Steffen Hagen

Steffen Hagen (born 8 March 1986) is a Norwegian footballer who plays as a defender for Eliteserien side Odd. With 354 top division appearances, Hagen has made the seventh-highest number of appearances in Eliteserien. During his professional career, Hagen has never been sent off or been suspended.

He has been capped several times playing for his country at youth international level, including 20 caps for the Norwegian under-21 team, and in January 2012 Hagen made his debut for Norway national football team.

Club Career

Early career

Hagen was born in Kristiansand but lived in Madagascar, where his parents were missionaries, for five years. He did not start to play organized football before he moved back to Norway as a 15-year-old, and joined the local club Vigor.

Hagen transferred to the then second tier team Mandalskameratene ahead of the 2004-season. A half-year later, he was a first team regular and the 18-year-old became captain when Andre Herfindal was injured. The next season Hagen scored his four first goals for Mandalskameratene, but the team was relegated and Hagen was sold to the Tippeligaen side Odd.

Odds Ballklubb

After joining Odd, coach Arne Sandsto predicted that Hagen in his first season could be one of the best newcomers in Tippeligaen. Hagen made his debut in the opening match of the 2006 season, in Odd's 0–0 draw against Valerenga. At the end of the season, Hagen had become a regular in Odd's first team starting line-up.

On 20 March 2007, Odd announced that Hagen would be the team's captain in the 2007 season. Due to injuries, Hagen was replaced as captain by Morten Fevang mid-season, and at the end of the season Odd was relegated after losing 4–2 on aggregate against Bodo/Glimt in the relegation play-offs, but Hagen missed one of the play-off matches due to an injury he got while he was on the toilet.

This page also has a version in other languages :  Стеффен Хаген (russian)