Jon Knudsen

Jon Knudsen (born 20 November 1974) is a Norwegian former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He is from August 2022, the goalkeeping coach for the Norway women's national team.[3]

Jon Knudsen
Personal information
Date of birth (1974-11-20) 20 November 1974
Place of birth Skedsmo, Norway
Height 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)[1]
Position(s) Goalkeeper
Youth career
Leirsund
Lillestrøm
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1993–1999 Lillestrøm 6 (0)
1996 → Strømsgodset (loan) 7 (0)
1997 → Skjetten (loan)
1998 → Kongsvinger (loan) 0[2] (0)
1999–2000 FC Midtjylland 14 (0)
2000–2012 Stabæk 285 (0)
2012 Fredrikstad 16 (0)
2013 Lillestrøm 0 (0)
Total 342 (0)
International career
1994 Norway U-21 2 (0)
2008–2011 Norway 20 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Knudsen spent most of his playing career with Stabæk, where he won the league in 2008, and has also played for Lillestrøm, Strømsgodset, Skjetten, Kongsvinger, FC Midtjylland and Fredrikstad. Knudsen was the first-choice goalkeeper for the Norway national team between 2008 and 2011 and was capped 20 times.

Club career

Knudsen started his career with youth football in his native Leirsund. He was discovered by the local club Lillestrøm, a Tippeligaen team, and represented Norway internationally on youth level,[4] including at the 1993 FIFA World Youth Championship.[5] In 1993, he was on a fruitless trial with AFC Ajax.[6] The same year he was included in the first squad of Lillestrøm as a reserve for Norway international Frode Grodås. In a Lillestrøm match against Ham Kam in June 1993, Grodås was injured before half time, and Knudsen made his senior debut. At the time Grodås was injured Ham Kam was behind 0–2, but they eventually won 4–3 after four goals by Petter Belsvik. However, in the next game Lillestrøm defeated Molde 3–0. After four games Grodås returned from injury.[4]

Seeing limited playing time, Knudsen was sent on loan to Strømsgodset. Here, Knudsen suffered from a broken leg sustained in a match against Stabæk, where he collided with a teammate. Knudsen spent thirteen months away from football. He then spent time on loan to Skjetten and Kongsvinger. He left Norway in 1999 for Danish team Ikast FS,[4] which in the same year was merged to form FC Midtjylland. Already in January 2000 he left FC Midtjylland, after conceding eight goals in fifteen matches, for Stabæk in Norway, as a replacement for Frode Olsen.[7]

Knudsen while playing for Stabæk.

Knudsen quickly established himself in Stabæk's first team, being ever-present during the 2000 season.[1] However, he missed most of the 2001 season due to epilepsy, after an epileptic attack in June.[8][9] He returned to play 24 league games in 2002 and 21 league games in 2003, out of a total 26. He was unable to prevent Stabæk's relegation at the end of 2004. On the final day of that season he played a key part in Rosenborg winning the title over Vålerenga; with Vålerenga needing one more goal against Stabæk to win the title Morten Berre was through on goal in the last minutes, but Knudsen saved and Rosenborg won the title.[10] Between 2004 and 2007 Knudsen played every league game for Stabæk.[11]

Knudsen was injured at the start of the 2011 season,[12] and Jan Kjell Larsen played every match when Knudsen were injured. He returned in Stabæk's starting line-up in the match against Tromsø on 26 June 2011.[12] Knudsen made a bad performance against Odd Grenland and head coach Jörgen Lennartson chose Larsen as goalkeeper against Strømsgodset on 24 September.[12] Larsen continued as first-choice goalkeeper to the end of the season, but Knudsen played the last match of the season against Vålerenga, but he was substituted after 53 minutes following his own request to leave the pitch. Knudsen played 11 league matches for Stabæk in 2012.[13]

Knudsen warming up before a match.

Stabæk wanted to release Knudsen along with five other players from their contracts due to poor economy, which was also the reason why Knudsen did not want to finish the match against Vålerenga.[13] After the season, Knudsen signed a two-year contract with the Tippeligaen side Fredrikstad.[14] After playing the twelve first matches for Fredrikstad in the 2012 season, Knudsen lost the position as the first-choice goalkeeper to Jon Masalin. In October 2012, Knudsen announced that he would retire at the end of the season.[15] After his retirement, Knudsen was approached by his old club Lillestrøm in May 2013 who had both their goalkeepers, Kenneth Udjus and Arnold Origi unavailable due to injuries, and had to play with the youth goalkeeper Jacob Faye-Lund.[16] Knudsen signed an amateur-contract with Lillestrøm till the end of June 2013, and kept a clean sheet in his first match for Lillestrøm in 18 years, when the team won 2–0 against Bryne in the third round of the 2013 Norwegian Football Cup.[17]

International career

Knudsen was included in the national team squad for the first time in 2007, for a UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying match against Malta.[18] His next call-up came in the autumn of 2008 for a friendly match against Ireland.[19]

