Before he arrived in England, Solskjær played for Norwegian clubs Clausenengen and Molde. He joined Manchester United in 1996 for a transfer fee of £1.5 million. Nicknamed "The Baby-faced Assassin", he played 366 times for United, and scored 126 goals during a successful period for the club. He was regarded as a "super sub" for his knack of coming off the substitute bench to score late goals. In injury time at the end of the 1999 UEFA Champions League Final, he scored the winning last-minute goal against Bayern Munich, with Manchester United having trailed 1–0 as the game passed 90 minutes, and winning The Treble for United.
In 2007, Solskjær announced his retirement from football after failing to recover from a serious knee injury.However, he remained at Manchester United in a coaching role as well as in an ambassadorial capacity. In 2008, Solskjær became the club's reserve team manager. He returned to his native country in 2011 to manage his former club, Molde, whom he led to their two first ever Tippeligaen titles in his first two seasons with the club. He secured a third title in as many seasons, when his team won the 2013 Norwegian Football Cup Final. In 2014, he served as manager of Cardiff City, during which the club were relegated from the Premier League.
He also supervises a training academy for young footballers in his home town of Kristiansund, and is a patron of the Manchester United Supporters' Trust.
Early Life
Solskjær was born in Kristiansund, Møre og Romsdal to Øyvind, a Greco-Roman wrestlingchampion,and Brita Solskjær. At age seven, Solskjær joined local football club Clausenengen,[9]who were in the 3. divisjon. Between the ages of eight and ten, Solskjær followed in his father's footsteps and trained as a Greco-Roman wrestler, but gave it up due to being tossed around too much.Between 1992 and 1993, Solskjær completed a mandatory year's national service in the Norwegian Army.
Early career at Clausenengen
Solskjær debuted for Clausenengen (CFK) at 17 years old in 1990. He participated in the Otta Cup, scoring seventeen goals in six matches. On 21 May 1993, CFK faced Molde in the Norwegian Football Cup, with Solskjær scoring Clausenengen's only goal in their 6–1 defeat. Clausenengen were promoted to the 2. divisjon in 1993, winning the 3. divisjon by 12 points. Solskjær's final season at the club was in 1994, with him scoring 31 of CFK's 47 goals,helping the club achieve a mid-table finish of sixth place. In Solskjær's five years playing for Clausenengen, he averaged more than a goal a game, scoring 115 goals in 109 matches.
Molde
In late 1994, ahead of the start of the next season, he was signed by Åge Hareide, manager of the first-tierclub Molde, for a fee of NOK200,000. On 22 April 1995, Solskjær made his debut for Molde against Brann, scoring twice in a 6–0 victory. In his second game on 29 April, Solskjær scored a hat-trick helping Molde 5–4 win over Viking. On 14 May, he scored another brace in a 2–1 win over Hamarkameratene.Two days later, he netted a hat-trick as Molde thrashed Hødd 7–2. Solskjær scored a penalty in Molde's 4–1 victory over Strindheim on 30 July.
On 10 August, Solskjær played in his first European competition, the qualification round for UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, against Belarussian team Dinamo-93 Minsk.Molde conceded in the first half but Solskjær managed to equalise in the 85th minute.He also scored in the second leg as Molde won 2–1 (3–2 on aggregate) and qualified for the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup proper.Molde were subsequently drawn against French team Paris Saint-Germain, Solskjær scored in the first leg on 14 September as the team lost 3–2 at Molde Stadion. He played in the away leg on 28 September but Molde were outmatched and lost 3–0. Molde finished the season in second place, runners-up to Rosenborg by 15 points.In Solskjær's first season at Molde, he scored 20 goals in 26 matches in the 1995 Tippeligaen.Solskjær also formed a good strike-partnership with fellow forwards, Arild Stavrum and Ole Bjørn Sundgot – leading to them being referred to as "The Three S's", due to their surnames.
1996 season
Solskjær began the 1996 Tippeligaen in defeat, losing 2–0 to Rosenborg. However in his next match on 21 April 1996 against Moss, he scored a hat-trick as Molde won 8–0.He scored a brace against Tromsø on 19 May in a 3–0 victory, and his goal-scoring form led to interest from Hamburg of Germany and Italian club Cagliari. Molde's then-manager, Åge Hareide, made Solskjær available to both Everton and Hareide's old club Manchester Cityfor £1.2 million.However, neither Everton nor City were willing to take a risk on Solskjær, and the interest from Hamburg and Cagliari fell through after Manchester United submitted a bid of £1.5 million during Euro 1996, which Molde accepted.Solskjær made his final appearance for Molde on 21 July 1996 in a 5–1 win against Start, scoring the fourth goal in the 85th minute, before throwing his shirt to the crowd in celebration and getting substituted off to applause. He finished his time at Molde with 41 goals in 54 games in all competitions.
Manchester United
Solskjær joined Manchester United under Alex Ferguson on 29 July 1996, and was something of a surprise acquisition as he was almost unknown outside his homeland and at the time United were still in the hunt for Blackburn Rovers and Englandstriker Alan Shearer, who then joined Newcastle United for a world record £15 million. As the only striker to arrive at Old Trafford that year, it was widely expected that his first season would be spent as a backup to Eric Cantona and Andy Cole with only occasional first team opportunities. But within weeks of his arrival it was clear that he would be a key part of the first team sooner than had been anticipated, and would also prove himself to be one of the biggest Premier League bargains of the season.
He was issued with the number 20 shirt for the 1996–97 season, a squad number he would retain for the rest of his Manchester United career. He scored six minutes into his debut as a substitute against Blackburn Rovers on 25 August 1996, after replacing David May in the 64th minute. Solskjær made his first start on 14 September in a 4–1 win against Nottingham Forest, scoring United's first goal in the 22nd minute.On 25 September, he netted his first European goal for Manchester United in their 2–0 win over Rapid Wien, opening the scoring in the 20th minute. He scored his first brace for United against Tottenham Hotspur on 29 September, scoring the only goals of the game in the 38th and 58th minutes. On 21 December, Solskjær scored his second brace of the season as United beat Sunderland 5–0, scoring in the 35th and 48th minutes.The Norwegian started in both of United's UEFA Champions League semi-final matches against Borussia Dortmund, which United lost 2–0 on aggregate to the eventual winners.He scored his third brace on 3 May 1997 against Leicester Cityin a 2–2 draw, netting in the 45th and 51st minutes. United clinched the title after Newcastle drew away at West Ham on 6 May, thus Solskjær won his first Premier League title.Solskjær scored 18 Premier League goals in 33 appearances (25 of which were starts) for United in his first season – the club's top goalscorer for that campaign. The British media nicknamed him the "Baby-faced Assassin" because of his youthful looks and his deadly finishing.
