21 Facts About Egil Olsen

Egil Olsen is best known as a highly successful manager of the Norway national team.

Egil Olsen later was manager of the Iraq national team, his departure from which attracted considerable attention.

Egil Olsen managed the Norway national team from 1990 to 1998, guiding them to World Cup final tournaments in 1994 and 1998, with Norway peaking at number two on the FIFA ranking.

Egil Olsen worked from 2005 to 2007 as an analyst for Valerengens IF before joining Expekt.

In 1995, as Norway manager Egil Olsen used one of his three votes to nominate Norway women's football star Hege Riise as the FIFA World Player of the Year.

In June 1999, the then 57-year-old Egil Olsen made his appearance in English football, when he was named as manager of Wimbledon.

Egil Olsen reportedly turned down an approach from Celtic to take charge of the London club, becoming the first Norwegian to manage in the Premier League.

Egil Olsen has stated that his favorite player at the club was Welsh international Ben Thatcher.

Egil Olsen remained in charge for less than a year, and was sacked just before the club was relegated from the Premier League, having been top division members since 1986.

On 19 May 2007, Egil Olsen rejected an offer to manage the Iraq national team citing a busy schedule.

Egil Olsen had tried to contact them by several means, but received the message when a new manager was installed, this action on the Iraqis part was very unexpected and their reason was said to be that they did not believe Olsen was strict enough.

On 27 September 2013, Egil Olsen agreed to stand down as coach following the World Cup qualifying at home defeat to Switzerland.

Egil Olsen has at times been referred to as a "football professor" for his scientific approach to the game, an early user of video analysis of matches.

Egil Olsen has collected statistical data to find out which playing styles are the most efficient.

Egil Olsen found that breakaways played an important role to making goals, and that quick counter-attacks caught opponents off guard to organize defense.

Egil Olsen believes that getting the ball down the field through the air to the attackers or flank players gave less chance for losing control.

Egil Olsen's use of a player with good heading abilities as a target man on the flank, such as Jostein Flo, was a major break with the established idea that all flank players should be small, quick and good dribblers.

Egil Olsen is opposed to stationary offensive players, and argues that offensive runs should be carried out as often as possible when one's team has the ball, as multiple simultaneous runs are very difficult to defend against.

Egil Olsen holds the idea that breakthrough passes to the area behind the opponent's defensive line should be sought out very often, and that frequent offensive runs towards this area is important.

Egil Olsen is an ardent supporter of zone defense, as opposed to man-to-man marking.

Egil Olsen was a member of the Norwegian Workers' Communist Party.