Terje Skarsfjord

Who is Terje Skarsfjord?

Terje Skarsfjord is a former Norwegian football player and manager. He has also authored and co-authored several educational books about coaching and how to improve your skills.

He has had several spells as manager of Tromsø IL. 1996, 1999–2001, and 2003. During his most successful spell Tromsø IL won the Norwegian Football Cup in 1996, and famously beat Chelsea FC 3–2 in the European Cup Winners Cup.

He returned in 1999 for a less successful spell which ended with him being replaced by Swedish manager Tommy Svensson.

He returned again in 2003 when the team looked set for relegation, hopelessly adrift at the bottom of the table. He then masterminded an incredible recovery in which Tromsø IL avoided relegation by a last-ghasp goal by Arne Vidar Moen in the fifth minute of overtime against Rosenborg BK, winning the match 1–0. This meant that Aalesund FK were surprisingly relegated after having seemed safe, in shock and disappointment their manager Ivar Morten Normark commented that he would go home and eat only dry bread and drink a diet soda, while television pundit Ivar Hoff said the tension was so great that he felt he needed to have a cigarette. His popularity at the time was such that the local newspaper speculated that he might have won if he had decided to run for mayor.