Jostein Flo
Born: 03.10.1964 in Stryn
Position: Forward
Caps: 53
Goals: 11
Profile
Jostein is the second-oldest of five footballing brothers from the village of Stryn. His younger brother Tore André may be the most famous of the brothers, but Jostein was certainly a fine player in his own right, and a vital member of Egil Olsen's national team in the early 1990s. A big and powerful but technically limited striker, Jostein Flo may not have won the hearts of many football purists, but there's no question that he was an effective player, scoring more than 100 goals in the Norwegian top division. The Flo brothers' cousin Håvard has also played for the national team.
Jostein began his career at his local club in Stryn, and after boasting an impressive goalscoring record in the lower divisions, he was signed by Molde before the 1987 season, where he made immediate impact. Usually a mid-table side, Molde took the league by surprise in 1987 and eventually finished second, and Flo's goals were certainly an important factor. Within weeks of joining Molde, Flo also got his chance at international level, scoring in his debut for the Olympic team. He played one more match for the Olympic team shortly afterwards, but was later dropped. Though he was a fine goalscorer in the domestic league, the big striker was not yet considered good enough for the senior national team. He played three more seasons for Molde, before moving abroad to join Belgian side Lierse, where he joined his former Molde teammate Kjetil Rekdal. Flo was an effective goalscorer for the team, but nonetheless never really established himself at the team, and after just one year in Belgium, he returned home to play for Sogndal.
Flo signed for Sogndal, one of the perennial "elevator teams" in Norwegian football, in the summer of 1991. He continued where he had left off with Molde, never impressing anybody with his flair (or rather lack of flair), but did the job he was hired to do - score goals. And in the summer of 1992, Flo was given another chance for the national team. Olsen had decided to conduct an experiment, playing the tall striker on the right wing - not your typical winger, in other words. Playing at the wing, Flo would get plenty of long, diagonal balls from left back Stig Inge Bjørnebye, which he would head into the penalty area to create goalscoring opportunities. It may not have been pretty to watch, but the "Flo pass" became Norway's secret weapon in the following World Cup qualifying campaign.
Sogndal were relegated in 1992, but despite playing in the first division, Flo kept his place in the national team, and played every World Cup qualifier except the away match against Turkey, when he was suspended. But by then, Norway had already qualified ahead of major football powers like England (who had to watch the World Cup at home) and Holland. While Flo may have helped knock England out of the World Cup, he got the chance to play there in 1993, when he was signed by Sheffield United, whose style of play seemed to suit Flo. Like Olsen's national side, the Blades also played the long ball game, and he finished the season as the team's top scorer with 11 Premiership goals. It was to no avail, as United were relegated, but Flo could at least take comfort in the fact that he would play in that summer's World Cup.
Flo had a frustrating World Cup. He would, as always, get plenty of long balls to work with, but failed to convert them into real goalscoring opportunities. He wasn't helped by the referees either, who seemed to whistle whenever he touched the ball, and Norway were knocked out in the group stage. Things didn't go much better the next season. He didn't find the net as often as he should have, and was frequently dropped by Sheffield United. He kept his place in the national team, but wasn't as good as he had been in the previous World Cup qualifiers - maybe because the long Flo balls were no longer a secret. He was dropped after the Euro 96 qualifier against the Czech Republic in 1995, and with his 31st birthday approaching, Flo's national team career seemed to be over.
However, his days at the national team were not over yet. He returned to Norway in the summer of 1996, this time joining Strømsgodset, and soon began piling up the goals again. And in the spring of 1997, he was recalled to the national side, where his brother Tore André was now firmly established as one of Norway's star players. He played in most of Norway's remaining World Cup qualifiers, often as a substitute, and in the 4-0 win against Finland, both Flos came on the scoresheet. Norway qualified, but Jostein was again dropped after the qualifying campaign, but was brought back for the World Cup squad - a squad that included three members of the Flo family. Olsen had decided that the elder Flo's physical strengths could be the X-factor at the tournament, and he was right. Jostein played only once in the 1998 World Cup, but it would turn out to be one of Norway's greatest wins of all time, the 2-1 victory against Brazil. He entered the game as a substitute, with Brazil leading 1-0, and created panic among the Brazilian defenders. Norway equalized through his brother, and it was a classic Flo ball that set up the younger Flo when he was brought down in the area. Rekdal converted the penalty, and Norway had done the impossible. They had beaten Brazil to advance to the second round, where they would eventually be knocked out by Italy.
Jostein would get a few more matches for the national team, but they were coming more and more sporadically. At club level, on the other hand, Flo was in the form of his life. He scored 19 goals in as many matches in 1999, though Strømsgodset were still relegated, and the next year, he followed that up with 25 goals in 26 matches as the Drammen club bounced straight back up. Jostein retired at the end of the 2002 season, and was given an administrative job at Strømsgodset.
