Ronny Espedal (born 9 May 1975) is a retired Norwegian

football defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

who last played for

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 ...

. He spent his early career in

Randaberg IL Randaberg Idrettslag is a Norwegian sports club from Randaberg. It has sections for football, swimming, gymnastics and volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to sc ...

and

FK Vidar FK Vidar is an association football club from Stavanger, Norway. They currently play in the 3. divisjon, the fourth highest level in the Norwegian football league system. Club history The club was founded on 18 April 1906. FK Vidar played their ...

, and later joined

FK Haugesund Fotballklubben Haugesund (), usually referred to as FK Haugesund or FKH, is a professional association football, football club from the city of Haugesund that plays in the top tier of the Norwegian football league system. FK Haugesund previousl ...

and

Bryne FK Bryne Fotballklubb () is a professional Association football, football club located in Bryne, Norway, which competes in the Eliteserien, the top tier of Norwegian football. Founded on 10 April 1926 as Bryne Fotball-lag, the club joined the Nor ...

in the hope of winning promotion to the Norwegian Premier League. This did not happen, and in 2010 he joined

. Sandnes Ulf won a surprise promotion from the

2011 Norwegian First Division The 2011 1. division (referred to as Adeccoligaen for sponsorship reasons) was a Norwegian second-tier football season. The season began play on 3 April 2011 and ended on 30 October 2011. The clubs relegated from the 2010 Tippeligaen were Høn ...

, and Espedal made his first-tier debut at the age of almost 37. He retired after the 2012 season, in which Sandnes Ulf retained their spot in the Norwegian Premier League. There had been speculation if Espedal might change his mind about his announced retirement in view of the club's recent success but he insisted that it was time to give opportunities to young players. He resides in Hundvåg, is married and has three children.

References

1975 births Living people Norwegian men's footballers Randaberg IL players FK Vidar players FK Haugesund players Bryne FK players Sandnes Ulf players Eliteserien players Men's association football defenders {{Norway-footy-defender-stub