Mons Ivar Mjelde

Mons Ivar Mjelde
Personal information
Date of birth17 November 1967
Place of birthOsterøy, Norway
Playing positionStriker
Club information
Current team
Start (Head coach)
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
1989–1990Brann31(7)
1991Bryne(9)
1992–1994Lillestrøm53(29)
1994–1995Austria Wien62(28)
1996–2001Brann97(48)
2001Sogndal (loan)7(2)
Total250(114)
National team
1993Norway3(2)
Teams managed
2002Brann (reserve team)
2003–2008Brann
2009Bryne
2011–Start
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).

Mons Ivar Mjelde (born 17 November 1967 in Osterøy) is a former footballer and is currently head coach for the Norwegian club Start.

He is notable for having led Brann to the Norwegian Premier League championship in 2007, breaking the widely supported team's notorious spell of 44 years without a league title. As a player, he was a prolific goalscorer both in the Norwegian Premier League and the Austrian Football Bundesliga. He also won three caps for Norway, scoring two goals.

Mjelde has won the Kniksen award both as a player and as a head coach.

Player career

During his active career, Mjelde spent two seasons at Austria Wien, two and a half seasons at Lillestrøm and a total of 7 seasons at Brann. He also played one season in Bryne – before he went to Lillestrøm. Towards the end of his career, he was loaned out to Sogndal in 2001. Mjelde scored 72 goals in 160 matches for Brann, earning himself and the team silver medals in 1997 and 2000, bronze medals and a cup silver as losing finalists in 1999 and an advancement to the quarter final in the Cup Winners' Cup in 1997, in which they were eliminated by Liverpool. After returning to Brann from Austria in 1996, Mjelde scored 19 goals in 15 league appearances, earning him the Kniksen award as "striker of the year". Mons Ivar played 3 games and scored 2 goals for Norway.

Coaching career

His first four years as a head coach saw Mjelde win both the league and the cup in Norway. Retiring as a player after the 2001 season, Mjelde became the new coach for Brann's reserve team in the Norwegian Second Division. The year after, Brann's head coach, Teitur Thordarson left the club. In January 2003, after only one year's experience as a coach, Mons Ivar Mjelde was appointed head coach in SK Brann. The season resulted in Brann finishing 6th, a major improvement from the previous year. The following year he guided Brann to a bronze medal in the premiership. They also won the cup, the first trophy in 22 years.

In the 2005 season, Brann finished 6th. 2006 was a better season for Mjelde and Brann, who finished as runners-up to Rosenborg. In 2007, his coaching career hit new heights as he took Brann to their first league title in 44 years, six points ahead of Stabæk. On 7 October 2008, Mons Ivar Mjelde announced that the 2008 season would conclude his spell in Brann.[1]

Mjelde was officially appointed as head coach for Bryne on 1 June 2009.[2] In 2011 he coached Valestrand Hjellvik for two games before being snapped up by Start.[3] He was hired as head coach of Start half-way through the 2011 season, but could not save the team from relegation. The next season, Start won the Adeccoligaen and consequently promotion to the Norwegian Premier League in the 2012 season.

Career statistics

As of 11 January 2015
Season Club Division League National Cup League Cup Europe Total
AppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
1989 Brann First Division 10020120
1990 Tippeligaen 21700217
1991 Bryne First Division ??00??
1992 Lillestrøm Tippeligaen 227562713
1993 2119472526
1994 10324127
1994-95 Austria Wien Bundesliga 331700403717
1995-96 301100433414
1996 Brann Tippeligaen 151900461925
1997 2616002616
1998 16400164
1999 18300183
2000 24600246
2001 300030
2001 Sogndal 711192
Career Total 256113141800129282140

Honours

Player

Individual

Head coach

Brann

References

  1. "Dette er Mons Ivar Mjelde [This is Mons Ivar Mjelde"] (in Norwegian). VG Nett. 7 October 2008.
  2. Eriksen, Klaus (1 June 2009). "Mjelde presentert som Bryne-trener" [Mjelde unveiled as the new Bryne head coach]. VG Nett (in Norwegian). Retrieved 1 June 2009.
  3. Vatle, Bjarte (10 July 2011). "Frå VHFK til Tippeligaen" [From VHFK to Tippeligaen] (in Norwegian). Valestrand Hjellvik FK. Retrieved 24 July 2011.