Runar Berg (born 7 October 1970) is a Norwegian former 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 le ...

who played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. He played for Bodø/Glimt, Rosenborg,

Tromsø Tromsø (, , ; se, Romsa ; fkv, Tromssa; sv, Tromsö) is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Tromsø (city), city of Tromsø. Tromsø lies ...

Lyn Ubisoft Montpellier is a French video game developer and a studio of Ubisoft based in Castelnau-le-Lez. Founded in 1994 as Ubi Pictures, it is best known for developing the ''Rayman'' and ''Beyond Good & Evil'' series. At 350 employees as of Se ...

, and Venezia. Berg is brother of former Bodø/Glimt and Rosenborg player

Ørjan Berg Ørjan Berg (born 20 August 1968) is a Norwegian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He is the current sporting director of Bodø/Glimt. Berg retired at the end of the 2006 season, having played for Bodø/Glimt, Wetting ...

, and son of former Bodø/Glimt midfielder and playmaker Harald Berg.

Personal life

Berg was born in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

, Netherlands, when his father Harald Berg played for

ADO Den Haag Alles Door Oefening Den Haag (), commonly known by the abbreviated name ADO Den Haag (), is a Dutch association football club from the city of The Hague. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, following relegation f ...

. He is the brother of footballers

and Arild Berg, as well as musician Terje Berg. Berg is also the nephew of Norwegian folk-singer

Terje Nilsen Terje Nilsen (26 November 1951 – 20 March 2019) was a Norwegian singer and songwriter. Nilsen's greatest hit is the song "Mjelle", written in 1974, and appearing on the album "Æ" released in 1977. It later appeared on the album "Kanskje", rel ...

Club career

At the start of his adult football life, Runar Berg played – as his father – at Bodø/Glimt, then playing in the 1st division. The 1988 season Bodø/Glimt got relegated to the 2nd division. Runar Berg was bought by

Nils Arne Eggen Nils Arne Eggen (17 September 1941 – 19 January 2022) was a Norwegian footballer, manager and teacher from Orkdal. Eggen was closely tied to Rosenborg, the club he managed for 23 years between 1970 and 2010. He is Norway's most successful clu ...

to Rosenborg to play with his brother Ørjan in the 1989 season. In 1992, Berg returned to his mother club Bodø/Glimt then again playing in the 1st division. Bodø/Glimt won the first division and gained promotion for the Norwegian top division. In 1997, Berg returned to Rosenborg. In 1999, Berg made a move to Venezia, playing in the

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

. The club had financial problems, however, and was relegated. Berg moved back to Norway on loan to Lyn, before returning "home" to Bodø/Glimt in 2001. He announced his retirement in September 2010. Berg is considered a club legend at Bodø/Glimt. In the 2009 season, when the club had financial problems, Berg played for free. Being the best paid player at the club, Berg did not only give up his ~100,000 euro/year salary, but also started a fund-raiser among local businesses to help save the club. Berg has also earlier donated money to the club, as well as other sport clubs in the area. In 2012, Berg made a comeback for local amateur side Junkeren.

International career

Berg made his debut for

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

in a January 1994 friendly match against the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, coming on as a late substitute for

Kjetil Rekdal Kjetil André Rekdal (born 6 November 1968) is a Norwegian football manager and a former player. He is the manager of Eliteserien club Rosenborg. Rekdal began his playing career in Molde FK, playing afterwards for clubs in the Bundesliga, Ligue ...

and earned 5 caps, scoring no goals.Norway – International Players
– Landslaget His final international match was a November 2003 European Championship qualifying match against

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, again coming on as a late substitute, for

Martin Andresen Martin Andresen (born 2 February 1977) is a Norwegian former professional football player and manager, who played as a central midfielder. Club career Early career Andresen was born in Kråkstad. He was a regular on many Norway national youth ...

Career statistics

Honours

Rosenborg *

Norwegian top division Eliteserien () is a Norwegian professional league for association football clubs. At the top of the Norwegian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion ...

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

Norwegian Cup The Norwegian Football Cup ( no, Norgesmesterskapet i fotball for herrer) is the main knockout cup competition in Norwegian football. It is run by the Football Association of Norway and has been contested since 1902, making it the oldest football ...

Bodø/Glimt *

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Berg, Runar 1970 births Living people Footballers from The Hague Sportspeople from Bodø Norwegian footballers Norway international footballers Norway youth international footballers FK Bodø/Glimt players Rosenborg BK players Tromsø IL players Venezia F.C. players Lyn Fotball players Expatriate footballers in Italy Norwegian expatriate footballers Eliteserien players Norwegian First Division players Serie A players Serie B players Association football midfielders Berg family