Hege Riise (born 18 July 1969) is a Norwegian football coach and former midfield player. She is considered one of the best footballers of her generation, having won the FIFA Women's World Cup, the Olympic Games, and the UEFA Women's Euro with the Norway women's national football team.

Playing career

Club As a child, Riise practised football, handball, cross-country skiing and ski jumping. She started playing football at age six in Momoen, albeit on a boys' team until the age of 14. She then played on a girls' team in Høland IL, followed by the competitive senior team Setskog/Høland from 1989.

She won the Norwegian Cup competition with Setskog/Høland in 1992. In late 1995 along with four other Norwegians she joined Nikko Securities Dream Ladies football club in Japan. Nikko won the Japanese league and cup competitions in 1996 and the cup in 1997, after which Riise moved back to Norway to play again with Setskog/Høland.

She joined Asker, in 2000, and again won the cup competition with Asker the same year. Drafted by the Carolina Courage in the Women's United Soccer Association 2000 foreign draft, Riise was the team's MVP two times and led the Courage to a WUSA Founders Cup title in 2002, before her involvement was curtailed by an anterior cruciate ligament injury. In 2003 the Norwegian Football Association named Riise the best female Norwegian footballer ever.

Returning to Norway in 2005 Hege Riise joined Team Strømmen of Oslo and became the club's playing assistant trainer in 2006. She played her last top-level match with Team Strømmen on 28 October 2006 aged 37 and retired from football as a player.

International Riise made her international debut with the Norwegian national team in 1990. Norway won the UEFA Women's Championship in 1993. Two years later, with Norway, she won the Women's World Cup and was awarded the Golden Ball after the competition.

Riise's biggest achievement with Norway was winning the gold medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, to become one of only three women (all Norwegian) in the world to win the Olympics, the World Cup and the European Championship (with Gro Espeseth and Bente Nordby).

She retired from international football in September 2004 with 188 caps and 58 goals.

International goals No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition 1. 29 July 1990 Winnipeg, Canada 2–? 2–4 Friendly 2. 14 November 1990 Kristiansand, Norway 1–0 2–1 UEFA Women's Euro 1991 qualifying 3. 26 May 1991 Skien, Norway 1–0 2–0 Friendly 4. 1 September 1991 Medford, United States 1–? 2–1 5. 19 November 1991 Guangzhou, China 4–0 4–0 1991 FIFA Women's World Cup 6. 23 May 1992 Modum, Norway 5–0 6–0 UEFA Women's Euro 1993 qualifying 7. 14 August 1992 Medford, United States 2–1 3–1 Friendly 8. 26 September 1992 Kolbotn, Norway 6–0 8–0 UEFA Women's Euro 1993 qualifying 9. 8–0 10. 10 October 1992 Oslo, Norway 2–0 3–0 11. 7 November 1992 Raalte, Netherlands 1–0 3–0 12. 18 March 1994 Vila Real de Santo António, Portugal 2–1 6–1 1994 Algarve Cup 13. 4 June 1994 Budapest, Hungary 4–0 4–0 UEFA Women's Euro 1995 qualifying 14. 10 February 1995 Kristiansand, Norway 6–? 6–2 Friendly 15. 17 March 1995 Portimão, Portugal 2–0 2–0 1995 Algarve Cup 16. 25 April 1995 Oslo, Norway 1–? 2–1 Friendly 17. 6 June 1995 Karlstad, Sweden 3–0 8–0 1995 FIFA Women's World Cup 18. 8 June 1995 2–0 2–0 19. 10 June 1995 Gävle, Sweden 2–0 7–0 20. 13 June 1995 Karlstad, Sweden 3–0 3–1 21. 18 June 1995 Solna, Sweden 1–0 2–0 22. 2 August 1995 Philadelphia, United States 2–0 12–1 1995 Women's U.S. Cup 23. 9–? 24. 11–? 25. 12–? 26. 19 September 1995 Ulefoss, Norway 15–0 17–0 UEFA Women's Euro 1997 qualifying 27. 2 February 1996 Tampa, United States 2–2 2–3 Friendly 28. 4 February 1996 Jacksonville, United States 1–0 2–1 29. 2–1 30. 11 March 1996 Silves, Portugal 3–1 4–1 1996 Algarve Cup 31. 13 March 1996 Vila Real de Santo António, Portugal 2–0 3–0 32. 25 May 1996 Espoo, Finland 1–0 2–0 33. 6 July 1996 Kolbotn, Norway 3–0 7–0 34. 23 July 1996 Washington, D.C., United States 3–2 3–2 1996 Summer Olympics 35. 16 February 1997 Sundsvall, Sweden 2–0 2–0 Friendly 36. 12 March 1997 Olhão, Portugal 6–0 6–0 1997 Algarve Cup 37. 16 March 1997 Loulé, Portugal 1–0 1–0 38. 28 May 1997 1–0 3–0 Friendly 39. 1 October 1997 Oslo, Norway 3–0 6–1 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification 40. 21 January 1998 Guangzhou, China 2–0 2–1 1998 Four Nations Tournament 41. 17 March 1998 Loulé, Portugal 1–0 1–0 1998 Algarve Cup 42. 19 March 1998 Lagos, Portugal 2–0 4–1 43. 17 June 1998 Ulefoss, Norway 2–0 3–2 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification 44. 23 June 1999 Landover, United States 4–1 7–1 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup 45. 26 June 1999 Chicago, United States 1–0 4–0 46. 30 June 1999 San Jose, United States 3–0 3–1 47. 6 February 2000 Fort Lauderdale, United States 1–0 3–2 Friendly 48. 9 February 2000 Boca Raton, United States 2–1 2–1 49. 17 September 2000 Canberra, Australia 2–0 3–1 2000 Summer Olympics 50. 19 June 2001 Hønefoss, Norway 3–0 9–1 Friendly 51. 11 September 2001 Kongsvinger, Norway 4–0 5–0 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification 52. 1 March 2002 Ferreiras, Portugal 3–1 3–1 2002 Algarve Cup 53. 5 March 2002 Lagos, Portugal 1–1 3–2 54. 17 February 2003 La Manga, Spain 2–1 3–3 Friendly 55. 20 February 2003 2–0 4–0 56. 14 March 2004 Guia, Portugal 2–1 4–1 2004 Algarve Cup 57. 16 March 2004 Olhão, Portugal 3–0 3–0 58. 20 March 2004 Faro, Portugal 1–1 1–4

