Thorstein Helstad


Thorstein Helstad is a retired Norwegian footballer who played as a forward.

Career

Helstad was born in Hamar, and started his career in his local club FL Fart where he at age 16 scored two goals against Løten in 1993 that made the team win promotion to 3. Divisjon. He transferred to the local Norwegian First Division side HamKam, at the age of 18, and played for the club between 1995 and 1997. Helstad joined the Tippeligaen side Brann ahead of the 1998 season. He became one of the biggest stars in the team, and was Tippeliga top scorer in both 2000 and 2001 and won the Kniksen Award as the best striker in 2000. Helstad was sold to Austria Wien alongside Raymond Kvisvik, where he won both the Austrian Bundesliga, the Austrian Cup and the Austrian Supercup. After scoring 14 goals in 69 matches for the Austrian side, Helstad returned to Norway where he signed a four-year deal with Rosenborg.
With Steffen Iversen as the preferred striker, Helstad never managed to gain a regular spot in the first squad, but was often used a winger in a 4–3–3 system.
After scoring 24 goals in 58 matches, Helstad returned to Brann in June 2006. Since he transferred in the middle of the season he won both gold with Rosenborg and silver with Brann.
In July 2008, Brann accepted a €2 million bid for Helstad from French club Le Mans, where he was installed as their starting striker. Helstad scored 21 goals in 2010–11.
In June 2011, Helstad made a free transfer move to recently relegated and former Champions League finalist Monaco.

Career statistics

Club

International goals

#DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
116 August 2000Telia 5G -areena, Helsinki1–11–3Friendly
27 October 2000Millennium Stadium, Cardiff1–11–12002 FIFA World Cup qualification
324 January 2001Hong Kong Stadium, Hong Kong2–13–2Friendly
428 February 2001Windsor Park, Belfast1–04–0Friendly
5.28 February 2001Windsor Park, Belfast4–04–0Friendly
626 January 2003Sharjah Stadium, Sharjah1–11–1Friendly
78 June 2005Råsunda Stadium, Solna2–13–2Friendly
812 October 2005Ullevaal Stadion, Oslo1–01–02006 FIFA World Cup qualification
92 June 2007Ullevaal Stadion, Oslo2–04–0UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying
109 September 2009Ullevaal Stadion, Oslo1–02–12010 FIFA World Cup qualification

Honours

Norway