The 2011 Norwegian Football Cup final was the 106th final of the Norwegian Football Cup. It was played on 6 November 2011 at Ullevaal Stadion, in Oslo, Norway. In the final Brann meet Aalesund. The winner, Aalesund, earned a place in the second qualifying round of the 2012–13 UEFA Europa League. The draw for the final was held on 27 September 2011 by the Norwegian Football Association, which decided that Brann was the home team of the final and got to play in their red home kits. UEFA-president Michel Platini came to Oslo and watched the final.

Background Up to the 2011 final, Brann had reached the Cup Final fourteen times, winning six of them, while Aalesund had won the only Final they played in 2009. The first league match of the Tippeliga-season, ended 1–1 at Brann Stadion. The second league match will be played after the Final. In the last ten years, Brann and Aalesund had been drawn together in the Norwegian Cup twice, each winning one tie; in the Fifth Round in 2002, Aalesund, who played on the second-tier that year, won the penalty shootout 6-5 after 120 minutes with 0–0 at Brann Stadion; Aalesund went on to reach the semi-final. Their next meeting was 3 years later, in the Fourth Round of the 2005 competition; Brann won the match 3-2 but were eliminated in the quarter-final.

Pre-match Officials Hamar-based referee Svein-Erik Edvartsen was named as the referee for the 2011 Cup Final on 10 October 2011. Edvartsen states that this will be his biggest experience as a referee. Edvartsen has no previous assignments as the primary referee at Ullevaal Stadion, but have been a FIFA-elected referee between 2007 and 2008 and have since 2005 refereed 95 Tippeliga-matches.

His assistants for the 2011 final was Odd-Jarle Hansen, representing Fløy, Magnus Lundberg from Ringsaker, with Brevik Fotball's Anders Johansen as the fourth official.

Route to the final

BrannRoundAalesundTertnes (D3)A3–0Mezquida 18', 56', Austin 22'First roundStranda (D3)A8–0Okoronkwo 29', Sylling Olsen 35', 39', 72', Barrantes 71', 87', Myklebust 90+1', Sellin 90+3'Fana (D3)A3–2Mjelde 77', Ojo 88', Bentley 90+2'Second roundTornado Måløy (D3)A5–0Okoronkwo 12', Post 20', Fuhre 35', Ulvestad 86', Sellin 90'Åsane (D2)A1–0Ojo 80'Third roundHødd (D1)A2–1 aet Arnefjord 90+5', Barrantes 120'Sogndal (TL)H2–2 (3–2 p)Guastavino 89', Bentley 116'Fourth roundSarpsborg 08 (TL)H3–0Ulvestad 59', Arnefjord 62', Barrantes 84'Viking (TL)A1–1 (3–1 p)Haugen 73'Quarter-finalRosenborg (TL)H3–1Wangberg 26' (o.g.), Barrantes 56', Phillips 75'Fredrikstad (TL)A2–0Guastavino 71', Ojo 85'Semi-finalStart (TL)H5–0Guðmundsson 40' (o.g.) (TL) = Tippeligaen team (D1) = 1. divisjon team (D2) = 2. divisjon team (D3) = 3. divisjon team

Pre-match Tickets The two clubs received 13,000 of the 25,500 tickets to the Final. Since Brann have a higher average home attendance then Aalesund, they get 7,032 tickets while Aalesund gets 5,968 tickets. 2,500 tickets were available for all through sale, while the remaining 10,000 tickets went to partners of the Norwegian Football Association.

Match

BRANN: GK 24 Piotr LeciejewskiRB 2 Birkir Már Sævarsson CB 4 Lars GrorudCB 21 Zsolt KorcsmarLB 7 Hassan El FakiriCM 5 Rudolph AustinCM 18 Maximiliano Bajter CM 15 Diego GuastavinoRW 10 Erik Mjelde (c)CF 9 Kim OjoLW 26 Bjørnar Holmvik Substitutes:GK 12 Håkon OpdalMF 8 Fredrik Haugen FW 11 BentleyMF 16 Bjarte HaugsdalFW 19 Tadas Labukas DF 25 Yaw Ihle AmankwahFW 30 Kristoffer LarsenHead Coach: Rune SkarsfjordAALESUND: GK 13 Sten GrytebustRB 16 Enar JäägerCB 4 Jonatan Tollås NationCB 15 Daniel Arnefjord (c)LB 22 Jo Nymo MatlandRM 23 Fredrik UlvestadCM 7 Jason Morrison CM 6 Magnus Sylling Olsen LM 31 Michael Barrantes SS 17 Demar PhillipsCF 3 Edvard Skagestad Substitutes:GK 35 Jonas SandqvistDF 5 Ville Jalasto FW 9 Sander Post MF 10 Peter Orry Larsen FW 18 Christian MyklebustFW 19 Kjell Rune SellinMF 25 Lars FuhreHead Coach: Kjetil Rekdal MATCH OFFICIALS Assistant referees: Odd Jarle Larsen (Fløy Fotball) Magnus Lundberg (Ringsaker IF) Fourth official: Anders Johansen (Brevik IL)MATCH RULES 90 minutes. 30 minutes of extra-time if necessary. Penalty shoot-out if scores still level. Seven named substitutes. Maximum of three substitutions.

See also 2011 Norwegian Football Cup 2011 Tippeligaen 2011 in Norwegian football

References