Frode Grodås

Frode Grodås (born 24 October 1964) is a Norwegian football coach and former national team goalkeeper. Capped 50 times for his country,^[5] he participated at the 1998 FIFA World Cup as well as being an unused substitute at the 1994 FIFA World Cup.

Frode Grodås

Grodås in 2008 as Lillestrøm coach
Personal information
Full name	Frode Grodås[1]
Date of birth	(1964-10-24) 24 October 1964 (age 60)[2]
Place of birth	Volda, Norway[3]
Height	1.87 m (6 ft 2 in)[2]
Position(s)	Goalkeeper
Team information
Current team	AGF (goalkeeping coach) Norway (goalkeeping coach)
Youth career
0000–1982	Hornindal
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1982–1986	Sogndal		(0)
1987–1996	Lillestrøm	182	(1)
1996–1998	Chelsea	21	(0)
1998	Tottenham Hotspur	0	(0)
1998–2002	Schalke 04	3	(0)
1999	→ Racing Santander (loan)	6	(0)
2002–2003	Hønefoss	49	(0)
2007	Lillestrøm	0	(0)
International career
1981	Norway U-16[4]	2	(0)
1982	Norway U-19[4]	3	(0)
1989	Norway U-21[4]	5	(0)
1991–2002	Norway	50	(0)
Managerial career
2006	HamKam
2007–2010	Lillestrøm (goalkeeping coach)
2010–	Norway (goalkeeping coach)
2024	AGF (goalkeeping coach)
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

Early life

Originally from Hornindal Municipality in Sogn og Fjordane, Grodås was born in Volda, Norway.^[3]

Playing career

During his career he played for several Norwegian clubs. After his ten-year spell^[6] at Lillestrøm he spent six years abroad, in England, Germany and Spain. He won the English FA Cup in 1997 with Chelsea,^[3] keeping a clean sheet in a 2–0 win in the final. He rounded off his career with Norwegian Division One team Hønefoss.

Grodås was last capped in 2002, aged 37 years and 318 days, and is the fourth oldest player at the Norwegian national team.^[7]

Coaching career

He has education from the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences.^[8] After retiring as a player, Grodås received the highest level of football coach education in Norway and took over HamKam from 1 December 2005. However, Grodås couldn't deliver the results, and Ham-Kam was relegated. Grodås was fired on 7 November 2006.

In December 2006, Grodås signed a three-year contract with Lillestrøm as a goalkeeper-coach. Grodås is then back in what he regards as his home club. He has also acted as the third-choice goalkeeper for the club. In June 2007 Lillestrøm's first-choice goalkeeper Heinz Müller received a two match suspension after hitting Geir Ludvig Fevang with his left knee. As a result of this, Grodås sat on the substitute bench as backup goalie during the Tippeliga-match against Sandefjord later that month. He returned to the bench in August 2007 after an injury to Müller.

After Lillestrøm manager Tom Nordlie had resigned on 29 May 2008, Grodås stepped in as caretaker together with former Chelsea teammate Erland Johnsen.

In 2010, Grodås ended his term with Lillestrøm in a mutual agreement and took over as goalkeeper-coach for the Norwegian national team. On 8 January 2024, Grodås signed a short contract with Danish Superliga club AGF until the summer of 2024. He would continue to fulfill his position on the Norwegian national team at the same time.^[9]

Personal life

Grodås' son, Victor Grodås, is also a footballer, playing for Hødd from Ulsteinvik.^[10]

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition^{[11][12][13][14]}

Season	Club	League			National cup[a]		League cup[b]		Europe		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Lillestrøm	1986	1. divisjon	0	0	0	0	–		0	0	–		0	0
	1987		0	0	0	0	–		0	0	–		0	0
	1988		22	0	3	0	–		–		–		25	0
	1989		22	0	6	0	–		2	0	–		30	0
	1990		7	0	2	0	–		0	0	0[c]	0	9	0
	1991	Tippeligaen	22	1	6	0	–		–		–		28	1
	1992		22	0	7	0	–		–		–		29	0
	1993		19	0	4	0	–		4	0	–		27	0
	1994		22	0	3	0	–		4	0	–		29	0
	1995		25	0	7	0	–		4	0	–		36	0
	1996		21	0	3	0	–		3	0	–		27	0
	Total		182	1	41	0	0	0	17	0	0	0	240	1
Chelsea	1996–97	Premier League	21	0	5	0	1	0	–		–		27	0
	1997–98		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	–		0	0
	Total		21	0	5	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	27	0
Tottenham Hotspur	1997–98	Premier League	0	0	0	0	0	0	–		–		0	0
Schalke 04	1998–99	Bundesliga	2	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	–		4	0
	1999–2000		0	0	0	0	0	0	–		–		0	0
	2000–01		1	0	0	0	0	0	–		–		1	0
	2001–02		0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	–		1	0
	Total		3	0	1	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	6	0
Racing Santander (loan)	1998–99	La Liga	6	0	0	0	–		–		–		6	0
Hønefoss	2002	1. divisjon	19	0	1	0	–		–		–		20	0
	2003		30	0	3	0	–		–		–		33	0
	Total		49	0	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	53	0
Career total			322	1	51	0	3	0	17	0	0	0	393	1

1. Includes Norwegian Cup, FA Cup, DFB-Pokal, Copa del Rey.
2. Includes League Cup, DFB-Ligapokal.
3. League play-offs

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year^[15]

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Norway	1991	1	0
	1992	6	0
	1993	2	0
	1994	6	0
	1995	5	0
	1996	7	0
	1997	8	0
	1998	12	0
	1999	1	0
	2000	0	0
	2001	0	0
	2002	2	0
Total		50	0

Honours

Lillestrøm

• 1. divisjon: 1989^{[citation needed]}
• Norwegian Football Cup runner-up: 1992^[16]

Chelsea

• FA Cup: 1996–97^[17]

Schalke 04

• DFB-Pokal: 2000–01, 2001–02^{[citation needed]}
• DFB-Ligapokal runner-up: 2001^{[citation needed]}

Individual

• Kniksen Award Goalkeeper of the Year: 1991, 1993^{[citation needed]}
• VG Goalkeeper of the Year: 1993^{[citation needed]}
• Romerikes Blad Athlete of the Year: 1993^{[citation needed]}