_-_Norway_national_under-21_football_team_(01).jpg) Hedenstad withNorway U21 in 2011 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Vegar Eggen Hedenstad[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1991-06-26)26 June 1991 (age 34) | ||
| Place of birth | Elverum, Norway | ||
| Height | 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) | ||
| Position | Right-back | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Vålerenga | ||
| Number | 6 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Elverum | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2006–2007 | Elverum | ||
| 2008–2012 | Stabæk | 94 | (6) |
| 2012–2016 | SC Freiburg | 23 | (0) |
| 2012–2016 | SC Freiburg II | 9 | (0) |
| 2014–2015 | →Eintracht Braunschweig (loan) | 28 | (1) |
| 2016–2017 | FC St. Pauli | 15 | (0) |
| 2017–2020 | Rosenborg | 100 | (5) |
| 2021–2022 | Fatih Karagümrük | 32 | (1) |
| 2022– | Vålerenga | 73 | (4) |
| International career‡ | |||
| 2008 | Norway U17 | 13 | (2) |
| 2010 | Norway U19 | 5 | (0) |
| 2010–2013 | Norway U21 | 22 | (0) |
| 2011 | Norway U23 | 1 | (0) |
| 2012–2013 | Norway | 4 | (0) |
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 13 July 2025 ‡ National team caps and goals as of 15 June 2013 | |||
Vegar Eggen Hedenstad (born 26 June 1991) is a Norwegian professionalfootballer who plays as aright-back forNorwegian First Division clubVålerenga. Hedenstad has been capped at international level forNorway
Hedenstad was born inElverum Municipality[2] and played forElverum Fotball where he made his senior debut in theThird Division in 2006,[3] at the age of 14 and became the youngest ever senior player at the team.[4] At the age of 16, Hedenstad played on a team consisting of local talents in a show-match againstHamKam, and HamKam's head coachArne Erlandsen approached Hedenstad immediately after the match and stated that he wanted to sign him. However, Hedenstad signed forStabæk and joined the club ahead of the 2008 season.[5]
Hedenstad made his debut inTippeligaen on 7 June 2008 againstStrømsgodset and made a total of three appearances during the2008 season[2] when Stabæk wonTippeligaen, enough to earn him a championship-medal. The next season, Hedenstad was playing regularly on the team that finished third in Tippeligaen and won bronze-medals.[5]
On 17 July 2012, Hedenstad signed a four-year deal withBundesliga outfitSC Freiburg,[6] and became the second footballer from Elverum in the Bundesliga, afterTerje Olsen who played forBayer Leverkusen in the 1980s.[4] He was injured after five minutes in his first match for Freiburg, during the team's pre-season tour to Austria.[7] Hedenstad made his debut in the Bundesliga when Freiburg lost 2–0 to Bayer Leverkusen on 1 September 2012.[8]
On 4 July 2014, Hedenstad joinedEintracht Braunschweig on a one-year loan deal.[9]
Hedenstad joinedFC St. Pauli in the summer 2016.[10]
In February 2017 he joinedRosenborg. In December 2020 it was announced Hedenstad would leave Rosenborg after 4 seasons after his contract expired at the end of the year.[11]
On 5 January 2021, Hedenstad signed forSüper Lig clubFatih Karagümrük.[12]
Hedenstad has represented Norway at every level from under-15 tounder-23,[2] and was playing regularly as a right back for theunder-21 team in the2013 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship qualification, when the team qualified for the championship.
Hedenstad made his debut for the national team when he replacedLars Christopher Vilsvik at half time in a 1–1 friendly draw againstDenmark on 15 January 2012.[13] He was again called up for the friendly match againstHungary in October 2012.[14] In the absence ofJohn Arne Riise Hedenstad played the whole match on the left back to great acclaim, with the pundits stating that Hedenstad would soon replace Riise as Norway's regular starting left-back.[15]
In January 2009, after his girlfriend Charlotte received news that she was dying of cancer and only had a few months left to live, Hedenstad took a break from professional football. Only 17 at the time, he later described those last few months with her as "fantastic", because they were able to spend them together.[4][16] In May 2012, Hedenstad experienced another tragic death, when his teammate at Stabæk,Tor Marius Gromstad, died at the age of 22 from an accidental fall at a construction site.[4]
| Club | Season | League | National Cup | Europe | Other | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Stabæk | 2008 | Tippeligaen | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 4 | 0 | ||
| 2009 | 22 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 6 | 0 | – | 33 | 1 | |||
| 2010 | 27 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | – | 31 | 1 | |||
| 2011 | 28 | 2 | 2 | 0 | – | – | 30 | 2 | ||||
| 2012 | 14 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | – | 19 | 2 | |||
| Total | 94 | 6 | 13 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 117 | 6 | ||
| SC Freiburg | 2012–13 | Bundesliga | 16 | 0 | 4 | 0 | – | – | 20 | 0 | ||
| 2013–14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | 1 | 0 | |||
| 2015–16 | 2. Bundesliga | 7 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 8 | 0 | |||
| Total | 23 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 29 | 0 | ||
| Eintracht Braunschweig (loan) | 2014–15 | 2. Bundesliga | 28 | 1 | 2 | 0 | – | – | 30 | 1 | ||
| FC St. Pauli | 2016–17 | 2. Bundesliga | 15 | 0 | 1 | 1 | – | – | 16 | 1 | ||
| Rosenborg | 2017 | Eliteserien | 27 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 38 | 3 |
| 2018 | 27 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 12 | 0 | – | 43 | 0 | |||
| 2019 | 27 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 13 | 0 | – | 44 | 2 | |||
| 2020 | 19 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | – | 23 | 1 | |||
| Total | 100 | 5 | 8 | 0 | 39 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 148 | 6 | ||
| Fatih Karagümrük | 2020–21 | Süper Lig | 18 | 1 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 18 | 1 | ||
| 2021–22 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 14 | 0 | ||||
| Total | 32 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 32 | 1 | ||
| Vålerenga | 2022 | Eliteserien | 27 | 2 | 3 | 0 | – | – | 30 | 2 | ||
| 2023 | 12 | 0 | 3 | 0 | – | – | 15 | 0 | ||||
| 2024 | OBOS-ligaen | 28 | 2 | 3 | 2 | – | – | 31 | 4 | |||
| 2025 | Eliteserien | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 7 | 0 | |||
| Total | 73 | 4 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 83 | 6 | ||
| Career total | 365 | 17 | 39 | 3 | 50 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 455 | 21 | ||
Stabæk
Rosenborg
