Frode Birkeland
Frode Birkeland is a retired Norwegian football striker and later manager.
In his early career he played for Bergen-based minnows Minde, Varegg, Vadmyra and Lyngbø, also with a spell in larger club Sogndal in 1990. In 1996 he got a break anew, as he moved from Lyngbø to 1. divisjon club Åsane.
In 1997 he moved on to fellow second-tier club Eik-Tønsberg, then Lyn in 1999. With Lyn he managed promotion to 2001 Eliteserien. In 2001 he also had a trial with Sheffield United, and was allegedly close to a contract, but then Paul Peschisolido and Carl Asaba returned from injury and the transfer fell through. Birkeland instead moved on to Lillestrøm in mid-2002, Hamarkameratene in 2003 and Kongsvinger in mid-2004. He retired from professional football after the 2005 season, but featured for minnows Hamar IL.
He started his coaching career in 2006 for the B team of HamKam, then coached Gjøvik-Lyn in 2007. After one year he was picked up by Lillestrøm and put in charge of their B team. From 2010 through 2012 he was the head coach of Drøbak-Frogn, achieving promotion from 3. divisjon, and from 2013 through 2016 he worked for Hønefoss, both as goalkeeping coach and assistant manager. In 2017 he signed a one-year contract as assistant coach to Magnus Powell in Levanger FK. Seeing the contract through, he moved south to become goalkeeper coach of IK Start in 2018.
