Thorbjørn Svenssen

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Thorbjørn Svenssen (right) in 1957

Thorbjørn Svenssen (born April 22, 1924 in Sandefjord , † January 8, 2011 ibid, called "Klippen" (The Rock) ) was a Norwegian football player . His position was in defense . With 104 appearances he was the record player for the Norwegian national soccer team until September 7, 2012 .

Life

Svenssen began playing football at Sandefjord BK in 1936 . The climatic conditions usually brought five months of snow and frost with them, so that even in his youth he was not only involved in football. In winter, ski jumping, bandy competitions and ice hockey games were all the rage, while football played its role in the young athlete's diverse occupation in the remaining months. Looking back, he says at that time "that even as a steppe he was challenged to be tough, vigorous, persistent and athletic". He trained three times with the team and every free hour on his own. He remained loyal to Sandefjord throughout his career, which lasted from 1945 to 1965. He played a total of 600 games for the club, 196 of them in the first division. He never won a league title or trophy in his club career. In 1957 and 1959 he was with his club - Sandefjord belonged to the first division (Hovedserien) from 1948/49 to 1961/62 - in the cup finals . Both finals were lost by the yellow-blacks. 1957 0: 4 against Fredrikstad FK and in 1959 just 1: 2 goals after extra time against Viking Stavanger .

In 1946, in Oslo, he wore the national jersey for the first time. At the age of 22, he made a name for himself in the B selection in a 3-2 defeat against Denmark. In the senior national team, he played from 1947 to 1962 for almost 15 years. During this time he played 104 internationals, 93 of them as captain, and was the second after the Englishman Billy Wright to reach the mark of 100 internationals. Norway lost their 100th international match on September 17, 1961 4-0 to Denmark .

Norway also took part in the 1952 Olympic Games , where they were eliminated in the first round against Sweden - the later bronze medalist went with goalkeeper Kalle Svensson and middle runner Bengt Gustavsson . A respectable success was also achieved in 1953 when they won a 1-1 draw against eventual world champions Germany in the World Cup qualification . Svenssen directed the Norwegian defense against the five German attackers Helmut Rahn , Max Morlock , Ottmar Walter , Fritz Walter and Hans Schäfer . The 2-1 home win on June 12, 1957 in the World Cup qualification against Hungary with their prominent attackers Nándor Hidegkuti , Lajos Tichy and Máté Fenyvesi , is also one of the successes with the national team. From 1953 - on June 24th against Saarland - until October 29th, 1961 in the away game against Turkey, he played ten World Cup qualifiers for Norway. In the 99th international match against the Soviet Union (0: 3) in August 1961 at the Ullevaal Stadium , he was again named the best player. Long-term companions were the defense colleague Arne Bakker and the storm tank Harald Hennum .

Svenssen is the only football player to be immortalized in the Holmenkollen Museum in Oslo , where Norway's sporting heroes are revered.

In addition to cliffs , his compatriots also called him "The Great Whaler" because he had earned his living as a whaler shortly after the Second World War . After completing his career, he managed the forwarding of a manufacturing company in Sandefjord, where he had previously worked. Son Thorgny played in the top league with the start of Kristiansand until 1982 .

literature

  • Michael Horn: Lexicon of international soccer stars. Verlag Die Werkstatt, Göttingen 2004, ISBN 3-89533-466-9 .
  • Nachtigall / Baingo / Friedemann: Club of Hundreds. Sportverlag Berlin, 1989, ISBN 3-328-00306-1 , pp. 252-262

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Thorbjørn Svenssen er død vg.no (Norwegian)
  2. ↑ Hundreds Club, p. 254
  3. ^ Wieland Becker: The long way to the finals. The qualifying games for the football world championships 1930-2010. Volume II. Pro BUSINESS, Berlin 2010, page 639, ISBN 978-3-86805-613-6
  4. ^ Club of Hundreds, p. 257
personal data
SURNAME Svenssen, Thorbjørn
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Svennsen, Thorbjörn
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Norwegian soccer player
DATE OF BIRTH April 22, 1924
PLACE OF BIRTH Sandefjord
DATE OF DEATH January 8, 2011
Place of death Sandefjord