Roger Nilsen is a Norwegian football coach and former defender

Defender (football)

Within the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to prevent the opposition from attacking....

. He played 32 matches and scored 3 goals for Norway

Norway national football team

The Norway national football team represents Norway in association football and is controlled by the Football Association of Norway, the governing body for football in Norway. Norway's home ground is Ullevaal Stadion in Oslo and their head coach is Egil Olsen...

, and was a part of the 1994 FIFA World Cup

1994 FIFA World Cup

The 1994 FIFA World Cup, the 15th staging of the FIFA World Cup, was held in nine cities across the United States from June 17 to July 17, 1994. The United States was chosen as the host by FIFA on July 4, 1988...

 squad.

His career began in Tromsø, and he moved on to Viking where he became league champion

Norwegian Soccer League Champions (Men)

The Norwegian football league champions are the winners of the highest-level football league in Norway. The League of Norway was competed three times with eleven conferences and play-offs from 1937–38 to 1947–48. It was then replaced by the two-conference Main League, which was replaced by the...

 in 1991

Norwegian Premier League 1991

The Tippeligaen 1991 is the highest Football league in Norway. 22 games are played with 3 points given for wins and 1 for draws. Number eleven and twelve are relegated...

. He was loaned to 1. FC Köln

1. FC Köln

1. FC Köln is a German association football club based in Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia. It was formed in 1948 as a merger of the clubs Kölner Ballspiel-Club 1901 and SpVgg Sülz 07....

, and soon got a permanent move to Sheffield United in England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. Nilsen is best remembered for his period there. Later he had unsuccessful spells with Tottenham Hotspur and Grazer AK

Grazer AK

Grazer AK, founded 18 August 1902 as Grazer Athletik-Sport Klub , is an Austrian sports club, from the city of Graz in the federal state of Styria . The football section is one of the most traditional Austrian clubs, most successful in the decade 1995 – 2005...

 before he returned home to play for Molde and Bryne. He left Bryne in 2003, but continued his career in the Norwegian third division with Stavanger IF

Stavanger IF Fotball

Stavanger IF Fotball, the football division of Stavanger Idrettsforening, is a football club from Stavanger, Norway. In 2011, they will play in the Third Division, the fourth tier of the Norwegian football league system. In Rogaland, they are simply known as Sif, and few people would refer to them...

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In 2006, he retired and took over as manager for Stavanger IF

Stavanger IF

Stavanger Idrettsforening was founded in 1905. SIF has both a football and a handball division.Stavanger IF Fotball, the football division of SIF, currently plays in the Adeccoligaen and has played in the top division "Hovedserien"...

, guiding the club to promotion to the second division. At the end of the season, Nilsen left the club to take up the Assistant Manager

Assistant Manager

An assistant manager is an employee of an organization with manager's authority. Examples of this position can be found in retail and other service businesses where the need to have more than one member of daily operations management is important....

 position at Viking in the Norwegian Premier League

Norwegian Premier League

Tippeligaen is a Norwegian professional league for association football clubs. At the top of the Norwegian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. The league is also unofficially known under its neutral name Eliteserien , although the name has never been official...

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Roger Nilsen is the brother of football player and manager Steinar Nilsen

Steinar Nilsen

Steinar Nilsen is a Norwegian football manager. He also had a long active playing career behind him, mainly as a defender, before he retired in 2004.-Career:Nilsen played for Tromsø IL between 1989 and 1997, before he was sold to AC Milan...

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