Asbjørn Halvorsen

Asbjørn Halvorsen (3 December 1898 – 16 January 1955), nicknamed Assi, was a Norwegian footballer, who played as a centre-half for Sarpsborg FK and Hamburger SV. He was capped 19 times playing for Norway, and was a part of the Norwegian team who competed in the 1920 Summer Olympics. He was later Secretary general of the Norwegian Football Association, and acted as head coach of the Norwegian national team. He is regarded as the architect behind the Norwegian "Bronze Team" that finished third in the 1936 Olympics.

During World War II Halvorsen fought against the occupation of Norway by Nazi troops as a member of the resistance before being sent to concentration camps.

Personal life Halvorsen was born in Sarpsborg, the son of baker Christian Halvorsen and Jakobine Dorthea Thronsen. He established himself as a ship broker in Hamburg, and his first marriage was with a German citizen. He married for a second time in 1951 with Sigrid Helga Willadsen.

Playing career Halvorsen was a centre-half who played 19 times for the Norwegian national team, and won the Norwegian Cup in 1917 as captain of Sarpsborg FK. He made his debut for the national team in 1918, in a match against Sweden, He represented Norway at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, where the Norwegian team reached the quarter-finals. Between 1922 and 1934, Halvorsen played in Germany for Hamburger SV, where he won the German championships in 1923 and 1928. He was imprisoned at Møllergata 19 for one day, then in Grini concentration camp from August 1942 to July 1943, then in Natzweiler-Struthof, Neckarelz and Vaihingen an der Enz concentration camps.

Post war After the war, Halvorsen continued working for the NFF, with the title of Secretary General, until his death in 1955. and was decorated Knight of the Swedish Order of Vasa. He died in Narvik in 1955,