National Team
Fiane Christensen also became an important part of the national team. When she played her (currently) last match for the national team, Marit Fiane Chistensen had made 62 appearances, scoring 7 goals. She scored her first goal for Norway on July 24, 2004 in a match against Sweden.
She was part of the squad for the European Championships, in which Norway claimed silver, falling to Germany 3-1 in the championship match. She was also part of the team for the 2003 Women's World Cup, 2007 Women's World Cup and the 2008 Summer Olympics held in Beijing, China.
On October 21, 2008 Marit Fiane Christensen and four other Røa players—Marie Knutsen, Guro Knutsen, Lene Mykjåland and Siri Nordby—made headlines when they announced in a press release that they would not be returning to the national team due to issues the five had with the national team leadership. While the press statement never mentioned coach Bjarne Berntsen's name, it was assumed that he was instrumental in their decision to retire from the team. The retirement, which came off in many newspapers as a boycott, created widespread media attention.
Somewhat involuntarily, Marit Fiane Christensen became the spokesperson for the five players, especially in a TV-debate with the Norwegian Football Association and coach Bjarne Berntsen. As of January 2009, the issue seemed far from soluble, but with Bjarne Berntsen's retirement and the arrival of a new chief trainer for the national team, Eli Landsem, Christensen was recalled to the side in December 2009 for training matches against China and England in La Manga, Spain in January 2010.
Read more about this topic: Marit Fiane Christensen
Famous quotes containing the words national and/or team:
“While I do not think it was so intended I have always been of the opinion that this turned out to be much the best for me. I had no national experience. What I have ever been able to do has been the result of first learning how to do it. I am not gifted with intuition. I need not only hard work but experience to be ready to solve problems. The Presidents who have gone to Washington without first having held some national office have been at great disadvantage.”
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“giving a nod, up the chimney he rose.
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