Coaching career Riise retired as a player at the end of the 2006 season with 188 international caps to her credit, the record for all Norwegian footballers. In 2007, she became the chief trainer at Team Strømmen, in the Norwegian women's premier league, the Toppserien. In the 2008 season, Team Strømmen were runners-up in both the league and the Cup competitions.

On 28 January 2009, Riise was appointed Assistant Trainer to the U.S. women's national team.

Riise was appointed interim head coach of the England women's national football team in January 2021. Her tenure bridged the gap between the resignation of Phil Neville, who had originally agreed to see out his contract, and his already-agreed-upon replacement, the incumbent Netherlands head coach Sarina Wiegman due to start in September 2021. Due to the reduced international schedule as a result of the COVID-19, Riise only took charge of three friendlies: defeating Northern Ireland 6–0 in her debut before losing to France and Canada. On 10 March 2021, she was also announced as the manager for Team GB at the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The team progressed as group winners with seven points in three games before being eliminated in the first knockout round by Australia 4–3 in extra-time.

After her stint in the United Kingdom, Riise fulfilled a prior agreement to take charge of the Norway women's national under-19 football team. In the 2022 UEFA Under-19 Championship, Norway won their group and came second overall, after being defeated 2-1 in the final by Spain.

On 3 August 2022, Riise was officially appointed as Norway head coach replacing Martin Sjögren. The rest of the coaching team consists of the assistant coaches Monica Knudsen and Ingvild Stensland, and the goalkeeping coach Jon Knudsen.

On 1 September 2023, Riise stood down from her role as Norway head coach following an unsuccessful 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup campaign. She subsequently moved into a different role at the Norwegian Football Federation (NFF).

Honours Player Norway FIFA Women's World Cup: 1995 UEFA Women's Championship: 1993 Summer Olympics gold medal: 2000 Summer Olympics bronze medal: 1996

Individual FIFA Women's World Cup Golden Ball: 1995 UEFA Women's Championship Golden player: 1993

Manager LSK Kvinner Toppserien: 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 Norwegian Women's Cup: 2016, 2018, 2019 Norway Under-19

UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship silver medal: 2022

See also List of women's footballers with 100 or more international caps

References