Caroline Graham Hansen

Lyn (youth)

Hansen played for Lyn as a part of mixed-gender teams of both boys and girls up until the age of 14, because her coach said she was a bad influence to the boys on the team. This decision started debate within the club, and as a result, Hansen moved up to play as a starter with Lyn's G94 team, made up of boys a year older than her. Hansen says this is where she learned to play smarter and make better choices with the ball, because the boys were physically advantaged by that point. Hansen played for Lyn up to age 15, and was a part of the team that won the under-16 girls' class in the Norway Cup.

Stabæk (2010–2013)

Hansen made the move to her first professional club Stabæk in August 2010, and made her Toppserien debut the same week, as a 73rd-minute substitute in the match against FK Donn. Hansen recorded an assist as Stabæk won 3–0. Graham Hansen was allowed to train with the club's boys' teams, something unprecedented; already renowned, the boys reportedly responded to her presence by saying "the women's football Messi is coming to train with us." One of the players, Endre Lübeck, recalled that they treated Graham Hansen like part of their own team. Stabæk won the league title later that year with a 3–0 home win over Trondheims-Ørn. She was a part of Stabæk's 2011 Norwegian Women's Cup winning team, who beat Røa on penalties after extra time. Hansen assisted Katrine Pedersen's equalizer during the extra time, but was the only Stabæk player to…

In 2011, 16-year-old Hansen was a part of the Norwegian under-19 team who finished as runners-up in the 2011 UEFA U-19 Championship, after losing the final against Germany. Hansen was also included in the Norwegian squad for the 2012 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Japan, where the team reached the quarter-final. She made her senior debut for Norway against Belgium in November 2011. In June 2012 Hansen scored her first senior international goal in an 11–0 rout of Bulgaria, a match in which she also assisted more than half of Norway's goals.

Hansen was named to Norway's squad for UEFA Euro 2013 by veteran coach Even Pellerud. Winger Hansen and fellow teenage forward Ada Hegerberg at striker were important players in the Norwegian team which reached the competition's final; within the young Norway side, the pair and 20-year-old Kristine Minde were considered veterans. In the final at Friends Arena, Hansen won a 61st-minute penalty after drawing a foul from Saskia Bartusiak, but Germany's goalkeeper Nadine Angerer made her second penalty save of the match. Anja Mittag's goal gave the Germans their sixth successive title. Hansen's 2015 knee injury kept her out of that year's Algarve Cup, putting her in doubt for participation in the 2015 World Cup. It was made official on 19 May 2015, that she would be ruled out of the World Cup after failing to recover from the injury in time for the competition. Hansen made her national team comeback in January of the following year, scoring one of…

Hansen is a technically skilled winger, most known for her dribbling ability, one-on-one challenges, and passing quality. In 2011, Hansen received the Statoil's Talent Award for the month of October. The award's jury, consisting of former Norway men's national team manager Nils Johan Semb and Norway women's youth national team manager Jarl Torske, revered 16-year-old Hansen for her skills on the ball. They highlighted her speed, her finishing, and her ability to challenge players one-on-one. Hansen's former manager at Wolfsburg, Stephan Lerch, describes her as "dominating a high-tempo game" and being very strong technically. Norway national team manager Martin Sjögren describes her similarly, saying her technical skills and speed are "exceptional." Hansen has been described as an "atypical Norwegian," known for her dribbling skills and technical finesse unlike other Norwegians who tend to play more physically.

Hansen was born and brought up in Oslo, Norway, in the neighborhood of Tåsen. She is the eldest child of Petter Norman Hansen and Bettina Graham Hansen; her younger brother, Fredrik, plays football for Gamle Oslo FK. Caroline Graham Hansen is often called Caro, and plays with the name Graham on her jersey. The family name Graham is British, from Caroline's great-grandfather who moved from Britain (per Graham Hansen, either Northern England or Scotland) to Norway to work as a train driver. Growing up, Hansen's father travelled with her to attend different football games; she was a fan of Manchester United and FC Barcelona. Her childhood idol was former Barcelona forward Rivaldo. In 2016, she hosted a girls' training camp with Norwegian former United forward Ole Gunnar Solskjær. Outside of football, Graham Hansen was a competitive chess player between the ages of six and eight. Their parents sent Caroline and Fredrik to a private sports school, the Norges Toppidrettsgymnas Bærum in Bærum. The siblings were raised by their father to be incredibly competitive between each other and to "like to make a fool out of the other"; they were never left without adult supervision, as they were prone to break out into fights. Graham Hansen has said that her coaches' response to her competitive nature helped her channel this into a desire to perform better and win. Though Graham Hansen became a professional footballer as a teenager, she got her high school diploma so that she would be able…