Club Career
Born in Trondheim, Bratseth started his career at local club Rosenborg BK. There, he would only be a part-time professional, until he left for Germany's SV Werder Bremen in January 1987, for a mere €93.000. He was immediately cast into the starting XI, making his club debut in a 1–5 loss at 1. FC Nuremberg, on 21 February, after the winter break; he would also win the first of his two national championships in his first full season.
Bratseth's finest moment came when Werder won the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1991–92, in a 2–0 victory against AS Monaco FC. During the campaign, he played in eight (out of nine) complete matches, managing to add two goals (in both legs against Romania's FCM Bacău).
After a second league title with Bremen, Bratseth began suffering knee problems, even needing injections to play. After only one match in 1994–95, he called it quits, at 34, having amassed 230 league matches, with 12 goals, in eight and a half professional seasons. In the 1993–94 UEFA Champions League, Braseth was on the scoresheet at the incredible 5–3 home win against R.S.C. Anderlecht; the Belgian led 3–0 with 25 minutes to go, and he helped to the final comeback with the 2–3.
Bratseth was named Norway's Golden Player – the best Norwegian footballer of the past 50 years by the Norwegian Football Association, in November 2003, to celebrate UEFA's Jubilee.
Subsequently, he became chairman and general manager of Rosenborg, forming a successful partnership with coach Nils Arne Eggen. The club maintained its domestic superiority in the following years.
Bratseth was actually registered as a player when he started his job at Rosenborg, and since the club did not have 25 players in its first team squad to be registered for the Champions League, he was included as a backup. Even though he did not want to play, he agreed to sit on the bench for one game in case of "emergency".
He was manager of Rosenborg between 10 June and 8 November 2006, leaving his post to Knut Torbjørn Eggen, Nils Arne's son.
Read more about this topic: Rune Bratseth
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