian football league system. The club play their home matches at Øster Hus Arena. The cl ...

on 7 October 2012. On 15 January 2019, Magnar started a trial period with Bulgarian team

Levski Sofia PFC Levski Sofia () is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia, which competes in the First League, the top division of the Bulgarian football league system. The club was founded on 24 May 1914 by a group of high sc ...

, after leaving Tromsø after his contract expired. AIK On 14 February 2019 it was announced Ødegaard had signed a deal with AIK until 31 July 2019, with an option to extend a further 3.5 years. On 1 July 2019, AIK announced that the club would not exercise its option to extend Ødegaard's contract. Ødegaard appeared in 3

Svenska Cupen Svenska cupen (, ), also known as the Swedish Cup in English, is a knockout cup competition in Swedish football and the main Swedish football cup. ''Svenska cupen'' usually refers to the men's tournament, although a women's tournament is also ...

games for AIK but made no league appearances.

International career

Ødegaard have represented Norway at youth international level on every level from Under-15 to Under-19. He was first called up to the Under-19 team in January 2011 along with his team-mate Hugues Wembangomo, and made his debut for Norway U19 on 8 February 2011 against Sweden U19. In the match against Ukraine U19 on 25 April 2012, Ødegaard scored the equalizing goal from a free-kick. Ødegaard has been captain of the Under-19 team, and in June 2012 he was called up for Norway U21 squad against Azerbaijan U21, but did not play the match. On 14 August 2012, he made his debut for the Under-21 team when he replaced

Omar Elabdellaoui Omar Elabdellaoui (born 5 December 1991) is a Norwegian former professional footballer who played as a right back and as a right midfielder. Elabdellaoui began his career with Skeid before signing with Manchester City in 2008. He never appear ...

after 83 minutes in the friendly match against Austria U21.

Career statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Odegaard, Magnar 1993 births Living people Norwegian men's footballers Norway men's under-21 international footballers Norway men's youth international footballers Men's association football defenders Sarpsborg 08 FF players Molde FK players Lillestrøm SK players Tromsø IL players AIK Fotboll players Norwegian First Division players Eliteserien players Norwegian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden Footballers from Fredrikstad 21st-century Norwegian sportsmen