Oddvar Ingolf Hansen (11 April 1921 – 31 March 2011) was a Norwegian footballer and coach, who represented Brann in his hometown

Bergen Bergen (, ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, second-largest city in Norway after the capital Oslo. By May 20 ...

. As a player, Hansen was a right-back who played 238 first-team games for Brann between 1940 and 1956.Oddvar Hansen er gått bort
, ''SK Brann official site'' (4 April 2011). He was a losing cup finalist in 1950. He also won 19 caps for

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 ...

between 1948 and 1954, and was a member of Norway's squad at the 1952 Olympics, but he did not play in any matches. As a coach, Hansen became player-coach of Brann in 1955 when he took over from Englishman George Ainsley. He had three spells as Brann's head coach (1955–57, 1960–63 and 1965–68), and is best remembered for leading the club to consecutive league titles in 1962 and 1963. The 1963 title would turn out to be Brann's last league championship in 44 years, until the drought came to a temporary end in

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

. In addition to his achievements in football, Hansen was also an excellent

table tennis Table tennis (also known as ping-pong) is a racket sport derived from tennis but distinguished by its playing surface being atop a stationary table, rather than the Tennis court, court on which players stand. Either individually or in teams of ...

player, who became national champion in 1947. He died on 31 March 2011, less than two weeks before what would have been his 90th birthday.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hansen, Oddvar 1921 births 2011 deaths Norwegian men's footballers Norwegian football managers Norway men's international footballers SK Brann players SK Brann managers Footballers from Bergen Men's association football defenders 20th-century Norwegian sportsmen