Bjarne Berntsen
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| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Bjarne Berntsen | ||
| Date of birth | 21 December 1956 | ||
| Place of birth | Norway | ||
| Playing position | defender | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Figgjo IL | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1977–1982 | Viking | 120 | (13) |
| National team | |||
| 1978–1982 | Norway | 33 | (0) |
| Teams managed | |||
| 1986–1988 | Bryne | ||
| 1992–1995 | Viking | ||
| 2004 | Viking | ||
| 2005–2009 | Norway (women) | ||
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
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Bjarne Berntsen (born 21 December 1956) is a Norwegian football coach and former player. He is currently employed as the Director of Viking FK, where he has served as both player and manager in the past.
Bjarne Berntsen began his football career in local club Figgjo IL, and went to Norwegian Premier League club Viking in 1977. He played for Viking until 1982, and during this period played 33 matches for the Norway national football team, including the famous September 1981 win over England when he played at right-back.
After retiring as a player Berntsen coached Figgjo, Bryne and Viking, as well as being an assistant coach for the men's national team between 1986 and 1987. Between 1999 and 2004 Berntsen was the CEO for Viking Fotball ASA. In late 2004 he, quite surprisingly, was offered the job as head coach for the Norway women's national football team, and he took over on 1 January 2005.
Berntsen's first tournament with the national women's team was the 2005 UEFA Women's Championship which took place in June 2005 in England. He courted controversy by including in the squad 16-year-old Isabell Herlovsen, the daughter of a former colleague in the Norway national team – but twice she scored vital goals to keep Norway in the tournament. After mixed fortunes in the group stage, Norway played a memorable semifinal against Sweden which they won by 3–2 after extra time with a goal from Solveig Gulbrandsen. In the final against Germany Norway lost 3–1.
Berntsen led the national women's team through qualification to the FIFA Women's World Cup 2007 tournament in China, where they won their group by beating Canada and Ghana and drawing against Australia. In the quarter final against the hosts China, in front of 50,000 spectators, Norway won 1–0, the only goal being scored by Herlovsen. In the semifinal the team lost to Germany by 3–0, and they then lost the third-place playoff 4–1 against the USA to finish in fourth place. By virtue of their performance at the World Cup, Norway qualified for the 2008 Olympics.
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