Asbjørn Halvorsen
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Asbjørn Halvorsen (December 3, 1898 – January 16, 1955) was a Norwegian footballer. He was a centre-half who played 19 times for the Norwegian national team, and won the Norwegian Cup in 1917 as a member of Sarpsborg. After his playing career ended, he became general secretary of the Norwegian Football Association, and he is regarded as the architect behind the Norwegian "Bronze Team" that famously finished third in the 1936 Olympics.
Between 1922 and 1934, Halvorsen played in Germany for Hamburger SV, where he won two German championships. He returned to his home country in 1934, and was hired as general secretary of the NFF. This job also made him head of the national team's selection committee, and in the years before the war, he also acted as national team coach.
With Halvorsen at the helm, Norway won the Bronze medals at the 1936 Olympics, and qualified for the 1938 World Cup. This was Norway's first and only appearance in the World Cup finals until the 1990s.
During the war, Halvorsen was one of the figureheads of the Norwegian sports boycott. Practically all organized sport ceased its operations during the German occupation, and as a result, Halvorsen was arrested and placed in a concentration camp. He returned home a shadow of his former self after the war, and remained general secretary of the NFF until his death in 1955.
