Per Bredesen was born in Horten, Norway, on December 22, 1930.
Bredesen started his career with his local team Ørn- Horten in 1948. He played four seasons for the Oslo fjord team. He made 49 appearances and scored 16 goals.
In 1952 came the big jump to Serie A in Italy. Lazio were looking for younger players to freshen up their aging squad and signed the 22-year- old Norwegian midfielder.
In his first year in Rome he played 32 Serie A games and scored 6 goals. He made a positive impact in his debut season and impressed for speed and technique.
In his second year he repeated himself playing 32 times and again scoring 6 goals.
In his third and final year at Lazio he made 29 appearances with 7 goals (including a winner against Napoli and a brace in a 3-1 triumph over Juventus). He scored goals but also set them up helping Danish John Hansen to 15 league goals.
In the season of 1955-56 Lazio signed Arne Selmosson from Udinese, but unfortunately the Friulani wanted 80 million Lire plus Bredesen to close the deal. Lazio reluctantly let Per Bredesen go and he left Rome after three very positive years. He totalled 93 league games and scored 19 goals at Lazio.
At Udinese he found himself playing in Serie B (a relegation due to attempted corruption charges). He played 34 times and scored 15 goals. Udinese were promoted back to Serie A but Bredesen had been signed by A.C Milan.
In 1956-57 he joined the Rossoneri and was one of the three foreign players alongside Swede Nils Liedholm and Italo-Uruguayan Juan Alberto Schiaffino. He made 27 appearances and scored 6 goals helping Milan to the league title. His goals included one in a derby draw, a winner away at Juventus and another in a 4-1 home win against Juventus. To this day he is still the only Norwegian to have won a Serie A scudetto. No small feat.
He left Milan after only one season and following a year of inactivity he joined Bari in Serie A in 1958. He played 21 games and scored 5 goals (including draws against Lazio and Juventus). Bari reached their objective of staying in the top flight with an 11th place. Bredesen however would move down a division and travelled further south to Messina.
He stayed in Sicily two seasons in Serie B totalling 39 games and scoring 5 goals. At 31 it was time to head home to Norway. He played one more year for Ørn-Horten playing 13 times and scoring 9 goals.
At International level he earned 18 caps for Norway and scored 7 goals. His debut and first goal both came against Yugoslavia on June 19, 1949. His national appearances were cut short by a Norwegian Federation ruling forbidding professional players from representing their country. When Bredesen signed for Lazio he said goodbye to his Norwegian national side.
Bredesen is one of the best football players to have come out of Norway. He was exceptionally quick and technically gifted. He could use both feet and had an extremely accurate shot. He provided quantity and quality to his teams and scored goals.
At Lazio he was very popular. He was nicknamed "Varechina" (bleach) for his blonde hair and also " Tocco Magico" (Magic Touch) for his skills. If you mention Norway at Lazio the first players who come to mind are Ragnar Larsen and Per Bredesen.
Bredesen passed away on October 3, 2022 and Lazio gave their condolences to his family and remembered his feats for Lazio in the days gone by.
Appearances and goals for Lazio
Season | Appearances Serie A | Goals Serie A |
1952-53 | 32 | 6 |
1953-54 | 32 | 6 |
1954-55 | 29 | 7 |
Total | 93 | 19 |
Sources
Comments