Sten Grytebust

Sten Grytebust

Personal information
Full name	Sten Michael Grytebust[1]
Date of birth	25 October 1989
Place of birth	Ålesund, Norway
Height	1.87 m (6 ft 1 ^1⁄2 in)
Playing position	Goalkeeper
Club information
Current team	OB
Number	13
Youth career
	Ellingsøy IL
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps^†	(Gls)^†
2009–2016	Aalesund	148	(0)
2016–	OB	0	(0)
National team^‡
2006	Norway U-17	2	(0)
2007	Norway U-18	5	(0)
2008	Norway U-19	1	(0)
2008–2010	Norway U-21	3	(0)
2012–	Norway U-23	2	(0)
2013–	Norway	2	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 17 February 2016. † Appearances (goals) ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 21 November 2014

Sten Michael Grytebust (born 25 October 1989) is a Norwegian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for the Superliga side OB. Since Anders Lindegaard left for Manchester United, Grytebust has been the first choice goalkeeper for Aalesund. He made his debut for Norway in 2013.

Early life

Born in Ålesund,^[2] he was raised on the adjacent island of Ellingsøy. His father is a native of Ellingsøy, his mother is Liberian,^[3] and her Father is Danish. He describes George Weah as his idol growing up.^[4] He did not originally play as a goalkeeper, but as a teenager he had to step in when the team's goalkeeper was injured and he delivered a solid performance which made him the preferred goalkeeper for their team. Grytebust was wanted by Aalesund in 2004, but the then 15-year-old chose to play for Ellingsøy IL's first-team in the Fourth Division, before he joined Aalesund's youth department one year later.^[5] Grytebust stayed at the youth department for two years, before he joined Aalesund's first team ahead of the 2008-season.^[6]

Club career

After joining Aalesund's first-team squad, the young Grytebust was the third-choice goalkeeper behind Adin Brown, Andreas Lie and later Anders Lindegaard.^[4] In August 2009, Lindegaard's loan-spell ended and he returned to Denmark, and Aalesund's coaching staff decided to give Grytebust a chance for the first team instead of Andreas Lie, after Grytebust's display at the training field. He made his debut against local rivals Molde on 22 August 2009,^[7] and delivered a good performance despite conceding three goals.^[6] After his debut, Aalesund signed Lindegaard permanently, and after the departure of Lie, Grytebust became the second-choice goalkeeper for the next season and played the two first rounds of the 2010 Norwegian Football Cup.^[4]

Grytebust was told by the club during autumn 2009 that he would get his chances for the first team, and that he would be the next first-choice goalkeeper at the club. After the 2010 season, Lindegaard was bought by Manchester United and Aalesund made the local lad Grytebust their new first-choice goalkeeper instead of buying a new goalkeeper.^[8] Lindegaard stated that he believed Grytebust was ready for the task, and was certain that Grytebust would become the national goalkeeper of Norway one day.^[6]

The 2011 season started poorly with Aalesund losing against Fredrikstad partly due to a bad goal kick by Grytebust,^[9] but after his match-winning saves against Viking and Stabæk, his head coach Kjetil Rekdal predicted Grytebust would be the next national team goalkeeper.^[10] He delivered a stable performance throughout the season and was rewarded by being selected to the Under-23 national team together with his teammate Peter Orry Larsen, despite neither of them knowing that such a team existed.^[11] His performance also received praise from national team goalkeeping coach Frode Grodås who stated that Grytebust was "without weaknesses".^[12] After ending the season with a victory in the 2011 Norwegian Football Cup Final,^[13] Grytebust was together with Daniel Arnefjord named "Aalesund player of the year" by the local paper, Sunnmørsposten.^[5]

In the pre-season ahead of the 2012 season, Grytebust was again man of the match in the friendly match against Shaktar Donetsk.^[14] This season continued with Grytebust unchallenged as goalkeeper with Aalesund. Results varied with many games in domestic league, cup and Europa League. He received negative focus when Aalesund was eliminated from the domestic cup in the fourth round against Sandefjord, with Grytebust being sloppy with a pass and having to concede a goal.^[15]

