Leo Østigard: "I can be an important leader"
One To Watch
Impressive as his country beat Slovenia today, 3-0, in the UEFA Nations League, Stade Rennais' Norwegian defender Leo Østigard spoke recently with Breton daily Ouest-France to reflect on his adaptation to Ligue 1 McDonald's, his story to date and more.
To prepare for this interview, we looked for information about your background and we found nothing… That’s rare! Can you tell us about your childhood, your first steps in football?
"Maybe that’s why you didn’t find anything, because I come from a very small village in Norway! To talk about a city, you need at least 5,000 people. But where I live, there are 2,400 inhabitants. Åndalsnes is very small, everyone knows each other. It was very nice to live there, the nature is very beautiful. But of course, the football team wasn’t the best… My father played central defender, the same position as me, when they were in the second division. Today, they are in the fifth division. Football was important at that time, my father was the captain and he played his entire career at Åndalsnes. That’s where he met my mother. It was different back then because everyone lived their whole life in one place. Nowadays, you have to move for your studies."
“At 16, I moved to Molde with my sister”
Is that why you went to Molde to train?
"When I was 14 or 15, I started training with the first team, and I travelled by bus every day after school to Molde (1 hour 15 minutes drive), to play for one of the best clubs in Norway. At 16, I finished school in Åndalsnes and moved to Molde with my sister, in an apartment. So I moved quite early, because I had to."
Tell us what your first football pitch in Åndalsnes was like…
It was very close to my house, a three-minute bike ride, with big mountains around. Now, several pitches have been redone, there is an indoor synthetic grass because it is very cold, with a lot of wind. But at the time, it did not exist, and the cold was nothing to me because I was young! And there was snow that I had to first clear inside the 16 meters. There was no choice, it was the only way to train. Young people today are lucky compared to us."
Were you determined to make it?
"Not everyone was interested in football like I was. I was often on the pitch by myself to train. All I cared about was going to the pitch to train and play. The wall I was training against was my best friend for years. People must have thought: “What is he doing?” Often I didn’t have time to eat, so my father would come and bring me dinner on the pitch, because I didn’t want to go home. I had a kind of power inside me, I knew I wanted to be a footballer. I didn’t think it, I knew it. Sometimes you have to think bigger… Coming from such a small village and reaching the national team, if you look at the percentage of chances, it’s very low. Maybe I wasn’t the best at 12, 13, 14 years old. But over the years you progress, you gain confidence and you take the right steps. Maybe that was the difference between me and my teammates in Molde, because we had the best team in Norway. We won the Norwegian Junior Cup two years in a row, and many players got the chance to become professionals. But sometimes you have to fight."
Working under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
What did you do more than the others?
"I wanted to train with the first team, when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was the manager. After every training session, I would go to my reserve team manager and ask him: “Why don’t I train with them? I want to train with them, I want to see if I’m good enough.” In the end, I didn’t get my chance and I thought: “OK, what am I going to do?” I was 16 and I went to Solskjaer’s office. He had won the Champions League and he was a great player in Norway, but I wasn’t afraid. My dad said: “I’m not going with you, you go alone.” So I knocked on his door and said: “I want to talk to you.” I had never met him before. There was Solskjaer, his assistant and my reserve team manager. I asked them: “What’s the plan?” He said: “You’ll train with us one day.” I said: “OK, if you don’t give me the opportunity now, I’m leaving.” A week later, I was training with them. I became captain in pre-season at 17. He liked me after that meeting, because he saw that I wanted something. If I hadn’t gone to his office, I might never have had this opportunity."
So, in addition to being determined, you’re very direct with your managers!
"At home, people are like that! My first-team coach would tell me: “Get up, stop crying!” If he didn’t like something, he would tell me: “Leo, go to hell, you’re not good enough!” I was used to that since I was 12 because he wanted me to train with the first team. He was very tough and he taught me not to be afraid. You have to fight for your place, because it won’t come by itself!"
At 18, you left your country and joined Brighton…
The only thing that scared me was that I wasn’t the best at English (laughs). At the beginning, it was difficult. My parents came the first week before leaving, I was eating alone in my apartment, I had to call someone to turn the electricity back on… In a new country, you don’t have any close friends. So you have to learn to appreciate living alone. I lived alone for many years, so I know how to deal with it.
Why did you go to England?
"I didn’t really think about leaving Norway. But at some point, it’s important not to stay there too long, because you have to discover what’s going on outside and not stay in your comfort zone. At Brighton and at all the clubs I’ve been loaned to, I learned a lot, very young. New languages, new countries, new leagues… I don’t regret anything. Sometimes it can be boring to stay in the same place for ten years. But sometimes it’s sad to leave too. I was very sad to leave Saint Pauli."
You’re 24 and you’ve already played eight clubs. How do you explain that?
"At Brighton, I was young and it was difficult to play, so they loaned me out several times. It was usual for them to do that, they bought a lot of young players, loaned them out and then sold them to make more money. I first went to St. Pauli in Hamburg (Germany), it was a really incredible experience. It was the first time I really played at professional level. I still love that club, it was a perfect start. Then I went on loan to the Championship (Coventry), it was also a good experience because it’s a tough league, I think people don’t realise how tough. Then I went to Stoke City. The first 10 or 15 games I played all the time. But I had problems with the manager and he didn’t play me after that. So I ended up at Genoa (Italy) in January. It was completely different again because I was used to the rain and the cold. I felt like a new person because I saw the sun in the morning! And after Genoa, I went to Napoli."
How important was Napoli in your progression?
"It was difficult, because it was the first time I didn't play every game. I wasn't used to it and I hated it. The first year, the results were excellent, we had no injuries, it was almost the same team in every game (Napoli won the title in 2023). So it wasn't easy to watch from the bench, but you have to stay professional. And when you play, you have to seize the opportunity. But it was a good experience, in a big club. We won the championship for the first time in 33 years, it was incredible."
Can you imagine that the passion is very different between Naples and Rennes?
"Naples is completely crazy, you can't walk down the street because people will spot you and almost attack you, even if you have a cap and sunglasses. At the restaurant, at the supermarket, they stop you. There is only one club and they know where you are and what you are doing all the time. After a while, you want a bit of peace and quiet. It is of course a bit quieter here, you can relax more off the pitch. But the crowd is very good and the stadium is very beautiful."
Has the time come for you to find stability in Rennes?
"Of course, stability is important. But in football, you can never say that you will stay in the same place for five years. Things change so quickly… Today, I want to have stability and the idea is to stay here. But you can never plan. I have tried to plan many times… You have to take it day by day."
You are expected to be a leader. Is it difficult to adapt to this new league
"The style of play is different in France compared to Italy, it is closer to England. We started well against Lyon, we had two difficult away matches where we conceded too many goals from set pieces. There are a lot of new players, we changed system. We were hoping for a better start but I think it will get better and better. Of course, I want to take my place in the team and gain as much confidence as I can, show the coach that I can be an important leader in the team. That's why I'm here: I want to help the team and the club and bring the fans with us. It's a shame to have received these yellow cards in three matches and to have had a little break."
What is the level of Ligue 1?
"It's not like in Italy where it's calmer, let's say! In Italy, we keep the ball more, it’s more tactical because if you lose it, it goes very quickly. In France, you win the ball, you can lose it after ten seconds, and you win it again. It’s not necessarily harder, but the teams really want to attack quickly. It’s quite funny to see the difference, you have to adapt and learn."
Which position do you prefer in a three-man defence?
"In the centre. I’ve sometimes played on the right in this system, but you can feel a bit like a right-back. I want to control my area and direct the players around it. That’s where you can see the best version of me, I think."
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