Daniel Karlsbakk

Daniel Karlsbakk finished 2025 as the top scorer in the Eliteserien with 18 goals, and he did it quickly: ten of them came in his first 11 league matches of the season. It was his first year back in Norway after two seasons abroad, and Sarpsborg 08 had signed him in January on a contract running to 2028.

The route there began at Bryne, where he came through the academy and made his senior debut in October 2019. He stayed until the end of 2021 and played about 30 senior matches, scoring five goals. Viking took him on a free transfer in January 2022, and in his one season there he made 21 league appearances and scored twice.

Viking then sold him to SC Heerenveen in the Netherlands for roughly €2.5 million, about 30 million kroner. That was the highest fee the club had received for a player. Karlsbakk spent two seasons in the Eredivisie, appearing in somewhere between 34 and 39 matches in all competitions and scoring twice. Goals were harder to come by there than they later proved to be at Sarpsborg.

He has represented Norway at youth level and won 10 caps for the under-21 side. One of his goals for that team came in qualifying for the 2023/24 European Championship. He has not yet been capped by the senior national team.

At 194 centimetres he is a tall right-footed striker, though the record of his return season points chiefly to his finishing.