Ingrid Syrstad Engen

Ingrid Syrstad Engen (born 29 April 1998) is a Norwegian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Spanish Primera División club Barcelona and the Norway national team. She previously played for Trondheims-Orn and LSK Kvinner in Norway and Wolfsburg in Germany before joining Barcelona in 2021.

Club career
Engen began her senior career with Trondheims-Ørn. Initially on the under-19 team in the second division, she joined the first team in the Toppserien in June 2014. After the 2016 Toppserien she rejected approaches from other clubs to extend her contract with Trondheims-Ørn.

After moving to LSK Kvinner and helping them secure a League and Cup double, she signed for German champions VfL Wolfsburg in December 2018. As part of the deal she agreed a return to LSK on loan for the first half of the 2019 season. She also played for Lillestrøm for the first time in the 2018–19 Champions League. With Wolfsburg, she won the double in her debut season and reached the Champions League final, but lost to defending champions Lyon. She scored her first two Champions League goals in a 9–1 quarter-final win over Glasgow City F.C.

On 6 July 2021, she signed a two-year deal with Barcelona, keeping her for the club until 30 June 2023. On 25 September, she made her debut for the club in a 8–0 win over Valencia. In January 2023, Engen extended her contract with Barcelona until June 2025. She had not had much prominence in her first two seasons with the club, taking time to adapt to Barcelona's particular number 6 role; in the 2023–24 season, she was moved to the central defense when ball-playing centre-back Mapi León suffered a season-ending injury in December. Having only sporadically played in the back line for Norway before, she quickly thrived in this new role and became a fundamental piece of Barcelona's formation there.

International career
Engen took part in the U-17 European Championship in June 2015, but was eliminated in the group stage. A year later, she took part in the U-19 European Championship in Slovakia in 2016, but was eliminated there as third in the group. She then took part in the two qualifying rounds for the 2017 U-19 European Championship, but the Norwegians were unable to qualify. After that she played four more games with the U-23 team

Engen was included in the Norway team in its debut for the 2018 Algarve Cup. She got her debut cap when Australia defeated Norway in its opening match, in Albufeira, 4–3. She was substituted on in the second half when the score was 1:3. Two days later, she started the 2–0 win against China and scored the first goal. She was then in the game for 7th place in the starting XI. After that she played in five qualifiers for the 2019 World Cup. She scored the first goal in the 2–1 victory in the last and crucial game to win the group against European champions Netherlands. She was praised by team coach Martin Sjögren: "She is only 20 years old but appears to have played international football for 10 years".

She was used in the next games and achieved her first tournament success at the 2019 Algarve Cup. On 2 May, she was nominated for the 2019 World Cup. At the World Cup, she played in Norway's five games. A 3–0 defeat by England in the quarter-finals saw her and her team eliminated, also missing out on the 2020 Olympics.

In qualifying for the Euro 2022 Engen was used in all six games of the Norwegians and scored three goals. She appeared in the first six matches of 2023 World Cup qualifying, scoring one goal and captaining the two games in November 2021.

On 7 June 2022, she was nominated for the European Championship finals. She was used in the three group games that began with a 4–1 win against Euro newcomers Northern Ireland. They then suffered the heaviest defeat in their international history against England, 8–0. Third in their group, they missed out on the knockout rounds with a 1–0 defeat, their first ever against Austria.

Engen played in the first game after the Euro, the crucial match to win the qualifying group for the 2023 World Cup, against Belgium, which they won 1–0 to qualify Norway for the World Cup.

On 19 June 2023, she was included in the 23-player Norwegian squad for the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023.

Style of play
Engen's play is characterised as a possession-based, defensive-focused midfielder who operates in deeper areas of the pitch. She has good passing skills, but her play is best when stopping counter-attacks and holding possession. She can also play as a centre-back and is reliable for aerial duels.

Personal life
Engen is openly lesbian, and was previously in a relationship with fellow Norway international player Marie Dølvik Markussen.

She is currently in a relationship with Barcelona teammate and Spanish international Mapi León.

International

 * Scores and results list Norway's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Engen goal.

Honours

 * LSK Kvinner
 * Toppserien: 2018
 * Norwegian Women's Cup: 2018

FC Barcelona
 * VfL Wolfsburg
 * Frauen-Bundesliga: 2019–20
 * DFB-Pokal Frauen: 2019–20, 2020–21


 * Primera División: 2021–22, 2022–23, 2023–24
 * Copa de la Reina: 2021–22, 2023–24
 * Supercopa de España Femenina: 2021–22, 2023–24
 * UEFA Women's Champions League: 2022–23, 2023–24

Norway
 * Algarve Cup: 2019