Erik Johannessen (footballer, born 1952)

Norwegian footballer

Erik Johannessen

Erik Johannessen in 2007

Personal information
Full name|  Erik Hjorth Johannessen
Date of birth|  (1952-03-20) 20 March 1952 (age 72)
Place of birth|  Stavanger, Norway
Position(s)|  Goalkeeper
Senior career*
Years|  Team|  Apps|  (Gls)
1971–1983|  Viking|  245|  (0)
Total|  |  245|  (0)
International career
1968–1970|  Norway U-19|  11|  (0)
1972–1975|  Norway U-21|  8|  (0)
1975|  Norway|  6|  (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Erik Johannessen (born 20 March 1952) is a Norwegian former footballer who played as a goalkeeper for Viking between 1971 and 1983. He won the Norwegian league six times and earned six caps while playing for Norway. Johannessen has later been a part of Viking coaching-staff as a goalkeeping-coach.

## Club career

[edit]

Johannessen was born in Stavanger[1] and started his career in Viking in 1971, where he soon became Sverre Andersen's successor as the first-choice goalkeeper.[2] Johannessen was a part of Viking's golden generation that won four consecutive Norwegian league championships between 1972 and 1975,[3] and he was voted Viking-player of the year in both 1974 and 1975.[4] Johannessen also kept a clean sheet for 672 minutes in the 1974 1. divisjon.[5] As of the end of the 2012 season, this is still the record in the top league of Norway, with Kenneth Udjus 557 minutes from 2011 and 2012 as the second-longest clean sheet.[6]

Johannessen also won the league with Viking in 1979 and 1982, and is with his six championship the most-winning Viking-player of all times. His last match for Viking was the 2–9 loss against Brann in the last match of the 1983 season.[2] He played 245 league-matches for Viking between 1971 and 1983,[1] and with 501 matches for Viking, including friendlies, he is the Viking-player with third most appearances for the club, behind Svein Kvia and Sigbjørn Slinning.[7]

## International career

[edit]

Johannessen played 11 matches for the Norway under-19 team between 1968 and 1970, before he played 8 matches for the under-21 team between 1972 and 1975. He made his debut for the senior team against Finland on 15 May 1975, and was capped a total of 6 times playing for Norway.[8]

## Coaching career

[edit]

Johannessen was working as Benny Lennartsson's goalkeeping-coach at Viking in 1989 and 1990. He later worked as goalkeeping-coach at Hinna before he was coaching Viking's youth-team.[9] He was also working as a teacher at Kristianlyst Ungdomskole, but left this job when he replaced Kurt Hegre as Viking's goalkeeping-coach ahead of the 2007 season.[10] He quit the job in the coaching staff after the 2010 season, and joined Viking's administrative staff before he returned to his teacher-job from 1 January 2012 and became Jørn Øvrebø's assistant coach at Hinna in the 3\. divisjon.[11]

## Personal life

[edit]

Johannessen had two daughters, Josefine and Martine, and was married to Brit Tone who died from cancer in 2011. Four days after his wife's burial, he got a large rift in the aorta. The doctors claimed he had a 50% chance of surviving, but Johannessen recovered after a ten-hour-long surgery at Haukeland Sykehus.[12]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b "Johannessen, Erik" (in Norwegian). Viking FK. 16 July 2012. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 15 March 2012.
2. ^ a b Lindboe, Frode S. (26 October 2006). "Erik Målmann er tilbake" (in Norwegian). Stavanger Aftenblad. Archived from the original on 6 November 2006. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
3. ^ Johansen, Robert Veiåker (5 April 2009). "Rett vest" (in Norwegian). Aftenposten. Archived from the original on 9 April 2009. Retrieved 15 March 2012.
4. ^ "«Årets Viking» 1972–2006". Rogalands Avis. 3 November 2006. Archived from the original on 13 April 2013. Retrieved 15 March 2012.
5. ^ "VG vurderer Viking" (in Norwegian). Verdens Gang. 9 April 2001. Retrieved 15 March 2012.
6. ^ Sandberg, Fredrik Økstad (15 April 2012). "Udjus klarte 557 minutter uten baklengsmål" (in Norwegian). Dagbladet. Retrieved 15 March 2012.
7. ^ "Flest kamper/mål og landslagskjempene" (in Norwegian). Viking FK. 7 March 2012. Archived from the original on 2 December 2012. Retrieved 15 March 2012.
8. ^ "Erik Johannessen's profil". fotball.no (in Norwegian). Football Association of Norway. Archived from the original on 26 May 2012. Retrieved 15 March 2013.
9. ^ "Johannessen blir keepertrener" (in Norwegian). Stavanger Aftenblad. 20 December 2006. Archived from the original on 13 April 2013. Retrieved 15 March 2012.
10. ^ Grøndal, Kjell Ivar; Olsen, Olav Rege (15 September 2008). "Enig om ny kontrakt" (in Norwegian). Stavanger Aftenblad. Archived from the original on 20 October 2008. Retrieved 15 March 2012.
11. ^ Fisketjøn, Lars (25 October 2011). "Erik Johannessen ferdig i Viking" (in Norwegian). Rogalands Avis. Archived from the original on 13 April 2013. Retrieved 15 March 2012.
12. ^ Larsen, Jan-Erik (14 July 2011). "Legene reddet livet til Viking-legende" (in Norwegian). Stavanger Aftenblad. Archived from the original on 16 September 2011. Retrieved 15 March 2013.

*[Apps]: League appearances
*[Gls]: League goals