Stig Inge Bjørnebye

Stig Inge Bjørnebye ( born December 11, 1969 in Elverum ) is a Norwegian former football player and current coach. He played on the position of the left-back.

Player

Stig Inge Bjørnebye was born in 1969 in Elverum, a town about 150 kilometers north-east of Oslo. He is the son of the ski jumper Jo Inge Bjørnebye, which took part in the Winter Olympics 1972 in Sapporo. As a young boy he also jumped ski, but quickly moved to the football. In his youth he played for Elverum and later for Strømmen.

Association

From Strømmen Bjørnebye joined Kongsvinger IL. For Kongsvinger he played from 1989 to 1991 in the Tippeligaen. He completed 62 games and scored three goals. 1992 Bjørnebye went to Rosenborg and won this season the Norwegian championship and the national cup. He was the first of 13 consecutive Tippeligaen championship title for Rosenborg. In the cup final against Lillestrøm SK, he scored a goal.

After the season Bjørnebye moved to the Premier League for Liverpool. In 1994, he was loaned to his former club Rosenborg and won the championship again. With Liverpool he won the 1995 League Cup. Shortly thereafter, he broke his foot in the game against Southampton FC and fell several months. After eight years in Liverpool and 139 league games and two goals Bjørnebye 2000 was loaned to Danish club Brøndby IF in the short term and completed here 13 games and scored two goals.

In the same year he moved to Blackburn Rovers. With them he won his second League Cup in 2002. Then he ended his active career as a football player.

National

Bjørnebye debuted on 31 May 1989 in the Norwegian national football team, in a 4-1 home win over Austria. In the same year he came in the last three qualifying matches for the 1990 World Cup for use. However, a fourth table was not enough room at the end of the qualification.

During qualifying for the European Championship 1992, he ran twice. Norway failed to qualify for the main round up.

The qualification for the 1994 World Cup was more successful. Bjørnebye stood in nine of the ten qualifying games on the pitch and Norway finished ahead of the Netherlands and England the first place in the table. Thus, after 1938 the second qualification was achieved for the World Cup finals. Bjørnebye played all three games of the finals. Norway beat Mexico 1-0, lost by the same score against Italy and separated 0-0 of Ireland. Thus, after completion of the group stage, all four teams had four points and a balanced goal difference. Due to only one scoring goals Norway came in last place and retired.

In the following qualification for Euro 1996, he played six games. He came on the final day at the 0:3 defeat against the Netherlands in Rotterdam for use. Norway had a draw needed, and occupied by the defeat only the third place behind the Czech Republic and tied behind the Netherlands.

In the following qualification for the World Cup 1998, Norway continued sovereign as sovereign by first table and reached again after 1994 the World Cup finals. Bjørnebye hereby denied six of the ten qualifying games. In the finals in France Bjørnebye played in all three group games. The team reached in each case a draw against Morocco and Scotland, and defeated in the last match, the Brazilians. This Bjørnebye was another WM application in the second round against Italy. Norway was eliminated by a 0-1 defeat.

With seven games at a World Cup Bjørnebye is next to Henning Berg and Kjetil Rekdal the player with the most appearances for his country.

Two years later, Norway qualified for a European Championship for the first time. Bjørnebye 1998 played the first three games in qualifying. In 1999 he came to no international duty. In the European Championship finals in Belgium and the Netherlands, however, he was back in the squad. Vegard Heggem After injured in the second game against Yugoslavia before half- time, Bjørnebye came off the bench and denied even the last group game against Slovenia. A third place in the group is not sufficient for reaching the quarter-finals.

On 7 October 2000 Bjørnebye played his last international match. It was a 1-1 draw in World Cup qualifier against Wales in Cardiff.

Overall Bjørnebye played 75 times for Norway and is one of the top 10 players in his country with the most international appearances. In the friendly match against the USA on 8 September 1993 in Oslo, he scored his only international goal.

Achievements

• Norwegian champion: 1992, 1994 ( Rosenborg Trondheim )
• Norwegian Cup winner: 1992 ( Rosenborg Trondheim )
• English League Cup Winners: 1995 ( with Liverpool ), 2002 ( Blackburn Rovers)

Coach

2003 Stig Inge Bjørnebye assistant coach of the Norwegian national football team under head coach Åge Hareide. He held until 2006 this post. In 2006 he took over the Tippeligaen club IK Start Kristiansand as head coach. With nearly seven million crowns, he was the highest-paid coach in Norway in 2006. According to the 19th round of the 2007 season, he was released at IK Start due to the low yield point of the team. Start was at this time the relegation zone and had not won in ten game days in a row.

Private

Stig Inge Bjørneby is married to the former handball player Hege Frøseth and has three children. He is the son of a successful ski jumper Jo Inge Bjørnebye.