National Team Appearances
| # | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Goals | Competition |
| Molde | ||||||
| 1 | 06.05.1987 | Moss | Turkey | 1-1 |
|
Olympic Games Qual. |
| 2 | 26.05.1987 | Trondheim | Bulgaria | 0-0 | Olympic Games Qual. | |
| Sogndal | ||||||
| 3 | 03.06.1992 | Oslo | Scotland | 0-0 | ||
| 4 | 09.09.1992 | Oslo | San Marino | 10-0 | World Cup Qualifier | |
| 5 | 23.09.1992 | Oslo | Netherlands | 2-1 | World Cup Qualifier | |
| 6 | 07.10.1992 | Serravalle | San Marino | 2-0 |
|
World Cup Qualifier |
| 7 | 14.10.1992 | London | England | 1-1 | World Cup Qualifier | |
| 8 | 02.12.1992 | Guangzhou | China | 1-2 |
|
|
| 9 | 10.02.1993 | Faro | Portugal | 1-1 | ||
| 10 | 30.03.1993 | Doha | Qatar | 6-1 |
|
|
| 11 | 28.04.1993 | Oslo | Turkey | 3-1 | World Cup Qualifier | |
| 12 | 02.06.1993 | Oslo | England | 2-0 | World Cup Qualifier | |
| 13 | 09.06.1993 | Rotterdam | Netherlands | 0-0 | World Cup Qualifier | |
| 14 | 18.08.1993 | Toftir | Faroe Islands | 7-0 | ||
| Sheffield United (England) | ||||||
| 15 | 08.09.1993 | Oslo | United States | 1-0 | ||
| 16 | 22.09.1993 | Oslo | Poland | 1-0 |
|
World Cup Qualifier |
| 17 | 13.10.1993 | Poznan | Poland | 3-0 |
|
World Cup Qualifier |
| 18 | 15.01.1994 | Phoenix | United States | 1-2 | ||
| 19 | 09.03.1994 | Cardiff | Wales | 3-1 |
|
|
| 20 | 20.04.1994 | Oslo | Portugal | 0-0 | ||
| 21 | 22.05.1994 | London | England | 0-0 | ||
| 22 | 01.06.1994 | Oslo | Denmark | 2-1 | ||
| 23 | 05.06.1994 | Stockholm | Sweden | 0-2 | ||
| 24 | 19.06.1994 | Washington | Mexico | 1-0 | World Cup | |
| 25 | 23.06.1994 | New York | Italy | 0-1 | World Cup | |
| 26 | 28.06.1994 | New York | Republic of Ireland | 0-0 | World Cup | |
| 27 | 07.09.1994 | Oslo | Belarus | 1-0 | European Champ. Qual | |
| 28 | 12.10.1994 | Oslo | Netherlands | 1-1 | European Champ. Qual. | |
| 29 | 14.12.1994 | Valetta | Malta | 1-0 | European Champ. Qual. | |
| 30 | 06.02.1995 | Larnaca | Estonia | 7-0 | ||
| 31 | 08.02.1995 | Nicosia | Cyprus | 2-0 |
|
|
| 32 | 29.03.1995 | Luxembourg | Luxembourg | 2-0 | European Champ. Qual. | |
| 33 | 25.05.1995 | Oslo | Ghana | 3-2 | ||
| 34 | 07.06.1995 | Oslo | Malta | 2-0 |
|
European Champ. Qual. |
| 35 | 22.07.1995 | Oslo | France | 0-0 | ||
| 36 | 16.08.1995 | Oslo | Czech Republic | 1-1 | European Champ. Qual. | |
| 37 | 06.09.1995 | Prague | Czech Republic | 0-2 | European Champ. Qual. | |
| Strømsgodset | ||||||
| 38 | 30.04.1997 | Oslo | Finland | 1-1 | World Cup Qualifier | |
| 39 | 30.05.1997 | Oslo | Brazil | 4-2 | ||
| 40 | 08.06.1997 | Budapest | Hungary | 1-1 | World Cup Qualifier | |
| 41 | 20.07.1997 | Reykjavik | Iceland | 1-0 |
|
|
| 42 | 20.08.1997 | Helsinki | Finland | 4-0 |
|
World Cup Qualifier |
| 43 | 06.09.1997 | Baku | Azerbaijan | 1-0 | World Cup Qualifier | |
| 44 | 10.09.1997 | Oslo | Switzerland | 5-0 | World Cup Qualifier | |
| 45 | 23.06.1998 | Marseille | Brazil | 2-1 | World Cup | |
| 46 | 19.08.1998 | Oslo | Romania | 0-0 | ||
| 47 | 06.09.1998 | Oslo | Latvia | 1-3 | European Champ. Qual. | |
| 48 | 10.10.1998 | Ljubljana | Slovenia | 2-1 | European Champ. Qual. | |
| 49 | 14.10.1998 | Oslo | Albania | 2-2 | European Champ. Qual. | |
| 50 | 20.01.1999 | Tel Aviv | Israel | 1-0 | ||
| 51 | 22.01.1999 | Umm-al-Fahm | Estonia | 3-3 | ||
| 52 | 31.01.2000 | La Manga | Iceland | 0-0 | ||
| 53 | 04.02.2000 | La Manga | Sweden | 1-1 | ||
NOTE: Matches in red are not recognized as full internationals by FIFA.