Vegar Hedenstad
Hedenstad with Norway U21 in 2011
Personal information
Full name Vegar Eggen Hedenstad[1]
Date of birth (1991-06-26) 26 June 1991 (age 32)
Place of birth Elverum, Norway
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s) Right-back
Team information
Current team
 Vålerenga
Number 6
Youth career
Elverum
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2006–2007 Elverum
2008–2012 Stabæk 94 (6)
2012–2016 SC Freiburg 23 (0)
2012–2016 SC Freiburg II 9 (0)
2014–2015 → Eintracht Braunschweig (loan) 28 (1)
2016–2017 FC St. Pauli 15 (0)
2017–2020 Rosenborg 100 (5)
2021–2022 Fatih Karagümrük 32 (1)
2022– Vålerenga 39 (2)
International career‡
2008 Norway U17 13 (2)
2010 Norway U19 5 (0)
2010–2013 Norway U21 22 (0)
2011 Norway U23 1 (0)
2012–2013 Norway 4 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 4 December 2023
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 15 June 2013

Vegar Eggen Hedenstad (born 26 June 1991) is a Norwegian professional footballer who plays as a right-back for Eliteserien club Vålerenga. Hedenstad has been capped at international level for Norway

Club career

Hedenstad was born in Elverum[2] and played for Elverum Fotball where he made his senior debut in the Third Division in 2006,[3] at the age of 14 and became the youngest ever senior player at the team.[4] At the age of 16, Hedenstad played on a team consisting of local talents in a show-match against HamKam, and HamKam's head coach Arne Erlandsen approached Hedenstad immediately after the match and stated that he wanted to sign him. However, Hedenstad signed for Stabæk and joined the club ahead of the 2008 season.[5]

Hedenstad made his debut in Tippeligaen on 7 June 2008 against Strømsgodset and made a total of three appearances during the 2008 season[2] when Stabæk won Tippeligaen, enough to earn him a championship-medal. The next season, Hedenstad was playing regularly on the team that finished third in Tippeligaen and won bronze-medals.[5]

On 17 July 2012, Hedenstad signed a four-year deal with Bundesliga outfit SC Freiburg,[6] and became the second footballer from Elverum in the Bundesliga, after Terje Olsen who played for Bayer Leverkusen in the 1980s.[4] He was injured after five minutes in his first match for Freiburg, during the team's pre-season tour to Austria.[7] Hedenstad made his debut in the Bundesliga when Freiburg lost 2–0 to Bayer Leverkusen on 1 September 2012.[8]

On 4 July 2014, Hedenstad joined Eintracht Braunschweig on a one-year loan deal.[9]

Hedenstad joined FC St. Pauli in the summer 2016.[10]

In February 2017 he joined Rosenborg. In December 2020 it was announced Hedenstad would leave Rosenborg after 4 seasons after his contract expired at the end of the year.[11]

On 5 January 2021, Hedenstad signed for Süper Lig club Fatih Karagümrük.[12]

International career

Hedenstad has represented Norway at every level from under-15 to under-23,[2] and was playing regularly as a right back for the under-21 team in the 2013 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship qualification, when the team qualified for the championship.

Hedenstad made his debut for the national team when he replaced Lars Christopher Vilsvik at half time in a 1–1 friendly draw against Denmark on 15 January 2012.[13] He was again called up for the friendly match against Hungary in October 2012.[14] In the absence of John Arne Riise Hedenstad played the whole match on the left back to great acclaim, with the pundits stating that Hedenstad would soon replace Riise as Norway's regular starting left-back.[15]

Personal life

In January 2009, after his girlfriend Charlotte received news that she was dying of cancer and only had a few months left to live, Hedenstad took a break from professional football. Only 17 at the time, he later described those last few months with her as "fantastic", because they were able to spend them together.[4][16] In May 2012, Hedenstad experienced another tragic death, when his teammate at Stabæk, Tor Marius Gromstad, died at the age of 22 from an accidental fall at a construction site.[4]

