Stine Hovland (born 31 January 1991) is a Norwegian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

defender, who plays for

Arna-Bjørnar Arna-Bjørnar Fotball is a Norwegian football club from Arna, Bergen. It was founded in late 2000 as a merger between the football branches from ''IL Bjørnar'' and ''Arna T&IL'', and replaced Bjørnar IL in the league system from 2001. The ...

in the

Toppserien The Toppserien is the top level of women's association football in Norway. It was founded in 1984. History Women's league football was introduced on a county basis in 1977. These leagues acted as qualification for the regional (South) league in ...

and the Norway national team. A relatively

late bloomer A late bloomer is a person whose talents or capabilities are not visible to others until later than usual. The term is used metaphorically to describe a child or adolescent who develops slower than others in their age group, but eventually catche ...

, Hovland did not play in the Norwegian

until she was 24 years old and she made her national team debut at 27 years old.

Club career

Hovland joined Bergen-based

Sandviken Sandviken is a locality and the seat of Sandviken Municipality in Gävleborg County, Sweden with 26,438 inhabitants in 2023. It is situated about 25 km west of Gävle and lies approximately 190 km north of Stockholm. The rail journey t ...

from

Kaupanger Kaupanger is a village situated along the northern shore of the Sognefjorden in the municipality of Sogndal in Vestland county, Norway. It sits along the Norwegian National Road 5, about southeast of the municipal centre of Sogndalsfjøra and a ...

in December 2013 and went on to be an important player and club

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

. In her first season Sandviken were promoted to the

1. divisjon The Norwegian First Division, also called 1. divisjon () and OBOS-ligaen (due to sponsoring ties with OBOS), is the second-highest level of the Norwegian football league system. Each year, the top finishing teams in the 1. divisjon are promo ...

champions. In 2018 she helped Sandviken reach the

Norwegian Women's Cup The Norwegian Women's Cup () is a single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in Norwegian women's association football, football. It has been organised annually since 1978. The final is usually played on a Saturday, the day before the ...

final, which they lost 4–0 to

LSK Kvinner FK LSK Kvinner Fotballklubb is a Norway, Norwegian women's football (soccer), women's football club from Lillestrøm. They currently play in Toppserien, the top division of Norwegian football. The club was founded as Setskog/Høland Fotballklubb on ...

. In April 2019, Hovland was reported to be a

transfer Transfer may refer to: Arts and media * ''Transfer'' (2010 film), a German science-fiction movie directed by Damir Lukacevic and starring Zana Marjanović * ''Transfer'' (1966 film), a short film * ''Transfer'' (journal), in management studies * ...

target for

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who work (human activity), works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the partic ...

clubs

A.C. Milan (), commonly referred to as Milan or AC Milan () mainly outside of Italy, is an Italian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Founded in 1899, the club competes in the Serie A, the top tie ...

and

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...

. She signed for Milan in July.

International career

In November 2018, Hovland won her first

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

for the senior

Norway women's national football team The Norway women's national football team () represents Norway in international Women's association football, football, and is controlled by the Norwegian Football Federation. The team is former European, World and Olympic champions and thus one ...

, in a 4–1 friendly defeat by

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

at Tottori Bank Bird Stadium. She was also included in the

2019 Algarve Cup The 2019 Algarve Cup was the 26th edition of the Algarve Cup, an invitational women's football tournament held annually in Portugal. It took place from 27 February to 6 March. Norway defeated Poland 3–0 in the final to win their fifth title, an ...

-winning squad and secured her place in Norway's

2019 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup was the eighth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international Women's association football, football championship contested by 24 List of women's national association football teams, women's ...

panel.

Personal life

Hovland's brother

Even Even may refer to: General * Even (given name), a Norwegian male personal name * Even (surname), a Breton surname * Even (people), an ethnic group from Siberia and Russian Far East **Even language, a language spoken by the Evens * Odd and Even, a ...

is also an international footballer. The siblings were team mates in their local youth team. At the time of the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup, Hovland was not a professional footballer. She had to take

annual leave Annual leave, also known as statutory leave, is a period of paid time off work granted by employers to employees to be used for whatever the employee wishes. Depending on the employer's policies, differing number of days may be offered, and th ...

from her day job as a

preschool teacher A preschool teacher is a person who is employed to care for children from infant to 4 years of age in a daytime setting. “Preschool“ is the category for children aged 2 to 4 years of age (Infants: 0-1 year of age & Toddlers: 1–2 years of age) ...

to attend the tournament in France.

Career statistics

References

External links

*
Norwegian National Team profile
1991 births Living people Norwegian women's footballers 21st-century Norwegian sportswomen Norwegian educators Norway women's international footballers Women's association football defenders Toppserien players People from Høyanger SK Brann (women) players 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup players AC Milan Women players Footballers from Vestland {{Norway-women-footy-bio-stub