Kjetil Rekdal

Club

Aalesund

Position

Manager

Nationality

Norway

Date of birth

1968-11-06

Birthplace

Vestnes, Norway

Height

187 cm

Kjetil André Rekdal (born 6 November 1968) is a Norwegian football manager and a former player. He is the manager of Norwegian club Aalesund.

Rekdal began his playing career at Molde FK, playing afterwards for clubs in the Bundesliga, Ligue 1, and Belgian Pro League. Playing as a midfielder during his time as a player, his 83 caps with the Norway national team make him the seventh most capped player in the team's history.

Rekdal previously managed Vålerenga from 2000 to 2006, during which he won both the cup and league title. He has also been in charge of 1. FC Kaiserslautern, Lierse, and Aalesund. During his time at Aalesund, the club earned two cup titles and saw a period of success previously unmatched in their history, which was attributed to Rekdal.

Born in Vestnes Municipality, Rekdal started playing football for the local club Fiksdal/Rekdal in 1979. Later, as a 16-year-old, he started his professional career with the local top-flight club Molde FK, becoming the second-youngest player in the league. In 1988, he signed with the Bundesliga club Borussia Mönchengladbach and stayed with them for two years before moving to the Belgian Pro League side Lierse S.K. and remaining there until 1996, with the exception of the 1994 season, which he spent on loan helping his former club Molde FK gain promotion to Tippeligaen and win the domestic cup.

In 1996, he signed for Ligue 1 club Rennes. The highlight of his playing career was a highly successful spell at Hertha BSC in Germany between 1997 and 2000. His final years as a player and then player/manager were spent in the Norwegian club Vålerenga, where he picked up another cup winner's medal in 2002 before retiring in 2004. In the summer of 2007, Rekdal officially rejoined his youth club Fiksdal/Rekdal.

Rekdal has 83 games for the Norway national team, after his debut against Italy in 1987, and played in two FIFA World Cups (1994 and 1998). He scored 17 goals for the national team, among those a long-range goal at Wembley against England in 1992, the only goal in the game as Norway beat Mexico in the 1994 World Cup, and a penalty in the 1998 World Cup against Brazil to win the game 2–1, prompting the commentator to say how "the man with the yellow boots has hurt those wearing the yellow shirts...Delight for Egil Olsen". The two World Cup goals make him the highest-scoring Norwegian in World Cup history, with one goal more than Arne Brustad, Dan Eggen, Håvard Flo and Tore André Flo.

Born 6 Nov