Trond Egil Soltvedt (born 15 February 1967) is a Norwegian former

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 played as a midfielder. After playing for

Viking Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

, Brann and Rosenborg in Norway, he played in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

with

Coventry Coventry ( or rarely ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county, in England, on the River Sherbourne. Coventry had been a large settlement for centurie ...

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

and

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an off ...

before he retired. Soltvedt was capped four times playing 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 ...

Playing career

Norway

Soltvedt started his professional career at

Stavanger Stavanger, officially the Stavanger Municipality, is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Norway. It is the third largest city and third largest metropolitan area in Norway (through conurbation with neighboring Sandnes) and the ...

in 1987 and was a member of the team who won the

Norwegian Cup The Norwegian Football Cup () 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 tournament in the country. The tournament ...

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

and the

Tippeligaen Eliteserien () is a professional association football league in Norway and the highest level of the Norwegian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the Norwegian First Division ...

in its inaugural year,

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

. In 1992, he joined mid-table club Brann. At the end of his first season he was voted the club's "most popular" player. During his time at Brann, the club finished each season in 6th or 7th place in the league. His extremely dedicated style, his innocent and somewhat naïve personality and the fact that many of his goals were scored as a midfielder made him immensely popular. Just before the start of the 1995 season, however, he was sacked by Brann's board for "illoyality", the board refusing to elaborate on this. This prompted a demonstration from fans supporting Soltvedt. After three seasons at Brann, he moved to Rosenborg where he was able to share in more success, claiming the Tippeligaen championship in

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

and

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

as well as winning the Norwegian Cup in

. Trond Egil was also part of the Rosenborg team who beat

AC 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 ...

2-1 away at the

San Siro San Siro is a football stadium in the San Siro district of Milan, Italy. It has a seating capacity of 75,817, making it the largest stadium in Italy and one of the largest stadiums in Europe. It is the home stadium of the city's principal ...

to advance to the quarter-finals of the Champions League.

England

His success in Norway brought him to the attention of English clubs and after an unsuccessful trial at

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, the cl ...

Gordon Strachan Gordon David Strachan ( born 9 February 1957) is a Scottish former football coach and player who is currently Technical Director of Dundee. He played for Dundee, Aberdeen, Manchester United, Leeds United and Coventry City, as well as the Sc ...

signed him for

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Coventry, West Midlands. The club plays in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club is nicknamed The Sky Blues after the sky blue colou ...

for a fee of £500,000 in July 1997. After two seasons at Coventry City, he was then signed by

under Dave Jones in August 1999 for £300,000. He was a "tall, elegant midfielder who added an air of calm authority whenever he played". He made his Saints debut as a substitute in a 4-2 victory over

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Since th ...

on 15 August 1999, helping to set up

Mark Hughes Leslie Mark Hughes (born 1 November 1963) is a Welsh association football, football coach and former player who is the head coach of club Carlisle United F.C., Carlisle United. During his playing career he usually operated as a Forward (asso ...

for the final goal. He made a total of 24 appearances in the 1999-2000 season, playing in midfield alongside

Matthew Le Tissier Matthew Paul Le Tissier (; born 14 October 1968) is a former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Le Tissier spent his entire professional club career with Southampton, before turning to non-League football in 2002; his loyalty gar ...

and

Marians Pahars Marians Pahars (born 5 August 1976) is a Latvian professional football manager and a former player. As a player, he spent the majority of his career operating as a striker for English club Southampton, where he played in the Premier League an ...

as Saints struggled both in defence and in attack, finishing in the lower half of the table. Soltvedt missed a large part of the last few months of the season with persistent groin problems. After replacing Jones as Southampton's manager,

Glenn Hoddle Glenn Hoddle (born 27 October 1957) is an English former football player and manager. He currently works as a television pundit and commentator for ITV Sport and TNT Sports. He played as a midfielder for Tottenham Hotspur, Monaco, Chelsea and ...

soon transferred Soltvelt to

, initially on loan before making the deal permanent in March 2001 for an appearance-based fee which had the potential to rise as high as £200,000. He remained at Sheffield Wednesday for three seasons and was appointed team captain. Unfortunately, he was unable to prevent Wednesday being relegated at the end of the 2002-03 season, when he was released, returning to Norway to play in the lower leagues.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Soltvedt, Trond Egil 1967 births Living people Norwegian men's footballers Norway men's international footballers Viking FK players SK Brann players Rosenborg BK players Coventry City F.C. players Southampton F.C. players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players Eliteserien players Premier League players Kniksen Award winners Norwegian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in England Men's association football midfielders Sportspeople from Voss Footballers from Vestland 20th-century Norwegian sportsmen