Christian Berge

Playing Career Berge started playing handball at Charlottenlund SK, and later joined Trondheim HK. In 1995 he made his senior debut for Stavanger HK. In 1999 he joined German team SG Flensburg-Handewitt. Here he won both the DHB-Pokal, Handball-Bundesliga and EHF Cup Winners' Cup.

In October 2004 he was diagnosed with lymphoma and Ménière's disease. He made his comeback on the court in January 2005. In March 2005 he had a setback however, which kept him out until December 2005.

The following summer he concluded that playing in the Bundesliga caused him too much trouble, and he therefore joined Danish team AGF Håndbold. A year later he retired and became a coach at Aarhus GF.

National team Berge played 63 matches for the Norwegian Men's National Team. His best result was an 8th placed finish at the 2000 European Men's Handball Championship.

Coaching Career After retiring he was the assistant coach at AGF Håndbold for a season before returning to Norway, where he became the head coach of Elverum Håndball.

In February 2014 he became the head coach of the Norwegian Men's National Team on an interim contract. From February to November he thus coached both the Norwegian national team and Elverum. In July 2014 he signed a permanent contract as the Norwegian head coach.

He did not manage to qualify the team for the 2015 World Championship, but at the 2016 European Handball Championship he guided the team to the semifinals, where they eventually achieved a 4th place.

At the 2017 and 2019 World Men's Handball Championship he won silver medals at both occations. At the 2020 European Championship he won bronze medals with Norway. These were the only medals, that Norway has won at any major international tournament.

He left the team in February 2022 after finishing 5th at the 2022 European Men's Handball Championship, as he wanted to return to club handball. He did originally have a contract with the Norwegian Handball Federation until 2025, but the federation was willing to let him go.

In March 2022 he became the head coach of the Norwegian club Kolstad IL. With Kolstad he won the Norwegian double in both 2023 and 2024.

Private In 2008 he published the book I kampens hete – og kreften er ennå ikke overvunnet together with Norwegian journalist Tore Sæther about his life and career with cancer.

Honours

Player

Norwegian Championship: 1998 Norwegian Cup: 2010 German Championship: 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006 German Cup: 2003, 2004, 2005 German Super Cup: 2000 EHF Cup Winners' Cup: 2001

Manager

Norwegian Championship: 2013, 2023, 2024 Norwegian Cup: 2010, 2023, 2024 World Men's Handball Championship: 2017,