Norway stalwart Gulbrandsen retires

Norway playmaker Solveig Gulbrandsen has announced her retirement from football at the age of 29.

Gulbrandsen capped her career last weekend by helping Stabæk Fotball clinch their first Norwegian title, unbeaten, with a 3-0 defeat of SK Trondheims-Ørn, and plans for Saturday's match at Amazon Grimstad FK to be her last. Her final act at international level was to aid her country to the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup finals.

The daughter of former footballer Terje Gulbrandsen, she told UEFA.com: "I didn't have the motivation to play for one more season. There is a World Cup, I know, but I have been there before, and felt that I was finished with football now.

"My motivation may come back after some time, but now I want to spend more time with my husband, Espen, and my four-year old son, Theodor," added Gulbrandsen, who has already started working in the car business. "I do also have ambitions when it comes to coaching, so I don't see myself saying goodbye to football forever."

The midfielder made her Norway debut aged 17 in 1998 and won 154 caps, scoring 47 goals. She played at three World Cups, three UEFA European Women's Championships – reaching the 2005 final – and two Olympic Games, taking gold in 2000.

"If I have to pick out some highlights from my international career, two things stand out," Gulbrandsen said. "It was an incredible experience to win Olympic gold in Sydney in 2000, but for me, EURO 2005 in England was also a highlight. I was more of an established part of the side, and scored some important goals."

At club level she spent most of her career with Kolbotn IL, in a ten-year spell helping them to promotion, three Norwegian titles and a UEFA Women's Cup semi-final. She switched to the newly-formed Stabæk in 2009, returning earlier this year after a brief spell with FC Gold Pride in the United States.