Rune Hauge

Who is Rune Hauge?

Rune Hauge is a Norwegian football agent.

In English football, Hauge is best known as the agent who represented John Jensen and Pål Lydersen during their transfers to Arsenal in the early 1990s. This would lead to Arsenal manager George Graham becoming embroiled in allegations that Hauge paid him a £425,000 "bung" to sign the players. Graham was later found guilty by the Football Association after admitting receiving an "unsolicited gift" and was suspended for a year. Before this, Hauge was involved in the signings of two key Manchester United players: Andrei Kanchelskis and Peter Schmeichel.

Hauge was banned from operating as an agent for life by FIFA in 1995, but this was later reduced to two years' suspension of his licence. After he regained his licence, he went on to represent several Norwegian players including Ole Gunnar Solskjær, Steffen Iversen and Eirik Bakke. He was also involved in the transfer of Rio Ferdinand from West Ham United to Leeds United.

In 2005, he was involved in the transfer dispute between Manchester United and Chelsea over John Obi Mikel, claiming that he had the right to represent the Nigerian youth.

Hauge's current clients include Blackburn's Norwegian midfielder Morten Gamst Pedersen.