Erik Johannessen (footballer)

Erik Johannessen

Erik Johannessen in 2007
Personal information
Full nameErik Hjorth Johannessen
Date of birth20 March 1952
Place of birthStavanger, Norway
Playing positionGoalkeeper
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps†(Gls)†
1971–1983Viking245(0)
Total245(0)
National team
1968–1970Norway U-1911(0)
1972–1975Norway U-218(0)
1975Norway6(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).

Erik Johannessen (born 20 March 1952) is a Norwegian former footballer who played as a goalkeeper for Viking between 1971 and 1983. He won the Norwegian league six times and earned six caps while playing for Norway. Johannessen has later been a part of Viking coaching-staff as a goalkeeping-coach.

Club career

Johannesse was born in Stavanger[1] and started his career in Viking in 1971, where he soon became Sverre Andersen's successor as the first-choice goalkeeper.[2] Johannessen was a part of Viking's golden generation that won four consecutive Norwegian league championships between 1972 and 1975,[3] and he was voted Viking-player of the year in both 1974 and 1975.[4] Johannessen also kept a clean sheet for 672 minutes in the 1974 Norwegian First Division.[5] As of the end of the 2012 season, this is still the record in the top league of Norway, with Kenneth Udjus 557 minutes from 2011 and 2012 as the second-longest clean sheet.[6]

Johannessen also won the league with Viking in 1979 and 1982, and is with his six championship the most-winning Viking-player of all times. His last match for Viking was the 2–9 loss against Brann in the last match of the 1983 season.[2] He played 245 league-matches for Viking between 1971 and 1983,[1] and with 501 matches for Viking, including friendlies, he is the Viking-player with third most appearances for the club, behind Svein Kvia and Sigbjørn Slinning.[7]

International career

Johannessen played 11 matches for the Norwegian under-19 team between 1968 and 1970, before he played 8 matches for the under-21 team between 1972 and 1975. He made his debut for the senior team team against Finland on 15 May 1975, and was capped a total of 6 times playing for Norway.[8]

Coaching career

Johannessen was working as Benny Lennartsson's goalkeeping-coach at Viking in 1989 and 1990. He later worked as goalkeeping-coach at Hinna before he was coaching Viking's youth-team.[9] He was also working as a teacher at Kristianlyst Ungdomskole, but left this job when he replaced Kurt Hegre as Viking's goalkeeping-coach ahead of the 2007 season.[10] He quit the job in the coaching staff after the 2010 season, and joined Viking's administrative staff before he returned to his teacher-job from 1 January 2012 and became Jørn Øvrebø's assistant coach at Hinna in the 3. Divisjon.[11]

Personal life

Johannessen had two daughters, Josefine and Martine, and was married to Brit Tone who died from cancer in 2011. Four days after his wife's burial, he got a large rift in the aorta. The doctors claimed he had a 50% chance of surviving, but Johannessen recovered after a ten-hour-long surgery at Haukeland Sykehus.[12]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Johannessen, Erik" (in Norwegian). Viking FK. 16 July 2012. Retrieved 15 March 2012.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lindboe, Frode S. (26 October 2006). "Erik Målmann er tilbake" (in Norwegian). Stavanger Aftenblad. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
  3. ↑ Johansen, Robert Veiåker (5 April 2009). "Rett vest" (in Norwegian). Aftenposten. Retrieved 15 March 2012.
  4. ↑ "«Årets Viking» 1972–2006". Rogalands Avis. 3 November 2006. Retrieved 15 March 2012.
  5. ↑ "VG vurderer Viking" (in Norwegian). Verdens Gang. 9 April 2001. Retrieved 15 March 2012.
  6. ↑ Sandberg, Fredrik Økstad (15 April 2012). "Udjus klarte 557 minutter uten baklengsmål" (in Norwegian). Dagbladet. Retrieved 15 March 2012.
  7. ↑ "Flest kamper/mål og landslagskjempene" (in Norwegian). Viking FK. 7 March 2012. Retrieved 15 March 2012.
  8. ↑ "Erik Johannessen's profil". fotball.no (in Norwegian). Football Association of Norway. Retrieved 15 March 2013.
  9. ↑ "Johannessen blir keepertrener" (in Norwegian). Stavanger Aftenblad. 20 December 2006. Retrieved 15 March 2012.
  10. ↑ Grøndal, Kjell Ivar; Olsen, Olav Rege (15 September 2008). "Enig om ny kontrakt" (in Norwegian). Stavanger Aftenblad. Retrieved 15 March 2012.
  11. ↑ Fisketjøn, Lars (25 October 2011). "Erik Johannessen ferdig i Viking" (in Norwegian). Rogalands Avis. Retrieved 15 March 2012.
  12. ↑ Larsen, Jan-Erik (14 July 2011). "Legene reddet livet til Viking-legende" (in Norwegian). Stavanger Aftenblad. Retrieved 15 March 2013.