Norway hires Solbakken to replace LagerbÃ¤ck as coach

Posted December 03, 2020 6:00 am

The Associated Press

OSLO (AP) - Norway hired StÃ¥le Solbakken to replace Lars LagerbÃ¤ck as coach of the national team on Thursday.

LagerbÃ¤ck had a contract until 2022 but leaves after failing to qualify for next year's European Championship following a loss to Serbia in the playoffs in October.

The Norwegian soccer federation said it has been in talks with Solbakken 'œin full transparency with Lars LagerbÃ¤ck'ť about being the team's future coach and has chosen to make the change immediately.

Solbakken is a former midfielder for Norway and recently resigned from his job as coach of Danish team FC Copenhagen.

He takes charge of an improving national team which features attacking players like Borussia Dortmund forward Erling Haaland and Real Madrid midfielder Martin Ã~degaard.

'œFor me, this is a good time to take over,'ť Solbakken said. 'œLars LagerbÃ¤ck and (assistant) Per Joar Hansen have done a solid job and developed a foundation that will be exciting to work on.

'œI look forward to taking on the task of building a strong team.'ť

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