He made his international debut for Norway on 11 October 2008 in a 0–0 draw against Scotland.[20][21] Keeping a clean sheet, he received praise for his play. National team manager Åge Hareide was "impressed", although he was uncertain whether Knudsen would keep his first-team place on a long-term view.[22] Knudsen did retain his position as Norway first-choice goalkeeper for three years, until Knudsen got a fracture in his finger during training in March 2011, and lost the position as first-choice goalkeeper to Rune Jarstein. Knudsen's last international match was the friendly match against Poland in February 2011, and in total he was capped 20 times.[23]

Personal life

Jon Knudsen lives at Høybråten in Oslo with his wife and children.[24][25] His sister Mari Knudsen also played international football for Norway, while his brother Atle Knudsen is a film and television director.[26] After he stepped down from professional football in 2012 he was employed as a goalkeeper coach at the Norwegian College of Elite Sport.[27]

Career statistics
As of 19 June 2013
Season Club Division League Cup Total
AppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
2000 Stabæk Tippeligaen 27000270
2001 10010110
2002 24050290
2003 21030240
2004 26060320
2005 Adeccoligaen 30050350
2006 Tippeligaen 26030290
2007 26060320
2008 25050300
2009 30030330
2010 29030320
2011 11010120
2012 Fredrikstad 16000160
2013 Lillestrøm 002020
Career total 30104303440

References
General
Specific
  1. Profile Archived 14 March 2009 at the Wayback Machine at Stabæk
  2. Jon Knudsen, fotball.no
  3. Fotballforbund, Norges. "Hege Riise ny landslagssjef". fotball.no - Norges Fotballforbund (in Norwegian). Retrieved 21 September 2022.
  4. Opsahl, Per (10 October 2008). "- Han har gått den tunge veien". VG (in Norwegian). Retrieved 14 October 2008.
  5. 1993 FIFA World Youth Championship squads, Norway Archived 3 August 2008 at the Wayback Machine – FIFA.com
  6. Bøthun, Gunnar (14 October 2008). "- Blir vel hardt å ta ham igjen". VG (in Norwegian). Retrieved 14 October 2008.
  7. Norwegian News Agency (18 January 2000). "Knudsen til Stabæk" (in Norwegian). Retrieved 14 October 2008.
  8. Norwegian News Agency (28 June 2001). "Knudsen frykter for karrieren" (in Norwegian). Retrieved 14 October 2008.
  9. Norwegian News Agency (19 July 2001). "Knudsen tilbake på Stabæk-trening" (in Norwegian). Retrieved 14 October 2008.
  10. "The Joy of Six: football title run-ins". The Guardian. 6 February 2019. Retrieved 6 February 2019.
  11. "Jon Knudsen". altomfotball.no (in Norwegian). Retrieved 31 October 2012.
  12. Ragnhild Gulbrandsen (24 September 2011). "Overrasket Larsen" (in Norwegian). Budstikka. Retrieved 31 October 2012.
  13. Per Øyvind Fange; Kjetil Grinderud (27 November 2011). "Knudsen ba om å bli byttet ut: – Glad sesongen er ferdig" (in Norwegian). NRK. Retrieved 31 October 2012.
  14. Tor Fr. (17 January 2012). "Knudsen på stadion". Sparre-Enger (in Norwegian). Fredrikstad Blad. Retrieved 31 October 2012.
  15. Sebastian Nordli; Trond Johnsen (24 October 2012). "Jon Knudsen legger opp" (in Norwegian). NRK. Retrieved 31 October 2012.
  16. "Veteranen kan bli løsningen på Lillestrøms keeperkrise" (in Norwegian). Dagbladet. Norwegian News Agency. 21 May 2013. Retrieved 19 June 2013.
  17. Svesengen, Morten (29 May 2013). "Videre med Jon i mål" (in Norwegian). Romerikes Blad. Retrieved 19 June 2013.
  18. Svesengen, Morten (30 May 2007). "Knudsen på landslaget". Romerikes Blad (in Norwegian). Retrieved 14 October 2008.
  19. Johannessen, Sturla (12 August 2008). "Offensiv Opdal vil tilbake". TV 2 (in Norwegian). Retrieved 14 October 2008.
  20. Lindsay, Clive (11 October 2008). "Scotland 0–0 Norway". BBC. Retrieved 11 October 2008.
  21. Player profile at FIFA
  22. Wikestad, Kasper (13 October 2008). "Førstekeeper – for nå". Tips (in Norwegian). Retrieved 14 October 2008.
  23. Iversen, Markus Sandø (22 August 2011). "Knudsen vil gjenerobre keeperplassen på landslaget" (in Norwegian). Verdens Gang. Retrieved 31 October 2012.
  24. Thorsen, Kay Grue (1 June 2007). "Jon Knudsen er landslagskeeper". Akers Avis Groruddalen (in Norwegian). Retrieved 14 October 2008.
  25. Strømnes, André (4 November 2005). "Keeper-Knudsen er årets spiller". Budstikka (in Norwegian).
  26. Kvernmo, Tonia (4 June 2013). "Barnas egen filmskaper" (in Norwegian). Romerikes Blad. Retrieved 29 November 2018.
  27. Holmlund, Tor Bjørnar (23 December 2012). "Jon Knudsen blir NTG-trener". Budstikka (in Norwegian). Retrieved 9 August 2013.
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