Eirik Horneland (born 14 March 1975) is a Norwegian football manager and former player who is the manager of Eliteserien club Brann. He played as a defender and spent most of his playing years at Vard Haugesund before finishing his career at Haugesund. After retiring as a player, Horneland moved into coaching, first as an assistant manager at Haugesund, before becoming the coach of the Norway national under-19 football team.
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Eirik Horneland | ||
| Date of birth | 14 March 1975 | ||
| Position(s) | Defender | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Brann (manager) | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1993–2005 | Vard Haugesund | ||
| 2000 | → Haugesund (loan) | 3 | (0) |
| 2006–2009 | Haugesund | 87 | (4) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 2010–2014 | Haugesund (assistant) | ||
| 2015–2016 | Norway U–19 | ||
| 2016–2019 | Haugesund | ||
| 2019–2020 | Rosenborg | ||
| 2020–2021 | Brann (assistant) | ||
| 2021– | Brann | ||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Horneland returned to Haugesund as manager in 2016, where strong league finishes earned him a move to Rosenborg in 2019. Horneland resigned from his position after a run of poor results and became assistant manager at Brann in 2020. He was later promoted to head coach and won the Norwegian Football Cup with the club in 2023. Horneland's current contract with Brann runs until the end of the 2025 season.[1]
Career
Horneland started his professional playing career at Vard Haugesund in 1993. He spent twelve years at the club, which included a short loan spell at Haugesund, before moving to the latter in 2006. Horneland retired after the 2009 season and become the assistant manager of Haugesund, whilst occasionally featuring in friendlies for the club and matches with the reserves team.[2] After five seasons at the club, Horneland left to become the coach of the Norway national under-19 football team in 2015.[3] He returned to Haugesund as head coach in October 2016 and led the team to several strong league finishes.[4][5]
In January 2019, Horneland was appointed new manager of Rosenborg.[6] In June 2020, he resigned from his position shortly after the start of the 2020 Eliteserien due to poor results.[7] On 18 October, 2020, Horneland was appointed new assistant manager of Brann. After the sacking of Kåre Ingebrigtsen in July 2021, Horneland was appointed caretaker manager and later promoted to the role of head coach on 10 August.[8] Following Brann's play-off relegation to the Norwegian First Division in 2021, Horneland led the team to a promotion to Eliteserien in the next season, where they broke the league record for points and goals, and received the league's Coach of the Year award.[9][10] In 2023, Horneland led Brann to their seventh Norwegian Football Cup title and a UEFA Conference League play-off round, where they lost to AZ Alkmaar on penalties.[11][12]
Managerial statistics (all official matches)
- As of match played 3 December 2023
| Team | From | To | Record | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % | |||
| Haugesund | 15 October 2016 | 7 January 2019 | 77 | 37 | 14 | 26 | 117 | 91 | +26 | 48.05 |
| Rosenborg | 7 January 2019 | 26 June 2020 | 51 | 22 | 13 | 16 | 83 | 66 | +17 | 43.14 |
| Brann | 10 August 2021 | Present | 95 | 62 | 15 | 18 | 265 | 122 | +143 | 65.26 |
| Total | 223 | 121 | 42 | 60 | 465 | 279 | +186 | 54.26 | ||
Honours
Manager
- Brann
Individual
- Norwegian First Division Coach of the Year: 2022