Ada Hegerberg


Ada Martine Stolsmo Hegerberg is a Norwegian professional footballer who plays as a striker for the Première Ligue club Lyon and captains the Norway national team. She is widely regarded as one of the greatest strikers of all time and one of the best footballers in the world.
Hegerberg has represented Norway at the youth international level, and made her debut for the senior team in 2011. In 2013, she was a part of the silver medalist team at the 2013 UEFA European Championship. She was on team Norway at the 2015 FIFA World Cup, the 2017 UEFA European Championship and the 2022 UEFA European Championship.
Hegerberg was awarded the 2016 UEFA Best Women's Player in Europe Award on 25 August 2016, and in 2017 and 2019 was named BBC Women's Footballer of the Year. In 2018 she was the first-ever recipient of the Ballon d'Or Féminin. She holds the record for most goals in a UEFA Women's Champions League season, and is currently the all-time highest goalscorer in UEFA Women's Champions League.
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Club career

Youth

Hegerberg was born in Molde, but grew up in Sunndalsøra where she played for Sunndal Fotball along with her older sister Andrine. In 2007, their family moved to Kolbotn, where the sisters later joined Kolbotn IL.

Kolbotn

She made her debut for Kolbotn in 2010. On 6 August 2011, she scored three goals in seven minutes as Røa were beaten 4–1, with Andrine scoring the last goal. Aged 16, this made her the youngest player ever to have scored a hat-trick in Toppserien. While still 16 years old, she finished as Kolbotn's top scorer in the 2011 Toppserien season and was voted as the league's Young Player of the Year.

Stabæk

Ahead of the 2012 season, both Hegerberg sisters joined Stabæk. During a match against Fart in May 2012, she scored five goals during the first half of Stabæk's 8–2 win. At this stage the sisters were considered to be two of the biggest talents in Norwegian women's football, and Ada won the Statoil "Talent of the Month" award for the second time in May 2012. She became top goalscorer in the 2012 Toppserien with 25 goals in 18 matches. She also contributed two goals in the semi-final of the 2012 Norwegian Women's Cup, when Amazon Grimstad were beaten 3–0. Stabæk's 4–0 final victory over Røa saw Hegerberg score a hat-trick.

Turbine Potsdam

In 2013, she and her sister signed contracts with the German side 1. FFC Turbine Potsdam until 30 June 2014, where they became teammates of their countrywoman Maren Mjelde. Hegerberg scored in her Bundesliga debut when SC Freiburg was beaten 3–1. In their first season in Germany, the Hegerbergs and Turbine finished second in both the 2012–13 Bundesliga and the 2012–13 DFB-Pokal.

