Fredrik Semb Berge

Fredrik Semb Berge (born 6 February 1990) is a Norwegian footballer who plays as a defender . Hailing from Skien, Berge joined the youth-ranks of Odd at the age of 15, and made his first-team debut in 2009. The following season, he became a regular in the team's central defence.

Fredrik Semb Berge
Personal information
Full name Fredrik Semb Berge
Date of birth (1990-02-06) 6 February 1990
Place of birth Skien, Norway
Height 1.89 m (6 ft 2+1⁄2 in)
Position(s) Defender
Team information
Current team
 Odd
Number 16
Youth career
0000–2004 Storm
2005–2007 Odd
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2008–2014 Odd 95 (5)
2014–2016 Brøndby IF 7 (1)
2015 → Molde (loan) 10 (1)
2016–2020 Odd 70 (6)
2022- Gjerpen 31 (23)
International career‡
2005 Norway U15 6 (0)
2006 Norway U16 1 (0)
2008 Norway U18 1 (1)
2010–2013 Norway U21 12 (1)
2013– Norway 3 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 22 October 2023
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 10 June 2013

Berge has represented his country at youth international level, and was included in the Norwegian under-21 squad for the 2013 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship. He has also been capped at senior level, making his debut for Norway in 2013.

Club career

Odds BK

Berge was born in Skien,[1] and started to play youth-football for Storm at the age of seven.[2] As a youngster, Berge was troubled with injuries and had four fractures in his legs in addition to a lot of strain injuries.[3] In 2005, he transferred to Odd Grenland. He attended the Gjerpen Lower Secondary School, and later Toppidrettsgymnaset i Telemark which has a cooperation with Odd.[2] He made his debut for Odd's first team in the First Division match against Hønefoss on 4 October 2008, and made a total of three appearances in the 2008 season.[1] He made his debut in Tippeligaen against Brann in May 2009.[4] He scored his first goal for Odd in Norwegian Cup match against Brann the same season, and scored his first goal in Tippeligaen against Strømsgodset on 26 July 2010.[5] Berge made his break-through in the 2010 season, and became a regular in Odd's central defence alongside Morten Fevang.[6]

Molde wanted to buy Berge ahead of the 2013 season, but the 2 million kr bid for the centre back was promptly rejected by Odd.[7] Dag-Eilev Fagermo, Odd's head coach, was furious about Molde's behaviour and claimed the back-to-back Tippeligaen winners looked down on the other Norwegian clubs after the bid for Semb Berge, which according to Fagermo was worth at least 10M kr.[8] Odd has been struggling with the finances since 2008, and has been forced to sell their biggest profiles, and in 2013 Semb Berge was the player Odd wanted to sell.[9] However, in May 2013 an Odd-fan who won more than 102M kr in the Eurojackpot lottery, paid 2,5M kr for a 25% share of Semb Berge, to prevent Odd from being forced to sell him for a low price to a Norwegian club.[10][11]

Season 2014-2015

On 30 June 2014 Fredrik Semb Berge made a transfer for an undisclosed fee from the Norwegian side Odds BK and signed a four-year-contract with the Danish Brøndby IF which ties him to the club until the summer 2018. Fredrik was handed jersey number 3.[12]

International career

Berge made eight appearances and scored one goals for Norwegian youth teams from under-15 level to under-18 level.[13] He made his debut for the under-21 team against Finland U-21 in June 2010,[5] and became a regular in the team that qualified for the 2013 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship, normally as the third-choice centre back behind Thomas Rogne and Stefan Strandberg. Berge was also selected for the squad for the under-21 championship in Israel, as one of three centre-backs.[14] In the second match of the championship, Berge scored Norway's first goal when England U21 was beaten 3–1.[15]

Berge was one of six debutants at the Norwegian national team in the 1–0 friendly victory against South Africa in January 2013. Berge played 90 minutes in his first match for Norway and was praised for his performance by national team coach Egil Olsen.[3] Berge also appeared in the friendly match against Zambia four days later.

Career statistics
As of match played 8 November 2019[16]
Season Club Division League Cup Europe Total
AppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
2008 Odd Adeccoligaen 3000-30
2009 Tippeligaen 5041-91
2010 20250-252
2011 12000-120
2012 21130-241
2013 23220-252
2014 11010-120
2014–15 Brøndby Superliga 71002091
2015 Molde Tippeligaen 1012000121
2016 Odd 2351020265
2017 Eliteserien 1811060251
2018 50000050
2019 2402000260
Career Total 1821321110021314

References
  1. "Fredrik Semb Berge". altomfotball.no (in Norwegian). TV 2. Retrieved 4 June 2013.
  2. Berg, Frode (27 June 2006). "Følger i hverandres fotspor" (in Norwegian). Telemarksavisa. Retrieved 4 June 2013.
  3. Berge, Øyvind (9 January 2013). "Suksessdebutanten hadde fire beinbrudd som tenåring" (in Norwegian). Verdens Gang. Retrieved 10 June 2013.
  4. Tollefsen, Morten. "Kjempekamp og tre poeng!" (in Norwegian). Odd Grenland BK. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 11 May 2009.
  5. Berg, Frode (26 July 2010). "Nå var Fredrik mer enn klar" (in Norwegian). Telemarksavisa. Retrieved 10 June 2013.
  6. Holtan, Kristian (16 November 2010). "Hans store gjennombrudd" (in Norwegian). Telemarksavisa. Retrieved 10 June 2013.
  7. Stokstad, Morten (25 February 2013). "Molde har budt to millioner for Semb Berge" (in Norwegian). TV 2. Retrieved 10 June 2013.
  8. Brekken, Thor Benjamin (27 February 2013). "– Molde sitter med rævva full av penger og byr omtrent ingenting for gullet vi har laget" (in Norwegian). TV 2. Retrieved 10 June 2013.
  9. Pamer, Anders (26 April 2013). "Stjerneflukten Odd ikke klarer å stanse" (in Norwegian). Bergens Tidende. Archived from the original on 2 June 2013. Retrieved 10 June 2013.
  10. Marioni, Massimo (30 May 2013). "Norwegian lottery winner buys defender Fredrik Semb Berge for struggling Odd Grenland". Metro. Retrieved 10 June 2013.
  11. Knudsen, Sjur Øverås; Hansen, Lars (28 May 2013). "Lottovinner kjøpte Odd-spiller" (in Norwegian). NRK. Retrieved 10 June 2013.
  12. "Norwegian defender signs with Brøndby IF" (in Danish). brondby.com. 30 June 2014. Retrieved 30 June 2014.
  13. "Fredrik Semb Berge's profil". fotball.no (in Norwegian). Football Association of Norway. Archived from the original on 12 May 2012. Retrieved 10 June 2013.
  14. Skuseth, Helge (22 May 2013). "Skuffet Tollås Nation visste om vrakingen" (in Norwegian). Sunnmørsposten. Retrieved 10 June 2013.
  15. Johnston, Neil (8 June 2013). "England Under-21s 1–3 Norway Under-21s". BBC. Retrieved 10 June 2013.
  16. "F.Semb Berge". uk.soccerway.com/. Soccerway. Retrieved 2 November 2015.
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