Maren Mjelde

Maren Nævdal Mjelde (born 6 November 1989) is a Norwegian professional footballer who played as a defender or midfielder for Women's Super League club Chelsea and captains the Norway national team. She previously played for Kopparbergs/Göteborg FC of the Swedish Damallsvenskan, Turbine Potsdam of the Frauen-Bundesliga and both Arna-Bjørnar and Avaldsnes IL of the Norwegian Toppserien.

She has won several titles with Chelsea, including the Super League and the FA Cup. In addition, she played for Norway both in the Euro in 2009 and 2013, where Norway got bronze and silver, respectively.

Arna-Bjørnar (2005–2012)
Mjelde was born in Bergen. She joined the Norwegian club, Arna-Bjørnar, as a 15-year-old in 2005. She made her debut in the Toppserien in 2006 at the age of 16 and played a total of 155 league games until 2012, in which she scored 49 goals. The club finished the 2012 Toppserien league in third place, earning the bronze medal that year.

Turbine Potsdam (2013–2014)
Mjelde transferred to the German club Turbine Potsdam before the 2013 season. She played all the club's matches as captain in the latter part of the season, when they reached the runner-up position in the German Cup and League competitions.

Kopparbergs/Göteborg FC
In May 2014 she announced that she would be moving to Kopparbergs/Göteborg FC in the Swedish Damallsvenskan on July 1, 2014. Mjelde signed a contract in Gothenburg until the end of 2015. She played nine games in the Damallsvenskan.

Avaldsnes IL
She then returned to Norway to play for Avaldsnes IL. With the club she was runner-up twice and took part in qualifying for the 2016/17 Champions League. With three wins, the club qualified for the round of 16, where they were defeated twice by Olympique Lyon.

Chelsea (2016–2024)
On 22 November 2016, Mjelde signed for Chelsea on a deal until 2018.

On 16 November 2019, Mjelde scored the only goal in Chelsea's historic win versus Manchester United, the first game ever played between these two women's teams in the Super League.

She suffered a knee injury in March 2021 that kept her out for a year.

On 30 March 2023, Chelsea played the second leg in the quarter finals of the Champions League against Lyon, last year’s winner. The score was 1–1 after full-time, so the match went to extra time and Däbritz scored for Lyon in the 110th minute, so Chelsea had to score. At the end of the added time for the second period, Chelsea got a penalty. Mjelde took the penalty and scored. The penalty was the last kick of the match, so it continued to penalty shoot-out, where Mjelde took the first penalty and scored again. Ann-Katrin Berger saved two penalties, which meant that Chelsea was through to the semi-final. During and after the match, Mjelde’s performance was praised by several, including the DAZN commentator, Emma Hayes and Ian Wright. Hayes said that Mjelde is a Chelsea legend and that you can count on her in the biggest moments.

She won the league with Chelsea in the 2022–23 season.

On 3 May 2024, Mjelde announced her departure from Chelsea at the end of the 2023–24 season, after 7 years at the club.

International career
Mjelde went through all youth national teams. In 2007 she took part in the European Championship with the U19 team, where she lost 3-0 to England in the semi-finals. Norway qualified for the U20 World Cup in Chile, where they played in all three group games. As third in the group, Norway was unable to qualify for the quarter-finals.

On October 27, 2007, Mjelde made her senior international debut for Norway against Russia. She was selected for 2009 Algarve Cup and then the UEFA Euro 2009, where she made five appearances and reached the semi-finals with her team. In 2010 she finally herself in the senior national team and was used 14 times, again at the Algarve Cup and then in World Cup qualification, where she scored her first goal for Norway against Ukraine. She took part in the 2011 Algarve Cup and the 2011 World Cup.

Mjelde was Norway's vice captain during 2011 and 2012 through the team's qualification campaign for the UEFA Euro 2013 and captained the side in many matches. In the tournament she played at right-back for the first time ever, and captained the team in their match in group B when Norway beat Germany 1–0 on 17 July. Norway lost the final 0–1 to Germany, and Mjelde was included in UEFA's Squad of the Tournament.

Mjelde was selected in Even Pellerud's squad for the 2015 World Cup. She scored the equalizer against Germany in a 1–1 draw in the group stage and played in Norway's second round defeat by England. Mjelde was also part of the squad for the 2015 World Cup. Her direct free kick against Germany was nominated for the most beautiful tournament goal.

At the start of qualifying for the 2017 European Championships, she was appointed captain of the team by new national coach Roger Finjord.

In qualification for the 2019 World Cup, she was one of the eight Norwegians who took part in all eight qualifying games. In the end they became group winners ahead of European champions Netherlands. She had her first tournament success by winning the 2019 Algarve Cup. On May 2 she was nominated for her third World Cup. With 136 international matches, she was the player with the most international matches in the squad. At the World Cup there were five more, in which she led her team onto the field as captain, but was eliminated with them in the quarter-finals against England.

She played in decisive game for group victory in qualifying for the 2023 World Cup against Belgium, which was won 1-0, meaning the Norwegians qualified for the World Cup. On 19 June 2023, she was included in the 23-player Norwegian squad for the 2023 World Cup. She played in each of her team's games until they were eliminated in the Round of 16 by Japan.

Personal life
Mjelde's elder brother, Erik Mjelde, is a former footballer.

International

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

Club
Arna-Bjørnar


 * Kniksens Minnefond 2006
 * Young player of the year 2007

Chelsea
 * FA WSL: 2017–18, 2019–20, 2020–21, 2021–22, 2022–23, 2023–24
 * Women's FA Cup: 2017–18, 2020–21, 2021–22, 2022–23
 * FA Women's League Cup: 2019–20, 2020–21
 * FA Community Shield: 2020

National teams
U19


 * Silver in the Euro 2009

Norway's national team


 * Bronze in the Euro 2009
 * Silver in 2013
 * All star team in Euro 2009
 * Algarve Cup 2019