Lyon

In the summer of 2014, she transferred to Lyon. Hegerberg had a very successful first season in France. She scored 26 goals in 22 league games, leading Lyon to a ninth consecutive Division 1 Féminine title. In the Coupe de France Féminine Final, Hegerberg scored the tying goal in the 47th minute, eventually culminating in a 2–1 victory over Montpellier.
2015–16 season
Hegerberg returned to Lyon for the 2015–16 campaign. On 27 September, she scored a hat-trick in Lyon's 5–0 victory against rival PSG. Hegerberg became the first player to score a hat-trick against PSG since Julie Morel in October 2008. In November, Hegerberg reached an agreement on a contract extension to stay with the club through the 2019 season. Lyon retained the league title for the tenth time in a row on 8 May 2016. Hegerberg finishing the season as the top scorer of the league with 33 goals in 21 appearances. One week later, Hegerberg secured the Coupe de France with Lyon. In UEFA Women's Champions League action, Lyon went on to win the competition behind Hegerberg's 13 goals in 9 matches, to complete a treble.
Ballon d'Or
On 3 December 2018, Hegerberg became the first ever winner of the Ballon d'Or Féminin. There was controversy during the ceremony, however, as the host, DJ Martin Solveig, asked Hegerberg upon receiving the award if she wanted to dance in celebration and "knew how to twerk", who in turn responded "no". His comments were criticized as sexist in the media; he later apologized for his remark. Regarding the incident, Hegerberg later commented: "He came to me afterwards and was really sad that it went that way. I didn’t really consider it sexual harassment or anything in the moment. I was just happy to do the dance and win the Ballon d’Or." Concerning her award, she also added: "It’s incredible. This is a great motivation to continue working hard and we will continue to work together to win more titles. I wanted to end with some words for young girls around the world: believe in yourselves." In a later interview, she said, "I know the importance of having role models to look up at," and called the decision of France Football to have a Ballon d'Or for women "a huge step forward".
2018–19 season
Head to head with Paris Saint-Germain all season long, Lyon crushed their rivals 5–0 on 13 April 2019, with a goal and an assist for Hegerberg, a major individual performance. Lyon secured the title ten days later. After scoring the only goal of the Coupe de France semi-final against Grenoble Foot 38, Hegerberg was involved in two of the three goals in the final against Lille OSC, winning yet another competition.On 18 May 2019, Hegerberg delivered a Player of the Match performance in the [2018–19 UEFA Women's Champions League|UEFA Women's Champions League|2019 UEFA Women's Champions League Final]. With a hat-trick in just 16 minutes, she became the first player to score three goals in a UWCL final. Lyon completed the treble against [FC FC Barcelona Femení|Barcelona Femení|Barcelona] with a 4–1 victory, winning a fourth UWCL trophy in a row, a unique performance in modern football. By the end of the season, Hegerberg had won 13 out of 15 trophies possible in her stay with Lyon.
Injury
On 30 October 2019, she became the UEFA Women's Champions League all-time top scorer, after scoring her 53rd goal in her 50th appearance.
Hegerberg sustained an injury before Lyon were due to play Stade de Reims on 26 January 2020. It was later confirmed via an MRI scan that she had ruptured her anterior cruciate ligament. On 28 January, the club announced that she would miss at least the remainder of the season. In the wake of the COVID-19 breakthrough, the season was stopped only a few weeks after.
On 18 December 2020, she signed a contract extension with Lyon keeping her at the club through June 2024. It was said in a later press release from the club that Hegerberg would not be available before the start of the 2021–22 season.
Comeback
On 5 October 2021, Hegerberg made her Lyon comeback after 21 months on the sideline, playing the final 12 minutes in Lyon's 3–0 win over BK Häcken in the opening match of the UEFA Champions League group stage. She scored her first goals post-injury on 14 November 2021, with a brace against arch-rival Paris Saint-Germain, in one of the biggest games in women's football.
In April 2022, she was instrumental in the qualification of her team to the final of the Champions League, being credited with an assist in a 3–2 victory at home against Paris Saint-Germain, and scoring the opening goal in a 2–1 win away, in a national record 43,000 fans at the Parc des Princes. In the final, she scored a goal and had an assist in a 3–1 win over Barcelona, to win her sixth title in the competition.
On 17 April 2024, Hegerberg extended her contract with Lyon until the summer of 2027.

International career

Youth

At the age of 15, Hegerberg was on team Norway under-19 that played at the 2011 UEFA U-19 Championship. She was also included in the squad for the final tournament, where Norway reached the final. Hegerberg was a member of the Norwegian team that reached the quarter-finals at the 2012 FIFA U-20 World Cup. She and Andrine scored the goals in a 2–1 win over Canada in the group stage.

