Arne Larsen Økland

Arne Larsen Økland ( born May 31, 1954 in Bømlo ) is a former Norwegian football player.

Arne Larsen Økland grew up in the village of Økland and joined a local football club. From Vard Haugesund he joined in 1976 at the age of 23 to Bryne IL in the first Norwegian league. He worked full time as a tax auditor, as his monthly salary was only about 1500 euros.

In Germany he became famous when he played from 1980 to 1983 at Bayer 04 Leverkusen. There, he scored 43 goals in 101 games. He reached Particular attention in 1981 by playing the Leverkusen against Bayern Munich. After Økland had already scored in the match a hat-trick for Leverkusen, a fourth goal was awarded to him. In this case, the ball had, however, taken the power pole behind the gate and was rebounding landed through a hole in the net in the goal. Økland immediately informed the referee of the match, Udo Horeis, who then revised the goal decision and let the game continue with kick for Bayern.

When he stopped in 1983 at Bayer 04 Leverkusen, he joined initially until 1985 RC Paris. His career ended in 1987 with Økland Bryne IL.

In the Norwegian national team, he played 54 times, scoring 13 goals.

After the career

From 1989 to 1994 Økland was assistant coach of the Norwegian national team. Since 1992, he has a great pizzeria chain. 1997 acquired Økland the island Hillesøy on which he now lives, for the equivalent of 125,000 D-Mark. He was European champion in deep sea fishing in 2001. In addition Økland was on the board of the Norwegian football club Viking Stavanger. Since the summer of 2012, he is sporting director and manager of the club.