Vegar Eggen Hedenstad

Hedenstad was born in Elverum Municipality and played for Elverum Fotball where he made his senior debut in the Third Division in 2006, at the age of 14 and became the youngest ever senior player at the team. At the age of 16, Hedenstad played on a team consisting of local talents in a show-match against HamKam, and HamKam's head coach Arne Erlandsen approached Hedenstad immediately after the match and stated that he wanted to sign him. However, Hedenstad signed for Stabæk and joined the club ahead of the 2008 season. Hedenstad made his debut in Tippeligaen on 7 June 2008 against Strømsgodset and made a total of three appearances during the 2008 season and became the second footballer from Elverum in the Bundesliga, after Terje Olsen who played for Bayer Leverkusen in the 1980s. Hedenstad made his debut in the Bundesliga when Freiburg lost 2–0 to Bayer Leverkusen on 1 September 2012. On 4 July 2014, Hedenstad joined Eintracht Braunschweig on a one-year loan deal. Hedenstad joined FC St. Pauli in the summer 2016. In February 2017 he joined Rosenborg. In December 2020 it was announced Hedenstad would leave Rosenborg after 4 seasons after his contract expired at the end of the year. On 5 January 2021, Hedenstad signed for Süper Lig club Fatih Karagümrük. ==International career==

Hedenstad has represented Norway at every level from under-15 to under-23, He was again called up for the friendly match against Hungary in October 2012. In the absence of John 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. ==Personal life==

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. 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. ==Career statistics==

Stabæk • Norwegian League: 2008 Rosenborg • Norwegian League: 2017, 2018 • Norwegian Football Cup: 2018 ==References==