Senior

She made her senior debut for Norway as a substitute in a 3–1 defeat to Northern Ireland in Lurgan on 19 November 2011.
Hegerberg made her championship debut on team Norway that played at the 2013 UEFA European Championship; a 1–1 draw with Iceland on 11 July 2013. She scored her first goal in the tournament as Spain were defeated 3–1 in the quarter-final and played the entire 90 minutes as Norway lost the final 1–0 to Germany.
Hegerberg was on team Norway at the 2015 World Cup. She scored three goals in three group stage games, highlighted by a two-goal performance in Norway 3–1 over Ivory Coast. Hegerberg was nominated for the Best Young Player Award for her efforts.
In January 2016, Hegerberg was awarded the 2015 Norwegian Gold Ball, given to the best footballer in Norway. The previous time it was awarded to a woman was 20 years earlier.
Protest
In the summer of 2017, Hegerberg decided to stop representing the national team as a form of protest due to a dispute with the NFF about how they treat women's football. Despite some improvements including the doubling of the remuneration pot for women, Hegerberg felt there was "still a long way to go" so has continued to refuse to be called up and missed the 2019 World Cup. She described her time with the national team "deeply depressing", giving her "nightmares", and leaving her "mentally broken".
Return
In March 2022, Hegerberg ended her five year exile from the national team. On her first game back on 7 April, Hegerberg scored a hat-trick in a 5–1 win against Kosovo in the 2023 World Cup qualification. A large influence in Hegerberg's decision to return to national play was the appointment of new NFF president Lise Klaveness, with whom Hegerberg spoke in depth about the vision of women's football moving forward.
On 19 June 2023, she was included in the 23-player Norwegian squad for the World Cup 2023. In the match against Switzerland she was in the starting lineup, but suffered a groin injury during warm-up sprints, and exited the field before the match began. She returned two games later, coming on as a 74th minute substitute for Caroline Graham Hansen in the Round of 16 against Japan, but the game was lost 3–1.
On 16 June 2025, Hegerberg was called up to the Norway squad for the UEFA Euro 2025.

Personal life

In June 2019, Hegerberg married Thomas Rogne.

Views on COVID-19 impact on football

In May 2020, in an online interview with ESPN, Hegerberg said that women's football would suffer due to COVID-19 because it is the sport's "weakest link". "We're kind of at the stage where we're still in need of that help and when you see football as a whole and the men's football is struggling you can also imagine yourself how the women's football is affected of this." Hegerberg stressed not losing track of women's football, especially as positives have emerged in terms of support for the game: "We need to raise our voices obviously to keep the subject warm."

Sponsors and media

Hegerberg is one of the most in-demand athletes in the world. After being awarded the Ballon d'Or in 2018, she became an ambassador for the watchmaker Hublot, as well as the financial technology company Mastercard. During the summer of 2019, after attending events such as the UEFA Champions League Final and the French Open for her sponsor Mastercard, she became the global ambassador of the Danone Nations Cup, the biggest international tournament of U12, for both girls and boys. In the summer of 2020, after six years collaborating with sports equipment supplier Puma, Nike and herself announced a long-term partnership. The American giant immediately elevated Hegerberg in multiple marketing campaigns, reinforcing its will to support activism, Hegerberg being known as a gender equality and sustainability activist.
Hegerberg has had a massive media impact over the past years, widely considered as the number one spokesperson for her sport, given the numerous interviews she gave for women's football.
On 19 November 2020, the US-based streaming platform ESPN+ published a documentary about Hegerberg: My Name is Ada Hegerberg.
Hegerberg has been named one of the most powerful women in sport by a number of media, including Sports Illustrated.

