Morten Knutsen

Who is Morten Knutsen?

Morten Knutsen is a Norwegian playing football coach for Arendal Fotball.

He started his career in the Arendal-based club IK Grane, and went on to the largest club in the region, IK Start. He made his debut in the Norwegian Premier League in 1996. He then signed for Norway's best team at the time, Rosenborg BK, ahead of the 2000 season. He played 24 games and scored 7 goals in his first season, but then only played 10 games in 2001. In 2002 he was loaned to Start, where he played 19 games and scored 4 goals. After a poor 2003 season with only two appearances for Rosenborg, he caught the interest of Odd Grenland in late 2003. He joined the team free of cost, playing 21 out of 26 league games in 2004, and scoring the winning goal in extra time when Odd Grenland beat FK Ekranas in the second qualifying round of the UEFA Cup 2004–05. In 2005, however, he only played five games. His time at Odd was marred by injury problems, and in 2006 he only played for the club's B team.

He retired from football in February 2007, but already in March he signed for FK Arendal on a pay-per-game contract. He stated that although he had given up playing in the Norwegian Premier League, the Norwegian Second Division might be a suitable arena. However, he almost immediately sustained a serious knee injury, losing the rest of the 2007 season. In the 2008 season he trained the junior team of IF Trauma, at the same time playing for the men's senior team. He also functioned as caretaker coach for the senior team while the head coach was off sick. In late 2008 he was announced as the new head coach of Trauma, effective from 2009.