 | Ole Gunnar Solskjær End Of An Era. Ole Gunnar Solskjær (born February 26, 1973 in Kristiansund, Norway) is a Norwegian former footballer who spent the vast majority of his career playing for Manchester United. He played 366 times for the Red Devils and scored 126 goals during a very successful period for the club. He was also part of the 1999 Treble winning Team, scoring the decisive last-minute goal in the Champions League final against Bayern Munich. Before he moved to England, Solskjær completed a year's national service in the Norwegian army,[1] and played part time for Third Division Norwegian Clausenengen F.K., later moving to Norwegian Premier League Molde F.K. in 1994. He joined United on 29 July 1996, for a transfer fee of £1.5m. He is a patron of the Manchester United Supporters' Trust (formerly Shareholders United).
Solskjær was renowned for his tendency to score goals late in the game, often handing Manchester United a draw or win from the brink of defeat. The most famous example of this came in injury time of the 1999 UEFA Champions League Final against Bayern Munich at the Camp Nou in Barcelona.
On 27 August 2007, Solskjær announced his retirement from football after failing to recover from a serious knee injury.[2] However, Solskjær remained at Old Trafford in a coaching role, as well as in an ambassadorial capacity. On 20 May 2008, Solskjær was announced as Manchester United's first full-time Reserve team manager since 2006, taking over from Brian McClair and Jimmy Ryan, who had filled the role in a caretaker capacity.
In November 2007 Solskjær was made a Knight, First Class of the Royal Norwegian Order of St Olav by King Harald V of Norway.[3] He is to be presented with the award in a later ceremony in his hometown of Kristiansund. Solskjær is the youngest ever recipient of the knighthood, usually bestowed upon notable members of society in their later years.
For his commitment to Manchester United, Solskjaer was granted a testimonial which is to take place in the pre-season preparations for the 2008-09 season. The match will be against Espanyol and will be played on August 2nd. Manchester United
Premier League - Champions (6): 1996-97, 1998-99, 1999-00, 2000-01, 2002-03, 2006-07
Premier League - Runners Up: 1997-98, 2005-06
FA Cup Winner (2): 1999, 2004
FA Cup Runners Up: 2005, 2007
League Cup Winner (1): 2006
League Cup Runners Up: 2003
UEFA Champions League Winner: 1998-99
Intercontinental Cup: 1999
UEFA Super Cup Runner Up: 1999
Community Shield Winner (4): 1996, 1997, 2003, 2007
Community Shield Runner Up: 1998, 2000, 2001, 2004
[edit] Individual
Knight of the Order of St Olav, First Class[3]
Kniksen's honour award in 2007
[edit] International goals
Ole Gunnar Solskjær: International Goals # Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1 26 November 1995 Kingston Jamaica 1-1 Draw Friendly
2 27 March 1996 Windsor Park, Belfast Northern Ireland 2-0 Win Friendly
3 2 June 1996 Ullevaal Stadion, Oslo Azerbaijan 5-0 Win FIFA World Cup 1998 Qual.
4
5 30 April 1997 Ullevaal Stadion, Oslo Finland 1-1 Draw FIFA World Cup 1998 Qual.
6 25 March 1998 King Baudouin Stadium, Brüssel Belgium 2-2 Draw Friendly
7 27 May 1998 Molde stadion, Molde Saudi Arabia 6-0 Win Friendly
8
9 27 March 1999 Olympic Stadium (Athens) Greece 2-0 Win UEFA Euro 2000 Qual.
10
11 28 April 1999 Tblisi Georgia 4-1 Win UEFA Euro 2000 Qual.
12 8 September 1999 Ullevaal Stadion, Oslo Slovenia 4-0 Win UEFA Euro 2000 Qual.
13 9 October 1999 Daugava Stadium, Riga Latvia 2-1 Win UEFA Euro 2000 Qual.
14 27 May 2000 Ullevaal Stadion, Oslo Slovakia 2-0 Win Friendly
15 24 March 2001 Ullevaal Stadion, Oslo Poland 2-3 Defeat FIFA World Cup 2002 Qual.
