Frode Kippe

Frode Kippe (born 17 January 1978) is a Norwegian former professional footballer who played as a central defender, mostly for Lillestrøm in the Eliteserien. He made eight appearances for the Norway national team. With 441 top division appearances, Kippe has made the third-highest number of appearances in Eliteserien.

Frode Kippe

Kippe with Lillestrøm in 2008
Personal information
Date of birth	(1978-01-17) 17 January 1978 (age 47)[1]
Place of birth	Oslo, Norway
Height	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)[1]
Position(s)	Central defender
Team information
Current team	Lillestrøm (assistant manager)
Youth career
	Kolbotn
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1997–1998	Lillestrøm	33	(2)
1998–2002	Liverpool	0	(0)
1999–2000	→ Stoke City (loan)	15	(1)
2000–2001	→ Stoke City (loan)	19	(0)
2002–2019	Lillestrøm	408	(42)
2020	Lillestrøm	3	(0)
2021	Kolbotn	6	(3)
Total		475	(45)
International career
1997–1999	Norway U21	27	(1)
1998	Norway U23	3	(0)
2003–2008	Norway	8	(0)
Managerial career
2020–	Lillestrøm (player developer)
2023–	Lillestrøm (assistant)
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

Career

Kippe started his career playing amateur football for Kolbotn, but moved to top-flight side Lillestrøm at the age of 19 to play professionally. At the end of the 1998 season Kippe was signed by English Premier League club Liverpool. At Anfield he was restricted to just two substitute appearances in the League Cup against Hull City^[2] and Grimsby Town.^[3] Kippe instead spent time out on loan at Stoke City where he linked up with a number of Scandinavian players.^[4] He played 20 times for Stoke in 1999–2000 scoring against Preston North End and returned in 2000–01 where he played 24 times.^[4] Kippe returned to Norway in 2002 and re-signed for Lillestrøm where he was made club captain and led the team to victory in the 2007 Norwegian Cup Final and the 2017 Norwegian Cup Final, where he even scored a goal.^[4] On 23 October 2019, Kippe announced that he would retire as player at the end of the 2019 season.^[5]

On 4 November 2020, Kippe made comeback for Lillestrøm.^[6] He then played a handful of games for Kolbotn in the 2021 4. divisjon.^[7]

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition^[8]

Season	Club	League			Cup		Europe		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Lillestrøm	1997	Tippeligaen	9	0	0	0	4[a]	0	—		13	0
	1998		24	2	0	0	—		—		24	2
	Total		33	2	0	0	4	0	—	—	37	2
Liverpool	1999–2000	Premier League	0	0	1	0	0	0	—		1	0
	2001–02		0	0	1	0	0	0	—		1	0
	Total		0	0	2	0	0	0	—	—	2	0
Stoke City (loan)	1999–2000	Second Division	15	1	0	0	—		5[b]	0	20	1
	2000–01		19	0	0	0	—		5[c]	0	24	0
	Total		34	1	0	0	—	—	10	0	44	1
Lillestrøm	2002	Tippeligaen	15	1	2	2	2[d]	0	—		19	3
	2003		25	5	4	3	—		—		29	8
	2004		23	2	6	0	—		—		29	2
	2005		19	1	7	1	—		4[e]	1	30	3
	2006		25	3	3	1	1[f]	0	10[g]	1	39	5
	2007		18	0	6	2	1[h]	0	1[i]	0	25	2
	2008		23	1	2	0	2[j]	1	—		27	2
	2009		28	5	4	1	—		—		32	6
	2010		30	7	3	0	—		—		33	7
	2011		25	3	4	1	—		—		29	4
	2012		22	2	4	2	—		—		26	4
	2013		24	2	5	0	—		—		29	2
	2014		19	3	3	0	—		—		22	3
	2015		24	1	0	0	—		—		24	1
	2016		22	1	2	0	—		—		24	1
	2017	Eliteserien	24	5	6	1	—		—		30	6
	2018		26	0	3	0	2	0	1[k]	0	32	0
	2019		16	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	16	0
	2020	1. divisjon	3	0	—		—		—		3	0
	Total		411	42	64	16	12	1	16	2	503	61
Career total			478	45	66	18	12	1	26	2	582	66

1. Appearances in the UEFA Cup qualifying rounds
2. Appearances in the Football League Trophy
3. Three appearances in the Football League Trophy and two in the Second Division play-offs
4. Appearances in the UEFA Champions League qualifying rounds
5. Appearances in the Royal League group stage
6. Appearance in the Intertoto Cup
7. Two appearances in the 2005–06 Royal League group stage, two appearances in the 2005–06 Royal League knockout stages and six appearances in the 2006–07 Royal League group stage
8. Appearance in the UEFA Cup qualifying rounds
9. Appearance in the 2006–07 Royal League quarter-final
10. Appearances in the UEFA Cup qualifying rounds
11. Mesterfinalen vs. Rosenborg

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year^[9]

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Norway	2003	1	0
	2005	3	0
	2006	2	0
	2007	1	0
	2008	1	0
Total		8	0

Managerial career

Following his retirement after the 2019 season, Kippe was hired as a player developer in Lillestrøm, serving under the head of player development Antoni Ordinas.^[10] When Simon Mesfin became interim manager in the summer of 2023, Kippe was promoted to assistant manager.^[11]

Honours

Lillestrøm

• Norwegian Cup: 2007, 2017

Individual

• Kniksen award: Defender of the Year in 2007