Nils Arne Eggen

Eggen began his active football career when he was 15 years old as a defender at Orkdal's senior team. Later on he moved to Trondheim to study, and joined Rosenborg. He played with them in winning the Norwegian Football Cup in 1960. In 1963 he moved to Oslo where he joined Vålerenga. They won the Norwegian top division in 1965, before he moved back to Trondheim where he played an important role for Rosenborg when they won the league twice – and he himself won the "Player of the Year" in 1968 – before retiring as a player.

Eggen was appointed Rosenborg's coach, together with Tor Røste Fossen, and in his first season (1971) they won "the double" for the first time ever in the club's history. In middle of the 1970s he was the coach for the Norwegian U21 national team, and later for the senior national team. In the 1978 World Cup qualifiers, home wins over Sweden and Switzerland put Norway in contention for qualification. A loss in their final game in Switzerland meant they missed out, and it was not until 1994 that they again came close to qualification. In 1978, he returned as coach in Rosenborg – the team struggling in Norway's second division at that time. Two years later the team once again was among the top teams in the first division. He returned to Rosenborg after being the coach of Moss in 1986–87. In his two years at Moss he first achieved promotion to the first division in 1986, and followed up by leading the club to their first and only league championship in 1987. Eggen resigned as manager for Rosenborg in 2002. Two of Eggen's last achievements were winning the Norwegian top division (11th time in a row), and qualifying for the European UEFA Champions League (8th time in a row). During his spell as manager Rosenborg also won the Norwegian football cup a number of times. He was again appointed by the club in November 2004 – this time as assistant manager/counsellor, a position he later stepped down from in 2005, when he admitted that his role hadn't worked as planned. In May 2010…

He was the father of Norway international footballer and manager Knut Torbjørn Eggen. His grandson Christian Eggen Rismark played professionally for Brann Bergen.

Death

Eggen died on 19 January 2022, at the age of 80.

Player

Vålerengen

Norwegian top division: 1965 Rosenborg

Norwegian top division: 1967, 1969 Norwegian Cup: 1960 Individual

Norwegian top division Player of the Year: 1967

Manager

Rosenborg

Norwegian top division (14): 1971, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2010 Norwegian Cup (6): 1971, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1995, 1999 Moss

Norwegian top division: 1987 Norwegian second division (Group A): 1986 Individual

Kniksen Award Coach of the Year (6): 1990, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999 Kniksen's honour award: 2002