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 6 May 2023[17]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National Cup Europe Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Stabæk 2008 Tippeligaen 3 0 1 0 – – 4 0
2009 22 1 5 0 6 0 – 33 1
2010 27 1 2 0 2 0 – 31 1
2011 28 2 2 0 – – 30 2
2012 14 2 3 0 2 0 – 19 2
Total 94 6 13 0 10 0 0 0 117 6
SC Freiburg 2012–13 Bundesliga 16 0 4 0 – – 20 0
2013–14 0 0 0 0 1 0 – 1 0
2015–16 2. Bundesliga 7 0 1 0 – – 8 0
Total 23 0 5 0 1 0 0 0 29 0
Eintracht Braunschweig (loan) 2014–15 2. Bundesliga 28 1 2 0 – – 30 1
FC St. Pauli 2016–17 2. Bundesliga 15 0 1 1 – – 16 1
Rosenborg 2017 Eliteserien 27 2 0 0 10 1 1 0 38 3
2018 27 0 4 0 12 0 – 43 0
2019 27 2 4 0 13 0 – 44 2
2020 19 1 0 0 4 0 – 23 1
Total 100 5 8 0 39 1 1 0 148 6
Fatih Karagümrük 2020–21 Süper Lig 18 1 0 0 – – 18 1
2021–22 14 0 0 0 – – 14 0
Total 32 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 32 1
Vålerenga 2022 Eliteserien 27 2 3 0 – – 30 2
2023 5 0 0 0 – – 5 0
Total 32 2 3 0 0 0 0 0 35 2
Career total 324 15 32 1 50 1 1 0 407 17

Honours

Stabæk

Rosenborg

References

  1. ^ "Vegar Eggen Hedenstad" (in Norwegian). Norwegian Football Federation. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
  2. ^ a b c "Vegar Eggen Hedenstad". altomfotball.no (in Norwegian). Retrieved 21 November 2012.
  3. ^ Sandvik, Svein Jarle (17 October 2010). "Er årets opprykk til 2.divisjon starten på en ny storhetstid i Elverum fotball?" (in Norwegian). Elverum Fotball. Retrieved 17 October 2010.
  4. ^ a b c d Bronken, Anders (14 November 2012). "På trappene til noe stort" (in Norwegian). Østlendingen. Retrieved 21 November 2012.
  5. ^ a b Stormoen, Stein-Erik (13 November 2012). "Hedenstad kalt inn på sjefens kontor etter U21-kamp" (in Norwegian). Verdens Gang. Retrieved 16 November 2012.
  6. ^ Berntsen, Per Angell (18 July 2012). "Vegar Eggen Hedenstad til tysk fotball". TV2 Sporten (in Norwegian). tv2.no. Retrieved 18 July 2012.
  7. ^ Aas, Odd Inge (26 July 2012). "Fryktet marerittstart på proffkarrieren" (in Norwegian). Aftenposten. Retrieved 21 November 2012.
  8. ^ Busk, Martin (1 September 2012). "Hedenstad debuterte i Bundesliga" (in Norwegian). Nettavisen. Retrieved 21 November 2012.
  9. ^ "Vegar Eggen Hedenstad wird ausgeliehen" (in German). eintracht.com. 4 July 2014. Retrieved 4 July 2014.
  10. ^ "Eggen Hedenstad klar for St. Pauli".
  11. ^ "Hedenstad ikke med i 2021".
  12. ^ "Gaston Campi ile Vegar Eggen Hedenstad, Fatih Karagümrük'te". Retrieved 5 January 2021.
  13. ^ "Elyounoussi reddet Norge: – Dette lover godt". vg.no (in Norwegian). VG. 15 January 2012. Retrieved 15 January 2012.
  14. ^ "Drillo tok ut Eggen Hedenstad på landslaget" (in Norwegian). Aftenposten. 30 October 2012. Retrieved 16 November 2012.
  15. ^ "- Hedenstad vil true Riises faste plass" (in Norwegian). Østlendingen. 14 November 2012. Retrieved 16 November 2012.
  16. ^ Bakkehaug, Wegard (12 November 2012). "Vegar Eggen Hedenstads kjæreste døde av kreft: – Man blir fort voksen" (in Norwegian). TV 2. Retrieved 21 November 2012.
  17. ^ "Vegar Eggen Hedenstad". altomfotball.no (in Norwegian). TV 2. Retrieved 14 October 2018.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Vegar Hedenstad.
Categories