Daniel Berg Hestad
Hestad training with Molde in 2013
Personal information
Date of birth (1975-07-30) 30 July 1975 (age 48)
Place of birth Molde, Norway
Height 1.84 m (6 ft 0 in)
Position(s) Central midfielder
Team information
Current team
 KI Klaksvik (Assistant manager)
Youth career
Molde
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1993–2003 Molde 258 (55)
2003–2005 SC Heerenveen 41 (5)
2005–2016 Molde 258 (25)
Total 557 (85)
International career
1995–1998 Norway U21 27 (12)
1998 Norway U23 3 (0)
1998–2003 Norway 8 (0)
Managerial career
2017–2022 Molde 2 (U19)
2023 KÍ Klaksvik (assistant)
2024– Molde 2
Medal record
Molde
Winner Norwegian Football Cup 1994
Winner Norwegian Football Cup 2005
Winner Tippeligaen 2011
Winner Tippeligaen 2012
Winner Norwegian Football Cup 2013
Winner Tippeligaen 2014
Winner Norwegian Football Cup 2014
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Daniel Berg Hestad (born 30 July 1975) is a Norwegian football manager and a former player, who played as a central midfielder, most notably for Molde. He is the manager of Molde 2 and the Under-19 squad of Molde.[1] With 666 official appearances, he is the player with most official matches for Molde.[2] He currently holds the record for most matches in Eliteserien with 473. He is three time Norwegian league champion, and four times Norwegian Cup champion with Molde, being the joint most decorated player of the club with 7 trophies along with Etzaz Hussain.

He retired from football after playing the Europa League round of 32 game against Sevilla which Molde won 1–0, 25 February 2016, in his 666th match for Molde.

Club career

Molde

Berg Hestad debuted for Molde in the Tippeligaen match against Start on 23 May 1993.[3] On 23 October 1994, he was in the starting lineup in Molde's team in the final of the 1994 Norwegian Cup against Lyn. He played 80 minutes in the game Molde won 3–2 and secured the club's first ever major trophy. Hestad became runner-up three times in the league (1995, 1998, 1999) before leaving the club in January 2004.

Heerenveen

On 4 July 2003, Hestad announced that he would leave Molde to join Dutch side Heerenveen on a free transfer from 1 January 2004.[4] He signed a two and a half year contract with the club.[5] He played well in the beginning of his Heerenveen career, and drew attention from several clubs, including Tottenham Hotspur.[6][7] He played a total of 53 games and scored 5 goals in all competitions during his two seasons at Heerenveen.

Second spell at Molde

Hestad returned to Molde in July 2005.[8] In his first season back, he helped his team winning the club's second trophy. He scored the third goal in the 2005 Norwegian Cup final which Molde won 4–2 against Lillestrøm after extra time. Molde were relegated to 1. divisjon in 2006, thus Hestad played in the second tier, for the first time since the 1994 season, in the 2007 season. Hestad was five times runner-up in Tippeligaen with Molde (1995, 1998, 1999, 2002 and 2009) before he finally could lift the trophy as captain of the 2011 Champions.

In 2012, after winning two consecutive Tippeligaen titles, it was speculated whether Berg Hestad would retire. He did, however, sign a new one-year contract ahead of the 2013 season.[9] He was one of Molde's best players during the season, and in September 2013 he told the club that he would sign a new contract for one more year if the offer was good enough. On 24 November 2013, he won his seventh trophy with Molde after coming in as a substitute in the 2013 Norwegian Cup final, a game Molde won 4–2 against main rival Rosenborg. When he signed a new one-year extension in November 2013, the manager Ole Gunnar Solskjær stated that Berg Hestad would be a part of Molde's coaching staff during the 2014 season.[10] Hestad became the oldest goalscorer in the European competitions on 5 November 2015, when he scored the 2–1 winning goal in a Europa League match against Celtic aged 40 years and 99 days.[11] This record was broken by Joaquín on 15 September 2022, when he scored a goal against PFC Ludogorets Razgrad at the age of 41 years and 56 days.[12] On 25 February 2016, Hestad retired from football after playing the Europa League round of 32 game against Sevilla, his 666th match for Molde, which Molde won 1–0. With 473 matches in Eliteserien, he is the player with the most matches in the history of the top-tier in Norwegian football.

International career

Hestad played a total of 30 games for Norway at youth and under-23 level. In 1998, he was a part of the Norway U21 national team, that won bronze medal in 1998 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship. In the final qualifier before the tournament he captained the Norwegian side against a French side containing Thierry Henry, David Trezeguet, Patrick Vieira and Ludovic Giuly. Hestad scored the third goal for Norway to put them 3–0 up in Valenciennes. Norway ended up winning 3–2 and qualified.

Hestad earned eight caps for the Norway national team, between 1998 and 2003. He made his debut against Denmark on 22 April 1998 and got his last appearance in Norway's 2–1 against Oman on 28 January 2003.[13]

Personal life

Hestad grew up in a family who contains a long line of Molde players. His father Stein Olav Hestad held the club record for most first-team appearances of all time before this was beaten by Daniel. His paternal uncle Harry Hestad, and his maternal uncles Odd Berg and Jan Berg also played many years at the club.[14] His younger brother Peter Berg Hestad was also in Molde's squad for a few years, but only made a handful of first-team appearances.

