Hege

Hege Riise is a female footballer from Norway. Riise started playing football at age six and played on a boys' team until age 14. She won the Norwegian Cup competition with Setskog-Høland in 1992. In late 1995 along with four other Norwegians she joined Nikko Securities Dream Ladies football club in Japan. Nikko won the Japanese league and cup competitions in 1996 and the cup in 1997, after which Riise moved back to Norway to play again with Setskog-Høland. She joined Asker FK, Oslo, in 2000, and again won the cup competition with Asker the same year. Drafted by the Carolina Courage in the Women's United Soccer Association 2000 Foreign Draft, Riise was the team's MVP two times and led the Courage to a WUSA Founders Cup title in 2002. In 2003 the Norwegian Football Association named Riise the best female Norwegian footballer ever. Riise made her international debut with the Norwegian national team in 1990. Norway won the UEFA Women's Championship in 1993. Two years later with Norway she won the 1995 FIFA Women's World Cup and was awarded the Golden Ball after the competition. Riise's biggest achievement with Norway was winning the gold medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, to become one of only three women in the world to win the Olympics, the World Cup and the European Championship (with Gro Espeseth and Bente Nordby).