16 28 March 2001 Minsk Belarus 1-2 Defeat FIFA World Cup 2002 Qual.
17 15 August 2001 Ullevaal Stadion, Oslo Turkey 1-1 Draw Friendly
18 14 May 2002 Ullevaal Stadion, Oslo Japan 3-0 Win Friendly
19 22 May 2002 Aspmyra stadium, Bodø Iceland 1-1 Draw Friendly
20 2 April 2003 Luxembourg City Luxembourg 2-0 Win UEFA Euro 2004 Qual.
21 11 June 2003 Ullevaal Stadion, Oslo Romania 1-1 Draw UEFA Euro 2004 Qual.
22 2 September 2006 Budapest Hungary 4-1 Win UEFA Euro 2008 Qual.
23
Club Performance League Cup Total
Season Club League Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Norway League Norwegian Football Cup Total
1990 Clausenengen
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995 Molde Premier League 26 20
1996 16 11
England League FA Cup Total
1996-97 Manchester United Premier League 33 17
1997-98 22 6
1998-99 19 12
1999-00 28 12
2000-01 31 10
2001-02 30 17
2002-03 37 9
2003-04 13 0
2004-05 0 0
2005-06 3 0
2006-07 19 7
Total Norway 151 146
England 235 90
Career Total 386 236
[edit] References |
|  | Queen Sophia of Spain.Princess Sophia of Greece and Denmark was born in Psychiko, Athens, Greece on 2 November 1938, the eldest child of the King Paul I of the Hellenes (1901-1964) and his wife, Queen Frederika (1917-1981), a former princess of Hanover. Queen Sofia is a member of the Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg dynasty. Her brother is the deposed king Constantine II of Greece and her sister Princess Irene of Greece and Denmark. However, since the abolition of the monarchy, the royal titles are not recognized in Greece.
Princess Sophia spent some of her childhood in Egypt and South Africa during her family's exile from Greece during World War II. They returned to Greece in 1946. She finished her education at the prestigious Schloss Salem boarding school in Southern Germany, and then studied childcare, music, and archeology in Athens.
She represented Greece in sailing at the 1960 Summer Olympics.
On 14 May 1962 Princess Sophia of Greece and Denmark married in Athens at the Church of Saint Dennis Prince Juan Carlos of Spain, the future king, whom she met on a cruise of the Greek Islands in 1954. In doing so, she relinquished her rights to the throne of Greece and converted to Roman Catholicism from Greek Orthodoxy, an act of convenience in order to become more palatable to Catholic Spain. Further, the Latin transliteration of her Greek name Σοφία was changed from Sophia to the Spanish variant Sofía, which nonetheless is pronounced identically to the original Greek version. Sofia was able to bring a cool realism to the marriage and shifted Juan Carlos from the sphere of influence of his father Don Juan to a more realistic rapprochement with Franco.
In 1969, Prince Juan Carlos, who was never Prince Asturias, the traditional title the heir to the throne, was given the official title of Prince of Spain the Spanish state; this was a title suggested by Sofia herself. Juan Carlos acceded to the throne as Juan Carlos I in 1975.
The couple have three children: HRH Infanta Elena, Duchess of Lugo born December 20, 1963, HRH Infanta Cristina, Duchess of Palma de Mallorca born June 13, 1965, and HRH Felipe, Prince of Asturias born January 30, 1968. The King and Queen have eight grandchildren, four boys and four girls: Felipe and Victoria from the Infanta Elena; Juan, Pablo, Miguel and Irene from the Infanta Cristina; and Infanta Leonor, and Infanta Sofía, named in her honor, of Prince Felipe; all of whom are in the line of succession to the Spanish Throne.
Queen Sofía is both a great-great-granddaughter (paternally) and a great-great-great-granddaughter (maternally) of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and is, through several lines, her husband's third cousin. Because of this descent, she is also related to all of the royal families of Europe. She is a first cousin of Ernst August of Hannover (Pretender), and through her great-grandfather George I of Greece, she is a second cousin to Charles, the Prince of Wales. Through Christian IX of Denmark and Queen Victoria, she is also related to Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom. She is also a first cousin once removed of Queen Elizabeth II's husband, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. |
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