2011 SK Brann season explained

Club:	Brann
Season:	2011
Manager:	Rune Skarsfjord
Stadium:	Brann Stadion
League:	Tippeligaen
League Result:	4th
Cup1:	Norwegian Cup
Cup1 Result:	Runners-up
League Topscorer:	Kim Ojo (15)
Season Topscorer:	Kim Ojo (18)
Prevseason:	2010
Nextseason:	2012

The 2011 season was SK Brann's 103rd season and their 25th consecutive season in the Tippeligaen.

Information

Head coach	Rune Skarsfjord
League	Tippeligaen
Shirt supplier	Kappa
Shirt sponsor	Sparebanken Vest
Average league attendance	12977 (-5,58%)
League result	4th
Norwegian Cup	Finale (1-2 against Aalesunds FK)
Top goalscorer	Kim Ojo (15 in league, 3 in cup, 18 in total)
Player of the year	Rudolph Austin

Season events

• January 6: Brann signed the Polish goalkeeper Piotr Leciejewski in a trade deal that sent Kenneth Udjus and Cato Hansen to the newly promoted Tippeligaen club Sogndal
• January 13: Zsolt Korcsmár signed a three-year deal with Brann. The Hungarian center back spent the last half of the 2010 season on loan at Brann Stadion.
• January 14: Christian Kalvenes signed a one-year extension to his contract. The local lad started his third spell with the club in June 2010 after a free transfer from Burnley.^[1]
• January 26: Brann signed Juninho on a 6-month loan deal. The young Brazilian spent the last half of the 2010 season on loan at the club.
• January 31: Erik Huseklepp was sold to the Serie A club Bari while Tijan Jaiteh went on a one-year loan to Danish side Randers.
• February 24: Brann signed Chukwuma "Bentley" Akabueze on a four-year deal. The young Nigerian spent four seasons at Odd Grenland before transferring to Brann.
• February 8: Brann signed Nicolás Mezquida on a five-month loan deal from the Uruguayan champions C.A. Peñarol.
• March 11: Erik Mjelde was announced as Brann's new Captain. The midfielder took over the armband from goalkeeper Håkon Opdal.^[2]
• March 17: Brann announced the club's youth squad for the 2011 season. The five junior players are allowed to play up to three matches in the Premiership without a professional contract and the club does not have to pay training compensations (link) to the players former clubs.^[3] This was a new rule set by the Norwegian FA to make it easier for clubs to utilise young national players on the highest level of Norwegian football.
• March 20: Brann opened the season with a 2-1 upset win against reigning champions Rosenborg. While Rosenborg were considered contenderes for the title by most experts before the season, Brann was deemed to have a tough season by most pundits, and many considered them relegation bound after losing key players like Erik Huseklepp, Petter Vaagan Moen and Jan Gunnar Solli and replacing them with Bosman players and youngsters. Kim Ojo scored and made an assist in his debut.^[4]
• July 6: Brann signed Tadas Labukas on a six-month contract. The Lithuanian striker came on a free transfer from Arka Gdynia.^[5]
• July 13: Nicolás Mezquida returned to C.A. Peñarol after Brann opted not to extend his loan deal.^[6]
• July 15: Juninho returned to Desportivo Brasil after spending six months on loan at Brann.^[7]
• July 18: Brann signed Maximiliano Bajter on a six-month loan deal from C.A. Peñarol.^[8]

Squad

Youth squad

Five players without professional contracts who are allowed to play three league matches each season for the first team.

Team kit

The team kits for the 2011 season are produced by Kappa and the main shirt sponsor is Sparebanken Vest. Other sponsors featured on the kit are BKK (shoulders), JM (chest), AXA (left arm), Chess (upper back), Norne Securities (front of shorts), Coop Obs! (back of shorts) and Tide (socks). As of the 2011 season the Norwegian FA has made it compulsory for all Premiership teams to feature player names on the back of the shirts. On Brann's shirts the player's names are printed below the squad number.

Transfers

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Players in Only first team squad transfers Winter 2010/11 Lars Grorud from Sogndal.^[9] Fredrik Haugen from Løv-Ham.^[10] Carl-Erik Torp from Kongsvinger.^[11] Kim Ojo from Nybergsund-Trysil.^[12] Piotr Leciejewski from Sogndal.^[13] Zsolt Korcsmár from Újpest.^[14] Juninho from Desportivo Brasil (loan).^[15] Chukwuma "Bentley" Akabueze from Odd Grenland.^[16] Nicolás Mezquida from C.A. Peñarol (loan).^[17] Summer 2010/11 Tadas Labukas from Arka Gdynia. Maximiliano Bajter from C.A. Peñarol (loan).

width=50% valign=top

Players out Only first team squad transfers Winter 2010/11 Cato Guntveit retired from professional football.^[18] Eirik Bakke to Sogndal.^[19] David Nielsen retired.^[20] Gylfi Einarsson to Fylkir.^[21] Jan Gunnar Solli to New York Red Bulls.^[22] Petter Vaagan Moen to Queens Park Rangers.^[23] Matias Møvik to Løv-Ham.^[24] Kenneth Udjus to Sogndal. Cato Hansen to Sogndal. Erik Huseklepp to Bari.^[25] Tijan Jaiteh to Randers (loan).^[26] Summer 2010/11 Nicolás Mezquida to C.A. Peñarol (loan return). Juninho to Desportivo Brasil (loan return).

Competitions

Tippeligaen

See main article: 2011 Tippeligaen.

Table

Norwegian Cup

See main article: 2011 Norwegian Football Cup.

