Kristofer Hæstad

Kristofer Hæstad

Personal information
Full name	Kristofer Krüger Hæstad
Date of birth	(1983-12-09) 9 December 1983
Place of birth	Kristiansand, Norway
Height	1.72 m (5 ft 7 1⁄2 in)
Playing position	Central midfielder
Youth career
	Randesund
	Vigør
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2001–2007	Start	156	(20)
2007	→ Wigan Athletic (loan)	2	(0)
2008–2014	Vålerenga	147	(9)
National team‡
2005–2014	Norway	27	(1)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 29 June 2014. † Appearances (goals) ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 31 January 2010

Kristofer "Doffen" Krüger Hæstad (born 9 December 1983) is a Norwegian former footballer. He played as a central midfielder.

Club career

Early career

Hæstad played for the youth teams of Randesund and Vigør.

Start

He was signed by Start in 2001, and debuted in the Norwegian Premier League in 2002, when the youthful Start squad only made 11 points and were relegated.

After two seasons in the First Division, Start were once again promoted in 2004, with Hæstad as one of the team's central players. Hæstad has continued in great form after the promotion, and was named player of the month by NRK in April 2005.

In July 2006, Hæstad launched a music single This Is For Real together with four other professional Norwegian footballers – Morten Gamst Pedersen, Freddy dos Santos, Raymond Kvisvik, and Øyvind Svenning. They call their band The Players.

On 25 August 2006 it was revealed that Manchester United watched the talented Norwegian during a UEFA Cup qualifying game against Drogheda United.^[1] He was also rumoured to be wanted by Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers, West Ham United and Leeds United.^[2]

On loan at Wigan

On 29 December 2006 it was announced that Wigan Athletic had secured Hæstad on a 6 months loan contract. The Wigan boss, Paul Jewell expressed delight on signing the talented midfielder.^[3] The Norwegian newspaper VG would later reveal that it not was a standard loan contract, but an intricate deal that could see Hæstad stay at Wigan until July 2010, if they pick up an option to buy him at the end of the current season.^[4] Hæstad made his Premier League debut on 13 January 2007 against Chelsea,^[5] but was released from his loan contract at Wigan Athletic by mutual consent on 1 April 2007.^[6]

Hæstad made a scoring return for Start on his return to Norway after scoring the fourth goal in a 4–2 victory away to Aalesund

Vålerenga

On 2 January 2008, Kristofer Hæstad signed a four-year contract with Vålerenga. On 29 March 2008, Hæstad made his competitive debut for Vålerenga in the season's first game against Aalesund. After a poor first season plagued by injuries, and failing to score a goal, rumors said that he was heading away from the club, most likely back to his former club Start. However, he stayed at Vålerenga and had a great second season. He scored his first goal against Start in a 2–3 loss. He also scored two goals against Lyn which ended 4–4.

Hæstad announced his retirement from professional football on July 1, 2014.

International career

24 May 2005, Hæstad debuted for the national team in a private match against Costa Rica.

International goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	2 June 2007	Ullevaal Stadion, Oslo	Malta	4–0	Win	UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying

Career statistics

As of 6 October 2013

Honours

• Kniksen award: midfielder of the year in 2005

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kristofer Hæstad.

• Kristofer Hæstad career statistics at Soccerbase
• (Norwegian) Start's bio of Hæstad
• Nor-blimey (subscription required)
• Kristofer Hæstad at National-Football-Teams.com