Martin Ødegaard

Early career

In 2009, Ødegaard joined the youth division of Strømsgodset. He trained and played with older boys. The Norwegian Football Federation also organises young talents in local district teams, and Ødegaard played his first matches for the Buskerud team in January 2010, when he had just turned 11. The other players on the team, and opponents, were two to three years older. The coach noted: "Handles things brilliantly. Good choices. Good touch, smart in position game". Ødegaard trained with this team weekly for the next three years. He mostly played left back, as the coaches felt this would give him a positive experience with many ball touches while still playing against physically much stronger players. In attack, he was given free rein due to his ability to "see solutions and spaces that we as coaches were not even close to thinking about."

In 2011, at age 12, he impressed former football manager Lars Tjærnås during a nationwide tournament for under-16s: The best 15-year-olds in the country were gathered for a tournament between the top clubs... It was definitely not the first time he had astonished his opponents or the spectators. He was three or four years younger than the others. It was impossible not to realise that we were witnessing something out of the ordinary.

Strømsgodset

Ødegaard began training with the Strømsgodset first team in 2012, aged 13. He made his first-team debut the same year, in a mid-season friendly against local rivals…

Youth

Ødegaard featured in the starting line-ups for the two home matches of the Norway national under-15 team against Sweden on 17 and 19 September 2013. Both matches were won by Norway, 2–1 and 2–0. Ødegaard played for the Norway national under-16 team in a tournament against Scotland, the United States, and France, held in Turkey in January 2014. He played the full 90 minutes in all three matches, which resulted in a win versus Scotland and two losses. He was promoted to the Norway national under-17 team for the away match against Iceland on 28 February 2014. Ødegaard came on as a substitute in the 62nd minute, and helped secure a 2–1 win for his country. Subsequently, he was in the starting line-up for the next three away matches; in the 3–0 win against Iceland on 2 March, in the 2–3 loss against Turkey on 25 March and finally in the 0–3 loss against Greece on 30 March 2014. In September 2014, he was selected for the Norway national under-21 team for the final match of 2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification. He played the full match against Portugal, as a forward, but was unable to prevent the opponents from winning 2–1, despite being named Man of the Match. An unused substitute for the senior team on 6 September 2015 against Croatia, he joined the under-21 team again the following day in the 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification match against England. He played the full 90 minutes in the match, which Norway lost 0–1 at home after…

Touted as a "modern" playmaker known for his deft touch, technique, dribbling ability, vision and range of passing, as well as his ability to provide precise, bending deliveries from dead balls and set pieces, the left-footed Ødegaard is often compared to attacking midfielders Mesut Özil and Guti due to his creativity on the pitch and direct, incisive movement of the ball to create chances for his teammates. In addition, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta also noted his exceptional footballing intelligence to find spaces on the pitch as well as his work-rate, stating that "he's got a real stamina and he's so talented, but his work-rate is incredible." A hardworking player, Ødegaard is an energetic, effective presser of the ball, often covering large distances to help his team win back possession. In both loan spells with Real Sociedad and Arsenal, Ødegaard was statistically one of the most productive pressers on his team. Considered a footballing prodigy and one of the best upcoming talents of his generation in his youth, a 2014 article in the Liverpool Echo described Ødegaard as "an attack-minded midfielder very much in the modern mould. Diminutive, quick-footed, with natural balance, pace and, perhaps surprisingly for one so young, excellent shooting power". David Nielsen, his manager at Strømsgodset, likened him to David Silva and Lionel Messi. In September 2014, international teammate and Rosenborg winger Morten Gamst Pedersen dubbed Ødegaard the most talented player he had…

Martin Ødegaard was born on 17 December 1998, in Drammen, Buskerud. He spent his first years in the local sports club Drammen Strong. His father, Hans Erik Ødegaard, a former footballer, co-founded a football section in the club, and became the coach of his son's team. In 2005, when Ødegaard was six, his parents and others each invested 50,000 kroner so that the local club could refit their gravel field, Kjappen, with artificial turf. This has been cited as crucial for his development, as Ødegaard spent countless hours on the field. Drammen Strong was twice selected by Ødegaard to receive a prize of 50,000 kroner (€5,800), when the young player was given the Statoil talent award for April 2014 and for the 2014 season. Later, in 2015, Drammen Strong received 250,000 kroner, equivalent to approximately €29,000, as a gift from Strømsgodset Toppfotball when Ødegaard was sold to Real Madrid.