He married Trude Vik in 2006, with whom he has two sons, Tobias and Jonathan.[15]

In 2000, he served time in prison for driving under the influence. This incident occurred during Molde's Christmas party after Berg Hestad was informed of the hospitalisation of his wife and their infant baby. Both were in a critical state and in a moment of poor judgement, Berg Hestad got in his car to drive to the hospital, only to crash after a few hundred meters.[16]

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition[17]
Club Season Division League Cup Europe Other Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Molde 1993 Tippeligaen 15 1 4 2 — 1[a] 0 20 3
1994 1. divisjon 19 0 8 3 — — 27 3
1995 Tippeligaen 26 4 3 1 4 0 — 33 5
1996 25 4 4 0 2 0 — 31 4
1997 25 13 1 0 — — 26 13
1998 24 8 3 2 2 0 — 29 10
1999 25 4 6 1 10 3 — 41 8
2000 26 3 3 0 2 0 — 31 3
2001 26 9 4 3 — — 30 12
2002 26 4 3 0 — — 29 4
2003 21 5 2 0 6 3 — 29 8
Total 258 55 41 12 26 6 1 0 326 73
Heerenveen 2003–04 Eredivisie 15 1 2 0 0 0 — 17 1
2004–05 26 4 4 0 6 0 — 36 4
Total 41 5 6 0 6 0 0 0 53 5
Molde 2005 Tippeligaen 14 3 3 2 — 2[b] 0 19 5
2006 24 3 3 2 4 0 — 31 5
2007 Adeccoligaen 24 8 0 0 — — 24 8
2008 Tippeligaen 25 4 6 1 — — 31 5
2009 27 0 7 1 — — 34 1
2010 26 3 2 0 4 0 — 32 3
2011 28 0 3 0 — — 31 0
2012 24 2 3 0 10 0 — 37 2
2013 19 1 5 0 6 0 — 30 1
2014 25 1 5 1 3 0 — 33 2
2015 22 0 3 0 11 1 — 36 1
2016 0 0 0 0 2 0 — 2 0
Total 258 25 40 7 40 1 2 0 340 33
Career total 557 85 87 19 72 7 3 0 719 111
  1. ^ One appearance in Tippeligaen relegation play-offs
  2. ^ Two appearances in Tippeligaen relegation play-offs

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team Year Apps Goals
Norway 1998 3 0
1999 2 0
2000 0 0
2001 0 0
2002 1 0
2003 2 0
Total 8 0

Honours

Molde

Records

References

  1. ^ "2017–18 UEFA Youth League Molde squad". UEFA. Retrieved 18 September 2017.
  2. ^ "MFK factsheet". MFKweb.org (in Norwegian). Retrieved 9 October 2011.
  3. ^ "Berg Hestad ber om kontraktsforslag fra Molde". Dagbladet (in Norwegian). Norwegian News Agency. 4 November 2013. Retrieved 13 November 2013.
  4. ^ "Berg Hestad forlater Molde". www.vg.no (in Norwegian). Verdens Gang. 4 July 2003. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
  5. ^ "- Molde mest aktuelt i Norge". www.db.no (in Norwegian). Dagbladet. 10 November 2004. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
  6. ^ "Tottenham følger Berg Hestad". www.nettavisen.no (in Norwegian). Nettavisen. 11 March 2004. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
  7. ^ "Berg Hestad aware of Spurs interest". Sky Sports. Sky Sports. 11 March 2004. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
  8. ^ Kleppe, Mads K. (21 July 2005). "- Skal være konger i Molde". Nettavisen (in Norwegian). Retrieved 14 June 2019.
  9. ^ Andersen, Martin K. (6 December 2012). "Berg Hestad tar ett år til". Aftenposten (in Norwegian). Retrieved 13 November 2013.
  10. ^ Hustad, Trond (8 November 2013). "Skal lære av Solskjær". Romsdals Budstikke (in Norwegian). Archived from the original on 23 November 2016. Retrieved 13 November 2013.
  11. ^ Lamont, Alasdair (5 November 2015). "Celtic 1–2 Molde". BBC Sport. BBC. Retrieved 6 November 2015.
  12. ^ "Europa League round-up: Cristiano Ronaldo scores in Man United win, Roma and Real Sociedad prevail". UEFA.com. 15 September 2022. Retrieved 15 September 2022.
  13. ^ "Daniel Berg Hestad". fotball.no. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
  14. ^ "Daniel har passert Laffen" (in Norwegian). VG. 23 October 1999. Retrieved 3 November 2011.
  15. ^ Hattrem, Erik (10 June 2006). "Daniel fikk ja". Side2. Archived from the original on 28 September 2011. Retrieved 14 June 2011.
  16. ^ Kvamme, Sigve (1 August 2007). "Berg Hestads lillebror dømt for fyllekjøring". Dagbladet. Retrieved 27 September 2008.
  17. ^ "Daniel Berg Hestad". altomfotball.no (in Norwegian). TV 2. Retrieved 17 March 2013.
  18. ^ "UEFA Europa League group stage records". UEFA.com. 7 December 2017. Retrieved 12 June 2018.

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