Harald Brattbakk life and biography

Harald Martin Brattbakk, born 1 February 1971 in Trondheim, Norway is a Norwegian former football player, now working as a pilot. He is the current all time top scorer in the Norwegian top division with 166 goals in 255 matches.

Club career

He has played for Kolstad, Rosenborg BK, Celtic, F.C. Copenhagen and Bodø/Glimt (loan).

Brattbakk is most known for his goalscoring abilities for the Norwegian club Rosenborg BK where he has enjoyed three spells (1990-91, 1994-97 and 2001-06) scoring most of his goals which has helped him reach the top of the all-time goalscoring chart in the Norwegian Premier League.

At Celtic, where he played from December 1997 to January 2000, Brattbakk seemed overawed by the pressures of playing for one of Scotland's Old Firm clubs. And many Celtic fans see him as one of the worst signings the club has ever made. Though he did enjoy some success with the club — including hitting the clinching goal against St Johnstone to help them win the SPL title on the final day of the 1997-1998 season, and scoring all four goals in a 4-0 win over Kilmarnock that same year — his spell in Glasgow was generally characterised by nervous performances and insufficient goals.

However, Brattbakk has been very successful in Norway. With 166 goals he is the highest-scoring player in the history of the Norwegian Premier League. Moreover, his record in the Champions League is an impressive one, and includes goals against such top sides as Real Madrid and Milan. He scored 28 goals in 66 matches for Rosenborg BK and scored 4 goals in 9 matches for Celtic in various European Cups. In November 2001, he scored twice against his old club Celtic as Rosenborg defeated them 2-0 in a Champions League tie in Trondheim.

Brattbakk returned to Rosenborg after being on a loan to Bodø/Glimt in the last half of the 2005 season, but on 20 February 2006 it was announced that he had been relieved from his contract and he has now retired from the game.

In 2008 Brattbakk made a comeback in football after signing a contract with his native Kolstad-Fotball, an amateur club in the Norwegian 3rd Division Dep. 19. However, the comeback lasted only for the rest of the 2008 season.

International career

Brattbakk made his debut for Norway in a February 1995 friendly match against Estonia in which he scored two goals. He went on to play seventeen times for his country, scoring five goals.

On 21 November 2006 Brattbakk announced on the Norwegian television channel TV3 that he intends to become an airline pilot after his retirement from professional football. He made his pilot education in Florida and got his commercial aircraft certification in 2008. Now he flies for the aircraft company Helitrans, based at Trondheim Airport, Værnes. This includes missions for Norwegian Coast Guard.

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