Ole Erik Midtskogen (born 12 April 1995) 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 striker for Odd.

Career

Hailing from

Tynset Municipality Tynset is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Østerdalen. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Tynset (town), ...

, Midtskogen started his career in

Tynset IF Tynset Idrettsforening is a Norwegian sports club from Tynset Municipality in Innlandet county. It has sections for association football, team handball, cycling, judo, orienteering, speed skating, skiing, swimming, and taekwondo. It was establi ...

and helped the senior team win promotion to the 2016 2. divisjon. In mid-2016 he moved on to

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 ...

on the same tier, finally winning promotion to the 2018 1. divisjon with the

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. ...

-based club. Following 3 league goals in 2018 and 2019 each, Midtskogen moved abroad. He spent 2020 with Faroese club KÍ Klaksvík before starting the 2021 campaign with Irish side

Dundalk Dundalk ( ; ) is the county town of County Louth, Ireland. The town is situated on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the north-east coast of Ireland, and is halfway between Dublin and Belfast, close to and south of the bor ...

. Being the only Norwegian in the Faroese top flight at the time, his stay there as well as in Ireland was marred by little social contact due to the pandemic. In the late summer of 2021, Midtskogen moved to Norwegian third-tier side

Kjelsås Kjelsås, sometimes called Kjelsaas, is one of the northern neighbourhoods of Oslo situated in Nordre Aker, the northern borough of Oslo, Norway. History Together with Grefsen, Kjelsås was part of the borough ''Grefsen-Kjelsås'' until Ja ...

. Managing to score double digits in half a season, in his first full season for Kjelsås he became the runner-up top goalscorer in the 2022 2. divisjon, group 2, with 18 goals behind

Sondre Sørløkk Sondre Sørløkk (born 8 May 1997) is a Norwegian footballer who plays as a midfielder for Fredrikstad. Career Sørløkk started his career at Meldal as a junior, he then moved to Orkla in 2013. Sørløkk signed with Ranheim in 2016. Sørløkk ...

's 20. Ahead of the 2023 season, Midtskogen was bought by Odd for a minuscule amount. Pundits questioned whether he could make a mark as a relatively old player on the highest Norwegian level. Midtskogen finally made his professional debut two days before his 28th birthday, away against Stabæk. Whilst not scoring during his first two games, he was lauded by pundits, including TV 2's Jesper Mathisen, for his physical play both offensively and defensively. His first goal came in June 2023, being the sole goalscorer of the match between Odd and Molde.

Personal life

Midtskogen is nicknamed "Æljen", "the moose", owing to his physical stature as well as the moose being the municipal symbol of Tynset. During his childhood, Midtskogen was a cross-country skier and finished among the top 10 in , a national competition for the 14 age group. During the same period, he was a

football goalkeeper The goalkeeper (sometimes written as goal-keeper, abbreviated as GK, keeper, keeps, or goalie) is a position in association football. It is the most specialised position in the sport. The goalkeeper's main role is to stop the opposing team from ...

rather than a striker.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Midtskogen, Ole Erik 1995 births Living people People from Tynset Norwegian men's footballers Men's association football forwards Norwegian Third Division players Norwegian Second Division players Norwegian First Division players League of Ireland players Eliteserien players Hamarkameratene players Klaksvíkar Ítróttarfelag players Dundalk F.C. players Kjelsås Fotball players Odds BK players Norwegian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in the Faroe Islands Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in the Faroe Islands Expatriate men's association footballers in the Republic of Ireland Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in Ireland 21st-century Norwegian sportsmen