Ragnvald Soma is a Norwegian

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 football player currently playing for Rapid Vienna

SK Rapid Wien

The Sportklub Rapid Wien is an Austrian football club playing in the country's capital city of Vienna. Rapid is the most popular club in Austria and also record title holder having won the Austrian national football title 32 times...

.

Position

He is primarily a central defender

Defender (football)

Within the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to prevent the opposition from attacking....

, although he has been both a left back and a defensive midfielder earlier in his career.

Early career

Soma started his professional career in 2000 after signing for the Norwegian club Bryne FK on 1 August.

West Ham United

In January 2001 he moved to English Premier League club West Ham United

West Ham United F.C.

West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Upton Park, Newham, East London. They play in The Football League Championship. The club was founded in 1895 as Thames Ironworks FC and reformed in 1900 as West Ham United. In 1904 the club relocated to their current...

 for £800,000. His stay there lasted just over one and a half years, during which Soma made only seven league appearances before returning to Bryne on a free transfer. Whilst at West Ham he played in their 1-0 victory over Manchester United at Old Trafford

Old Trafford

Old Trafford commonly refers to two sporting arenas:* Old Trafford, home of Manchester United F.C.* Old Trafford Cricket Ground, home of Lancashire County Cricket ClubOld Trafford can also refer to:...

 in the 2000-01 FA Cup

FA Cup 2000-01

The 2000-01 FA Cup was the 120th season of the world's oldest knockout football competition, the Football Association Cup or FA Cup. The competition was won by Liverpool, who came from 1-0 behind against Arsenal to eventually win 2-1...

, coming on as a late substitute for his debut.

Norwegian football

With Bryne relegated at the end of the 2003 season, Soma moved to SK Brann. He became an instant hit, being voted player of the year by several newspapers and becoming a regular in the Norway

Norway national football team

The Norway national football team represents Norway in association football and is controlled by the Football Association of Norway, the governing body for football in Norway. Norway's home ground is Ullevaal Stadion in Oslo and their head coach is Egil Olsen...

 national team squad. In March 2006 he transferred to Viking for an undisclosed fee believed to be around £500,000, with Brann also getting right back Bjørn Dahl as a part-exchange

Part exchange

A part exchange or part exchange deal is a type of contract. In a part exchange, instead of one party to the contract paying money and the other party supplying goods/services, both parties supply goods/services, the first party supplying part money and part goods/services.Whether a part exchange...

.

Rapid Vienna

After over three years at Viking, Soma signed for Rapid Vienna

SK Rapid Wien

The Sportklub Rapid Wien is an Austrian football club playing in the country's capital city of Vienna. Rapid is the most popular club in Austria and also record title holder having won the Austrian national football title 32 times...

 on 14 August 2009.

External links

• Profile at Viking official webpage
• Profile at soccerbase.com
• National Football Teams