Claus Lundekvam

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Claus Lundekvam
Personal information
Full name Claus Lundekvam
Date of birth February 22, 1973 (1973-02-22) (age 35)
Place of birth    Austevoll, Norway
Height 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Playing position Defender
Club information
Current club Southampton
Number 5
Youth clubs
Brann
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
1993-1996
1996-2008		 Brann
Southampton		 053 (1)
357 (2)   
National team2
1995-2005 Norway 040 (2)

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of 15:08, 6 May 2007 (UTC).
2 National team caps and goals correct
as of 2 August 2006.
* Appearances (Goals)

Claus Lundekvam (born February 22, 1973 in Austevoll) is a Norwegian footballer, who spent most of his career at English side Southampton.

Contents

[edit] Playing career

Hailing from Austevoll, he joined Brann as a junior player with his senior debut coming in 1993. Lundekvam eventually gained a regular place as a central defender before being sold to English side Southampton in the autumn of 1996. He has played over 340 Premier League matches for Southampton, which is more Premiership appearances than any other Norwegian. He has been the team's first choice for captain for several years.

Lundekvam made his debut for Norway in November 1995, but did not become a regular until 2002. He has been capped 40 times, scoring twice. His first international goal, against Bosnia-Herzegovina in 2002, was the 1,000th goal in the history of the Norwegian national team.

Claus scored only two goals during his Saints career. His first came against Wolves on 3 April 2004 in a 4–1 win,[1] and his second against Cardiff in 2006 – both teams managed at the time by former Saints manager Dave Jones.

Lundekvam remained at Southampton even after their relegation from the FA Premier League in 2005. He went off injured after five minutes of the first game of the 2006-07 season, away to Derby County on 6 August 2006 (being replaced in the centre of defence by Chris Baird) and missed the first two months of the season. He then enjoyed a long run in the team before another injury in March put him out for another month. In the game at St Mary's against Southend United on 6 May 2007, he fell awkwardly sustaining a serious ankle injury which has put him out of action until at least February 2008. On 18 March 2008 it was announced that his injury was such that his playing career was over.[2]

Claus announced his retirement on 25 March 2008, after not playing all season 2007-08.

On 4 July 2007, Claus was named as the 50th worst footballer in the Premier League by TimesOnline [1].

[edit] Fans` Favourite

Claus has been a favourite of the fans at Southampton for his consistency and the years he has stayed at the Club.[citation needed]

Claus has also acted as Santa for the Southampton fans, although the fans call him 'Santa Claus', after his name.

[edit] Honours

Southampton

Awards
Preceded by
Peter Crouch		 Southampton F.C. player of the season
2005-06		 Succeeded by
Chris Baird


[edit] References

  1. ^ "Wolves 1-4 Southampton", BBC Sport, 2004-04-03. Retrieved on 2008-02-21. 
  2. ^ "Claus set to quit", www.saintsfc.co.uk, 2008-03-18. Retrieved on 2008-03-18. 

[edit] External links

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