Later during a match against SK Brann, he was again careless with a goal-kick, which ended up with Rodolph Austin scoring in his last match with the Bergen team.^[16] In August the club reported that it had re-signed Andreas Lie as a back-up keeper,^[17] Lie himself stating that he has ambitions to "play for a permanent spot".^[18]

International career

Grytebust was first called up for the Norwegian national team in June 2013, and made his debut in the friendly match against Macedonia on 11 June 2013 when he replaced André Hansen a couple of minutes before full-time. He became the 150th player Egil "Drillo" Olsen used during his two spells as national team coach.^[19]

Career statistics

As of 19 October 2015^[20]

Season	Club	Division	League		Cup		Europe		Total
			Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals!
2008	Aalesund	Tippeligaen	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2009			1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
2010			0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0
2011			30	0	6	0	6	0	42	0
2012			30	0	1	0	4	0	35	0
2013			30	0	1	0	0	0	31	0
2014			30	0	4	0	0	0	34	0
2015			27	0	0	0	0	0	27	0
Career Total			148	0	13	0	10	0	171	0

Honours

Club

Aalesund

• Norwegian Football Cup (2): 2009, 2011

References

1. "In profile: Sten Grytebust". Sells Goalkeeper Products. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
2. "Sten Grytebust" (in Norwegian). altomfotball.no. Retrieved 25 August 2012.
3. "Skjebnekamper for både store- og lillebror Grytebust" (in Norwegian). aftenposten.no. Retrieved 15 August 2015.
4. "I bildet: Ein tålmodig, ung mann" (in Norwegian). nyttiuka.no. Retrieved 25 August 2012.
5. Stenerud, Kristian (25 March 2012). "Grytebust: Jeg følte ikke noe ekstra press". Sunnmørsposten (in Norwegian). Retrieved 24 April 2012.
6. "Lindegaard: – Han blir norsk landslagskeeper" (in Norwegian). Sunnmørsposten. 29 November 2010. Retrieved 25 August 2012.
7. "No vil Grytebust bryte forbanninga – som han ikkje trur på" (in Norwegian). NRK. 3 May 2012. Retrieved 25 August 2012.
8. "Tok opp hansken etter Lindegaard" (in Norwegian). fotball.no. 3 November 2011. Retrieved 30 August 2012.
9. Nedregrotten, Sveinung (21 March 2011). "- To avgjørende feil gjør at vi taper". 100% fotball (in Norwegian). Retrieved 19 August 2012.
10. Stenerud, Kristian (14 June 2011). "Rekdal: Norges neste landslagskeeper". Aftenposten.no (in Norwegian). Retrieved 24 April 2012.
11. Stenerud, Kristian (1 November 2012). "Tatt ut på et landslag de ikke visste eksisterte". 100% fotball (in Norwegian). Retrieved 20 August 2012.
12. Stenerud, Kristian (14 May 2012). "Grodås – Grytebust har ingen svakheter". 100% fotball. Retrieved 20 August 2012.
13. "Barrantes ble den store cuphelten" (in Norwegian). NRK. 6 November 2011. Retrieved 30 August 2012.
14. "-Vår neste landslagskeeper" (in Norwegian). NRK. 31 January 2012. Retrieved 30 August 2012.
15. Hjelvik, Eirik Nessetq (8 July 2012). "Grytebust: – Beste medisin er å slå tilbake". 100% fotball (in Norwegian). Retrieved 20 August 2012.
16. Bøyum, Mads (22 July 2012). "Grytebust: – ikke artig". 100% fotball (in Norwegian). Retrieved 20 August 2012.
17. Eikrem, Allan (13 August 2012). "Lie vender hjem". 100% fotball (in Norwegian). Retrieved 20 August 2012.
18. Hjelvik, Eirik Nesset (13 August 2012). "Lie: Skal spille meg til fast plass". 100% fotball (in Norwegian). Retrieved 20 August 2012.
19. "Grytebust ble spiller nummer 150 under Drillo" (in Norwegian). TV 2. Norwegian News Agency. 12 June 2013. Retrieved 12 June 2013.
20. "Sten Grytebust". nifs.no (in Norwegian). A-pressen. Retrieved 22 March 2013.

• OB sikrer sig norsk keeper, ob.dk, 17 February 2016

External links

• Guardian Football