| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Håvard Nordtveit | ||
| Date of birth | 21 June 1990 | ||
| Place of birth | Vats, Norway | ||
| Height | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | ||
| Playing position | Defensive midfielder | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | Borussia Mönchengladbach | ||
| Number | 16 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1997–2003 | Vats 94 | ||
| 2003–2005 | Skjold | ||
| 2006–2007 | Haugesund | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 2006–2007 | Haugesund | 10 | (0) |
| 2007–2010 | Arsenal | 0 | (0) |
| 2008 | → Salamanca (loan) | 3 | (0) |
| 2009 | → Lillestrøm (loan) | 17 | (0) |
| 2009–2010 | → 1. FC Nuremberg (loan) | 19 | (0) |
| 2011– | Borussia Mönchengladbach | 32 | (1) |
| National team‡ | |||
| 2006 | Norway U16 | 10 | (1) |
| 2007 | Norway U17 | 7 | (0) |
| 2007–2008 | Norway U18 | 4 | (3) |
| 2007–2009 | Norway U19 | 14 | (0) |
| 2008– | Norway U21 | 20 | (1) |
| 2011– | Norway | 2 | (0) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 15:45, 20 December 2011 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). |
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Håvard Nordtveit (born 21 June 1990) is a Norwegian footballer who currently plays for Borussia Mönchengladbach and the Norway national football team.[1]
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Nordtveit began his career as a youth in Norway with Vats 94 and Skjold. On August 20, 2006 he became the youngest player ever to play for Haugesund,[2] as he was selected for the starting line-up in a 2–0 victory against Sogndal at Haugesund Stadium. He made nine league appearances during the following season for Haugesund in the Norwegian First Division.[3] That season he also appeared in the Norwegian Football Cup, being in the starting linie up in the 1–6 victory against Djerv 1919 (1st round),[4] and coming on in the 33rd minute in a 4–0 victory over Løv-Ham scoring one goal (3rd round).[5] Haugesund went all the way to the final.
Arsène Wenger traveled to Norway on 11 June 2007 to watch an Adeccoligaen match and begin negotiations to sign Nordtveit.[6] The members of the FKH board stated that the club had rejected Arsenal's initial bid. The player himself said that his club was asking for a "supernaturally high" transfer fee. The price being quoted in the Norwegian media was 20 million Norwegian kroner [7] (approximately £1.7 million at the time). A transfer fee was later finalized on 3 July 2007 for £500k initially, rising to £2m after 40 first team appearances.
Haugesund captain Kevin Nicol and former Norway coach Nils Johan Semb praised him as the brightest defensive talent in Europe.[8]
He made his Arsenal debut in their first pre-season friendly against Barnet on July 14, 2007. He came on after half-time, replacing Kerrea Gilbert. He was named captain of Arsenal's reserve squad for the first match of the 2007–08 FA Premier Reserve League season; in an interview with Arsenal.com, Nordtveit said he was "honoured" to have been named captain, and that he hoped to continue in that role in the future.
In the final game of the 2007–08 season he was named on the substitutes' bench against Sunderland and given the shirt number 55.
On August 18, 2008, Salamanca—Arsenal's Spanish link club—signed him on a 6 months loan for 2008–2009 season to play in the Segunda División along with another young Arsenal player, Pedro Botelho. He came off the bench to make his debut for UD Salamanca as they drew at Sevilla Atlético in the second fixture of the season.
Arsenal recalled him on October 29, after becoming unhappy with the amount of playing time the Norwegian had received in recent weeks.[9] However, he was not eligible for playing matches until January 1, 2009. On January 21 he finally made his first appearance for the reserves since spending time on-loan at UD Salamanca, in a 2–2 draw against the Stoke City reserves. On March 10, 2009, Norwegian Premier League outfit Lillestrøm signed Nordtveit on loan until August 1, 2009.[10]
Nordtveit joined Lillestrøm on a loan deal in March 2009, until August 1, the same year. He made his debut in the Norwegian Premier League in Lillestrøm's season opener away against Stabæk as a right fullback, a role which he retained for the remainder of his time with the Norwegian side.
On 28 July 2009, Nürnberg agreed a one year loan deal for the Norwegian defender from Arsenal.[11] Despite being a center-back, his primary role at Nürnberg was in the defensive midfield position.[12]
On 30 December 2010 Nordtveit joined Borussia Monchengladbach on a 3.5 years contract, the transfer fee was £800 000. Nordtveit made his competitive debut for the club on 15 January 2011 in their Bundesliga match against Nürnberg. Arsene Wenger was reluctant to sell him, however conceded that he must play first team football. In April 2011 Nordtveit scored his first goal in Germany when he put the ball past the 1. FC Köln goalkeeper in a 5-1 victory for Borussia Mönchengladbach. He has been used mostly as a defensive midfielder, and has established himself as a key player for Gladbach, taking the departed Michael Bradley's place in the squad.
Nordtveit was a regular for the Norway U-17 in qualifying and they barely missed out on a place at the 2007 European Championships. After that he was promoted to the U-19 squad and was ever-present during the 2009 European Championship qualifying, scoring twice, but once again Norway did not make it past the elite qualification stage. He has been a regular for the U-21 team in the 2011 European Championship qualifying campaign.[13] He made his first international appearance on 7 June 2011, in a friendly game against Lithuania.
| Club | Season | League | Cup | Europe | Total | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Haugesund | 2006 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 2007 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 1 | |
| Arsenal | 2007–08 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2008–09 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Salamanca (loan) | 2008–09 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Lillestrøm (loan) | 2009 | 17 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 21 | 0 |
| Nürnberg (loan) | 2009–10 | 19 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 0 |
| Arsenal | 2010–11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Borussia Mönchengladbach | 2010–11 | 16 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 1 |
| 2011–12 | 16 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 0 | |
| Career total | 81 | 1 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 91 | 2 | |
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