Career statistics

International

No.DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
16 March 2013Estádio Municipal Bela Vista, Parchal, Portugal2–02–02013 Algarve Cup
213 March 2013Municipal Stadium, Lagos, Portugal2–22–22013 Algarve Cup
36 April 2013Colovray Sports Centre, Nyon, Switzerland1–21–3Friendly
41 June 2013Linköping Arena, Linköping, Sweden1–01–2Friendly
522 July 2013Guldfågeln Arena, Kalmar, Sweden3–03–1UEFA Women's Euro 2013
614 January 2014La Manga Club Football Stadium, La Manga, Spain2–12–1Friendly
713 February 2014Komotini Municipal Stadium, Komotini, Greece3–05–02015 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification
810 April 2014Den Dreef, Leuven, Belgium2–02–12015 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification
914 June 2014Brann Stadion, Bergen, Norway1–06–02015 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification
1013 September 2014Niko Dovana Stadium, Durrës, Albania5–011–02015 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification
1113 September 2014Niko Dovana Stadium, Durrës, Albania6–011–02015 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification
1227 November 2014Randaberg Stadion, Randaberg, Norway2–02–0Friendly
1315 January 2015La Manga Club Football Stadium, La Manga, Spain1–03–1Friendly
1415 January 2015La Manga Club Football Stadium, La Manga, Spain2–13–1Friendly
154 March 2015VRSA Sports Complex, Vila Real de Santo António, Portugal1–01–22015 Algarve Cup
1623 May 2015Stayen, Sint-Truiden, Belgium2–22–3Friendly
177 June 2015TD Place Stadium, Ottawa, Canada4–04–02015 FIFA Women's World Cup
1815 June 2015Croix-Bleue Medavie Stadium, Moncton, Canada1–03–12015 FIFA Women's World Cup
1915 June 2015Croix-Bleue Medavie Stadium, Moncton, Canada2–03–12015 FIFA Women's World Cup
2017 September 2015Firhill Stadium, Glasgow, Scotland2–04–0Friendly
2122 September 2015Kazhymukan Munaitpasov Stadium, Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan1–04–02017 UEFA Women's Euro qualification
2222 September 2015Kazhymukan Munaitpasov Stadium, Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan2–04–02017 UEFA Women's Euro qualification
2323 October 2015Color Line Stadion, Ålesund, Norway2–04–02017 UEFA Women's Euro qualification
2422 January 2016La Manga Club Football Stadium, La Manga, Spain4–06–0Friendly
2522 January 2016La Manga Club Football Stadium, La Manga, Spain5–06–0Friendly
265 March 2016Sparta Stadion Het Kasteel, Rotterdam, Netherlands3–14–12016 UEFA Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament
275 March 2016Sparta Stadion Het Kasteel, Rotterdam, Netherlands4–14–12016 UEFA Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament
286 April 2016Ramat Gan Stadium, Ramat Gan, Israel1–01–02017 UEFA Women's Euro qualification
297 June 2016Newport Stadium, Newport, Wales1–02–02017 UEFA Women's Euro qualification
307 June 2016Newport Stadium, Newport, Wales2–02–02017 UEFA Women's Euro qualification
3115 September 2016Aker Stadion, Molde, Norway1–010–02017 UEFA Women's Euro qualification
3219 September 2016Høddvoll Stadion, Ulsteinvik, Norway1–05–02017 UEFA Women's Euro qualification
3319 September 2016Høddvoll Stadion, Ulsteinvik, Norway2–05–02017 UEFA Women's Euro qualification
3419 September 2016Høddvoll Stadion, Ulsteinvik, Norway3–05–02017 UEFA Women's Euro qualification
3529 November 2016Stadion an der Gellertstraße, Chemnitz, Germany1–01–1Friendly
3622 January 2017La Manga Club Football Stadium, La Manga, Spain1–01–0Friendly
371 March 2017Estádio Municipal Bela Vista, Parchal, Portugal1–01–12017 Algarve Cup
3810 April 2017Skagerak Arena, Skien, Norway1–02–1Friendly
397 April 2022Sandefjord Arena, Sandefjord, Norway1–05–12023 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification
407 April 2022Sandefjord Arena, Sandefjord, Norway2–05–12023 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification
417 April 2022Sandefjord Arena, Sandefjord, Norway4–15–12023 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification
4225 June 2022Ullevaal Stadion, Oslo, Norway1–02–0Friendly
436 April 2023Estadi Municipal de Can Misses, Ibiza, Spain1–12–4Friendly
441 December 2023Ullevaal Stadion, Oslo, Norway1–04–02023–24 UEFA Women's Nations League
451 December 2023Ullevaal Stadion, Oslo, Norway2–04–02023–24 UEFA Women's Nations League
461 December 2023Ullevaal Stadion, Oslo, Norway3–04–02023–24 UEFA Women's Nations League
4723 February 2024Opus Arena, Osijek, Croatia1–03–02023–24 UEFA Women's Nations League play-offs
4825 October 2024Loro Boriçi Stadium, Shkodër, Albania4–05–0UEFA Women's Euro 2025 qualifying play-offs
4929 October 2024Ullevaal Stadion, Oslo, Norway3–09–0UEFA Women's Euro 2025 qualifying play-offs
502 July 2025St. Jakob-Park, Basel, Switzerland1–12–1UEFA Women's Euro 2025
5116 July 2025Stade de Genève, Geneva, Switzerland1–11–2UEFA Women's Euro 2025
5228 November 2025Estadio Municipal de La Línea, La Línea, Spain3–13–1Friendly

Honours

Stabæk
Lyon
Norway
Individual
Records