Notes and References

1. News: Kalvenes: - Har mye å bidra med . no . brann.no . 2011-01-14 . 2011-01-16 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110117031511/http://www.brann.no/nyheter/kalvenes-har-mye-a-bidra-med/ . 2011-01-17 . dead .
2. News: Mjelde: – Spesielt å få bære bindet i Brann . no . tv2sporten.no . 2011-03-12 .
3. News: Her er Branns "ungdomsliste" . no . brann.no . 2011-03-17 . 2011-03-19 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110318225436/http://www.brann.no/nyheter/her-er-branns-ungdomsliste/ . 2011-03-18 . dead .
4. News: Har Brann skutt gullfuglen? . no . nettavisen.no . 2011-03-20 .
5. News: Labukas klar for Brann . no . aftenposten.no . 2011-07-06 . 2011-09-22 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120322004222/http://fotball.aftenposten.no/eliteserien/article204707.ece . 2012-03-22 . dead .
6. News: Mezquida sendes hjem . no . aftenposten.no . 2011-07-13 . 2011-09-22 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120404094259/http://fotball.aftenposten.no/eliteserien/article205122.ece . 2012-04-04 . dead .
7. News: Juninho reiste hjem til Brasil . no . smp.no . 2011-07-15 .
8. News: Bajter til Brann som midtbaneanker . no . aftenposten.no . 2011-07-18 . 2011-09-22 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110901194543/http://fotball.aftenposten.no/eliteserien/article205462.ece . 2011-09-01 . dead .
9. News: Sogndal-kaptein blir Brann-spiller . no . brann.no . 2010-09-15 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20100918004954/http://www.brann.no/nyheter/sogndal-kaptein-blir-brann-spiller/ . 2010-09-18 .
10. News: Haugen blir Brann-spiller . no . brann.no . 2010-08-10 . 2010-11-09 . 2010-09-07 . https://web.archive.org/web/20100907091731/http://www.brann.no/nyheter/haugen-blir-brann-spiller/ . dead .
11. News: Klar for Brann . no . nettavisen.no . 2010-11-11 . 2010-11-12 . https://web.archive.org/web/20101112191656/http://www.nettavisen.no/sport/fotball/tippeligaen/article3025836.ece . 2010-11-12 . dead .
12. News: Kim Ojo signerte for Brann . no . brann.no . 2010-12-08 . 2010-12-08 . 2010-12-11 . https://web.archive.org/web/20101211061022/http://www.brann.no/nyheter/kim-ojo-signerte-for-brann/ . dead .
13. News: Ny start for Hansen og Udjus . no . brann.no . 2011-01-06 . 2011-01-08 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110110085242/http://www.brann.no/nyheter/ny-start-for-hansen-og-udjus/ . 2011-01-10 . dead .
14. News: Zsolt: - Jeg ville tilbake til Brann . no . brann.no . 2011-01-14 . 2011-01-16 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110117031530/http://www.brann.no/nyheter/zsolt-jeg-ville-tilbake-til-brann/ . 2011-01-17 . dead .
15. News: Juninho klar for Brann . no . ba.no . 2011-01-26 .
16. News: Bentley har signert for Brann . no . brann.no . 2011-02-24 . 2011-02-24 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110227153709/http://www.brann.no/nyheter/bentley-har-signert-for-brann/ . 2011-02-27 . dead .
17. News: Spiss fra Uruguay på lån . no . brann.no . 2011-03-08 . 2011-03-08 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110310170217/http://www.brann.no/nyheter/spiss-fra-uruguay-pa-lan/ . 2011-03-10 . dead .
18. News: Legger opp – går til sivil jobb . no . brann.no . 2010-10-21 . 2010-11-09 . https://web.archive.org/web/20101027152129/http://www.brann.no/nyheter/legger-opp-gar-til-sivil-job/ . 2010-10-27 . dead .
19. News: – Bakke har fått for mye pes . no . aftenposten.no . 2010-10-26 . 2010-11-09 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120322002812/http://fotball.aftenposten.no/forstediv/article183990.ece/ . 2012-03-22 . dead .
20. News: Nielsen forlenger med Brann – og blir trener . no . tv2sporten.no . 2010-07-30 . 2010-11-09 . https://web.archive.org/web/20100731152219/http://msn.tv2sporten.no/fotball/tippeligaen/nielsen-forlenger-med-brann-og-blir-trener-3256842.html . 2010-07-31 . dead .
21. News: Nok en midtbanespiller forlater Brann. no . tv2sporten.no . 2010-10-27 .
22. News: - Ville kjøpe meg for 25 millioner . no . nettavisen.no . 2010-09-15 . 2010-11-09 . https://web.archive.org/web/20101018035155/http://www.nettavisen.no/sport/fotball/tippeligaen/article3006082.ece . 2010-10-18 . dead .
23. News: Vaagan Moen har signert for QPR . no . brann.no . 2010-11-11 . 2010-11-12 . https://web.archive.org/web/20101112190404/http://www.brann.no/nyheter/vaagan-moen-har-signert-for-qp/ . 2010-11-12 . dead .
24. News: Møvik ferdig i Brann . no . adressa.no . 2010-11-21 .
25. News: Huseklepp til Bari for 15,4 mill . no . dagbladet.no . 2011-01-31 .
26. News: Jaiteh goes on loan to Denmark . brann.no . 2011-01-31 . 2011-02-02 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110203071043/http://www.brann.no/english/jaiteh-goes-on-loan-to-denmark/ . 2011-02-03 . dead .