 Grytebust in 2013 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Sten Michael Grytebust[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1989-10-25)25 October 1989 (age 36) | ||
| Place of birth | Ålesund, Norway | ||
| Height | 1.87 m (6 ft 2 in) | ||
| Position | Goalkeeper | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Ellingsøy IL | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2009–2016 | Aalesund | 148 | (0) |
| 2016–2019 | OB | 114 | (0) |
| 2019–2022 | Copenhagen | 16 | (0) |
| 2021 | →Vejle (loan) | 10 | (0) |
| 2022–2025 | Aalesund | 105 | (0) |
| International career‡ | |||
| 2006 | Norway U17 | 2 | (0) |
| 2007 | Norway U18 | 5 | (0) |
| 2008 | Norway U19 | 1 | (0) |
| 2008–2010 | Norway U21 | 3 | (0) |
| 2011-2013 | Norway U23 | 2 | (0) |
| 2013–2022 | Norway | 5 | (0) |
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 9 November 2025 ‡ National team caps and goals as of 7 November 2022 | |||
Sten Michael Grytebust (born 25 October 1989) is a Norwegian professional formerfootballer who plays as agoalkeeper.
He previously played forAalesunds FK in the NorwegianTippeligaen and, until the end of the2018–19 season, forOdense Boldklub in Denmark. He made his debut for theNorway national team in 2013.
Born inÅlesund in western Norway,[2] Grytebust was raised on the adjacent island ofEllingsøy. His father is a native of Ellingsøy and his mother isLiberian[3] and Grytebust has described former Liberian internationalGeorge Weah as his idol growing up.[4]
Grytebust did not originally play as a goalkeeper, but as a teenager deputised in goal when his team's goalkeeper was injured. A good performance led to him becoming the first-choice goalkeeper for the side. In 2004, aged 15 he was approached byAalesunds FK, but chose to play for Ellingsøy IL's first-team in the Norwegianfourth tier before joining Aalesund's youth team one year later.[5] After two season in the youth setup, Grytebust joined Aalesund's first team ahead of the 2008 season.[6]
After joining Aalesund's first-team squad, the young Grytebust was the third-choice goalkeeper behindAdin Brown,Andreas Lie and laterAnders Lindegaard who joined the side on loan.[4] In August 2009, after Lindegaard's loan-spell ended the team's coaching staff decided to give Grytebust his first team debut in place of Lie. He made his debut against local rivalsMolde FK on 22 August 2009,[7] and delivered a good performance despite conceding three goals.[6] After his debut, Aalesund signed Lindegaard permanently and Lie left the team, leaving Grytebust as the second-choice goalkeeper for the following season. He played in the two first rounds of the2010 Norwegian Football Cup.[4]
Grytebust was told by the club during autumn 2009 that he would be the next first-choice goalkeeper at the club. After the 2010 season, Lindegaard was bought byManchester United and Grytebust was confirmed as the team's goalkeeper.[8] Lindegaard stated that he believed Grytebust was ready for the task, and was certain that he would play for theNorwegian national side one day.[6]
The 2011 season started poorly with Aalesund losing againstFredrikstad partly due to a bad goal kick by Grytebust,[9] but after his match-winning saves againstViking andStabæk, the team's head coachKjetil Rekdal also predicted Grytebust would be the next national team goalkeeper.[10] He delivered a stable performance throughout the season and was rewarded by being selected to theUnder-23 national team together with his teammatePeter Orry Larsen, despite neither of them knowing that such a team existed.[11] His performance also received praise from national team goalkeeping coachFrode Grodås who stated that Grytebust was "without weaknesses".[12] After ending the season with a victory in the2011 Norwegian Football Cup Final,[13] Grytebust was named "Aalesund player of the year" by the local paper,Sunnmørsposten alongsideDaniel Arnefjord.[5]
The 2012 season continued with Grytebust unchallenged as first-choice goalkeeper for Aalesund. Results varied and he received criticism when Aalesund were eliminated from the domestic cup in the fourth round againstSandefjord, with Grytebust being sloppy with a pass and conceding a goal.[14] Later, during a match againstSK Brann, he was again careless with a goal-kick, which ended with another goal conceded.[15] In August the club reported that it had re-signed Andreas Lie as a back-up keeper,[16] with Lie stating that he was keen to "play for a permanent spot".[17]
Grytebust left Aalesund in February 2016, joining Danish Superliga clubOdense BK on a free transfer.[18] He was voted Danish goalkeeper of the year in both 2017 and 2018 before joiningFC København, again on a free transfer in May 2019, having opted not to sign a new contract at Odense. On 31 August 2021, Grytebust was loaned out toVejle Boldklub for the 2021–22 season.[19]
On 15 February 2022, Grytebust returned toAalesund on a two-year contract.[20]
In December 2023, Aalesund announced that Grytebyst had extended his contract for an additional season, after the club got relegated from the Eliteserien the season prior.[21]
Grytebust was first called up for theNorway national team in June 2013, and made his debut a friendly match againstMacedonia on 11 June 2013 when he replacedAndré Hansen a couple of minutes before full-time. He became the 150th playerEgil "Drillo" Olsen used during his two spells as national team coach.[22]
| Club | Season | League | National Cup[a] | Europe | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Aalesund | 2009 | Tippeligaen | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 1 | 0 | |
| 2010 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | |||
| 2011 | 30 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 6[b] | 0 | 41 | 0 | ||
| 2012 | 30 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4[b] | 0 | 35 | 0 | ||
| 2013 | 30 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | 31 | 0 | |||
| 2014 | 30 | 0 | 4 | 0 | – | 34 | 0 | |||
| 2015 | 27 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 27 | 0 | |||
| Total | 148 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 169 | 0 | ||
| OB | 2015–16 | Danish Superliga | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 15 | 0 | |
| 2016–17 | 30 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 30 | 0 | |||
| 2017–18 | 34 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | 35 | 0 | |||
| 2018–19 | 35 | 0 | 3 | 0 | – | 38 | 0 | |||
| Total | 114 | 0 | 4 | 0 | – | 118 | 0 | |||
| Copenhagen | 2019–20 | Danish Superliga | 7 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5[c] | 0 | 14 | 0 |
| 2020–21 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 | ||
| Total | 16 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 23 | 0 | ||
| Vejle (loan) | 2021–22 | Danish Superliga | 10 | 0 | 3 | 0 | – | 13 | 0 | |
| Total | 10 | 0 | 3 | 0 | – | 13 | 0 | |||
| Aalesunds | 2022 | Eliteserien | 30 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | 31 | 0 | |
| 2023 | 29 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | 30 | 0 | |||
| 2024 | 1. divisjon | 17 | 0 | 2 | 0 | – | 19 | 0 | ||
| 2025 | 29 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 29 | 0 | |||
| Total | 105 | 0 | 4 | 0 | – | 109 | 0 | |||
| Career total | 386 | 0 | 26 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 427 | 0 | ||
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Norway | 2013 | 1 | 0 |
| 2014 | 1 | 0 | |
| 2015 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2016 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2017 | 1 | 0 | |
| 2018 | 1 | 0 | |
| 2019 | 1 | 0 | |
| 2020 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2021 | 0 | 0 | |
| Total | 5 | 0 | |
Aalesund
