bardez
Apr 5 2005, 06:32 AM
Soccer clubs lure foreigners
Never before have Norway's top professional soccer clubs sported so many non-Norwegian players. One out of four now lacks a Norwegian passport.
http://cache.aftenposten.no/multimedia/archive/00233/_012176_jpg_233376h.jpg
Arni Gautur Arason of Iceland is just one of the non-Norwegian players in the country's top soccer league. He now plays for Oslo club Vålerenga
As recently as 1995, foreign players registered with Norway's soccer association numbered just 14. On the eve of this year's season openers, that number has jumped to 80.
That may not seem like such a large amount, but with just 321 players divided among 14 professional clubs in Norway's so-called "elite league" (the equivalent of England's Premier League), it's beginning to catch attention.
It also means that 25 percent of the talent pool has been imported to Norway. "This is clearly a new record," Roger Solheim of the soccer association (Norges Fotballforbund) told newspaper Aftenposten.
The rising number of foreign players worries some soccer officials. "I think we're beginning to reach a limit here," says Sondre Kåfjord, president of the association. "As long as they make the league better, it's fine, but we've seen a tendency that relatively many actually play rather seldom. They're sitting on the bench, and then it would have been better to have given our Norwegian players a spot on the team instead."
Nils Johan Semb, former coach of Norway's national soccer squad, said he thinks the number of foreign players is now high enough. Rune Bratseth of Trondheim club Rosenborg tends to agree.
"I don't have anything against foreign players in Norwegian football (soccer), but it's looking like they don't really raise the standards," said Bratseth. "Then it can be negative."
Oslo club Lyn has the most non-Norwegian players, with 11 coming from Sweden, Iceland, Finland, Nigeria, Denmark, Oman and Portugal.
The vast majority at all the clubs are from Sweden, but 29 countries are represented among Norway's top clubs, including the US, Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, Slovenia, Belgium, Estonia, Scotland, Bosnia-Hercegovina, England, France, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Kenya, Malta, Senegal, South Africa, Tunisia, Germany, Hungary, Venezuela and Austria.
Never before have Norway's top professional soccer clubs sported so many non-Norwegian players. One out of four now lacks a Norwegian passport.
http://cache.aftenposten.no/multimedia/archive/00233/_012176_jpg_233376h.jpg
Arni Gautur Arason of Iceland is just one of the non-Norwegian players in the country's top soccer league. He now plays for Oslo club Vålerenga
As recently as 1995, foreign players registered with Norway's soccer association numbered just 14. On the eve of this year's season openers, that number has jumped to 80.
That may not seem like such a large amount, but with just 321 players divided among 14 professional clubs in Norway's so-called "elite league" (the equivalent of England's Premier League), it's beginning to catch attention.
It also means that 25 percent of the talent pool has been imported to Norway. "This is clearly a new record," Roger Solheim of the soccer association (Norges Fotballforbund) told newspaper Aftenposten.
The rising number of foreign players worries some soccer officials. "I think we're beginning to reach a limit here," says Sondre Kåfjord, president of the association. "As long as they make the league better, it's fine, but we've seen a tendency that relatively many actually play rather seldom. They're sitting on the bench, and then it would have been better to have given our Norwegian players a spot on the team instead."
Nils Johan Semb, former coach of Norway's national soccer squad, said he thinks the number of foreign players is now high enough. Rune Bratseth of Trondheim club Rosenborg tends to agree.
"I don't have anything against foreign players in Norwegian football (soccer), but it's looking like they don't really raise the standards," said Bratseth. "Then it can be negative."
Oslo club Lyn has the most non-Norwegian players, with 11 coming from Sweden, Iceland, Finland, Nigeria, Denmark, Oman and Portugal.
The vast majority at all the clubs are from Sweden, but 29 countries are represented among Norway's top clubs, including the US, Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, Slovenia, Belgium, Estonia, Scotland, Bosnia-Hercegovina, England, France, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Kenya, Malta, Senegal, South Africa, Tunisia, Germany, Hungary, Venezuela and Austria.