Markus Solbakken (born 25 July 2000) 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

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for Czech club

Sparta Prague Athletic Club Sparta Praha (), commonly known as Sparta Prague and Sparta Praha, is a professional football club based in Prague. It is the most successful club in the Czech Republic and one of the most successful in central Europe, winning t ...

and the Norway national team.

Club career

He is a son of

Ståle Solbakken Ståle Solbakken (born 27 February 1968) is a Norwegian professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of the Norway national team. During his playing career, Solbakken was named 1995 Norwegian midfielder of the year, an ...

. While his father was a football player and later manager, mostly abroad, the family settled in

Hamar Hamar is a List of cities in Norway, town in Hamar Municipality in Innlandet Counties of Norway, county, Norway. Hamar is the administrative centre of Hamar Municipality. It is located in the Districts of Norway, traditional region of Hedmarken. ...

and Solbakken came through the youth ranks of

Hamarkameratene Hamarkameratene (), often abbreviated to HamKam or Ham-Kam, is a Norwegian professional football club based in the town of Hamar. The club was founded in 1918, originally under the name Freidig. HamKam were most recently promoted to the Elites ...

. He made his senior debut in 2016 and was a prolific Norway youth international, making his debut for Norway U21 at the age of 18. In the 2020 1. divisjon he passed the mark of 100 league games for Hamkam. Ahead of the 2021 season he was bought by Stabæk. He made his

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 ...

debut in May 2021 against Haugesund. After Stabæk were relegated, Solbakken transferred to

Viking Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

in February 2022. He signed a four-year contract with the club. On 9 January 2024, Solbakken signed a multi-year contract with

Czech First League The Czech First League () also known as the Chance Liga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in the Czech Republic and the highest level of the Czech Republic football league system. Seasons typically run from A ...

club

. On 22 January 2025, Solbakken joined

Serie B The Serie B (), officially known as Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had b ...

club

Pisa Pisa ( ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Tuscany, Central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for the Leaning Tow ...

on a half-year loan deal with option to make transfer permanent.

International career

In August 2023, Solbakken received his first call-up to the Norway senior national team by his father and head coach

, for a

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sport, sporting event whose prize money and impact on th ...

against

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

and a

UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying The UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying tournament was a football competition that was played from March 2023 to March 2024 to determine the 23 UEFA member men's national teams that would join the automatically qualified host team Germany in the UEFA Eur ...

match against

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

. He debuted during the former match on 12 September, coming on as a substitute in the 61st minute.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Sparta Prague *

: 2023–24 *

Czech Cup The Czech Cup (), officially known as the MOL Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the major men's football cup competition in the Czech Republic. It is organised by the Czech Football Association. The Czech Cup was first held in 1961. The winner ...

: 2023–24

References

2000 births Living people Footballers from Hamar 21st-century Norwegian sportsmen Norwegian men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Norway men's youth international footballers Norway men's under-21 international footballers Norway men's international footballers Eliteserien players Norwegian First Division players Norwegian Second Division players Czech First League players Serie B players Hamarkameratene players Stabæk Fotball players Viking FK players AC Sparta Prague players Pisa SC players Norwegian expatriate men's footballers Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in the Czech Republic Expatriate men's footballers in the Czech Republic Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Italy {{Norway-footy-midfielder-stub