Geir Hasund

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Geir Hasund
Personal information
Full name	Geir Hasund
Date of birth	July 3, 1971 (1971-07-03) (age 36)
Place of birth	Norway
Height	190+ cm
Playing position	Midfield/Striker
Club information
Current club	Retired
Youth clubs
	Hødd
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1993 1994-1998 1998	Viking FK SK Brann Åsane	14 110 (34) N/A
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

Geir "Super/Euro" Hasund is a former Norwegian football player. After scoring an immense number of goals for Hødd in the Norwegian first division plus performing well for the Norwegian U21 team, he was targeted by major clubs Viking and Brann before the 1993 season. Brann, however, decided to pass on him. After flopping in Viking in the 1993 season, Brann's manager of sports Anders Giske still found the player to have improved, and signed him for the club.

His somewhat laid-back style and his sometimes awkward involvements initially made him unpopular with the Brann fans. The fans, however, after a few months started chanting his name constantly and cherishing him as if he were a cult figure. Considering his poor performances until that time, there was probably some degree of sarcasm involved - (though not necessarily, as the chanting part of the Brann fans in this particular period were known to be uncompromising in the backing of their struggling club). After this, Hasund's performances suddenly took a steep upward turn as he became more confident on the ball and scored a number of extremely important goals. This increased his already boosting cult status, and his fairy-tale rise to fame and glory after being labelled useless made him an icon for Brann fans to this day. One can actually still hear the odd "Geir Hasund" chant on Brann stadium or after dark in Bergen. There is even a local amateur club in Bergen called "Hasunds hund" ("Hasund's dog"), honouring his memory.

Amongst his cult-creating achievements is scoring the last and deciding goal in the Norwegian Cup semi-finals of 1995, in a match over two legs where Brann were three goals down but scored four times during 15 minutes in the last half. He is also famous for his achievement in the 1996/97 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, where his goals were an important factor when Brann advanced to the quarter finals. He also scored Brann's equaliser in their drawn home-leg of the quarter finals against Liverpool F.C.

Hasund was a great technical footballer, but he was also slow and could sometimes look uninspired in duels. And despite being very tall, Hasund wasn't a particularly good header. Troubled with allergies, Hasund was always best during the autumn part of the season. After being sacked from Brann in 1998, Hasund had a short stint in Åsane before he retired.

Hasund compares in some respects to England and Liverpool player Peter Crouch.

Persondata
NAME	Hasund, Geir
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Hasund, Geir
SHORT DESCRIPTION	footballer
DATE OF BIRTH	July 3, 1971
PLACE OF BIRTH	Norway
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH