Kristian Thorstvedt

Kristian Thorstvedt is a 1.89m central midfielder for Serie A side Sassuolo and a squad member for Norway at the 2026 World Cup, their first since 1998. After breaking through at Viking in his home city of Stavanger and a productive spell at Belgium's Genk, he moved to Sassuolo in 2022 and has become a box-to-box regular, playing a rotation/impact role for Ståle Solbakken's Norway (he was named among the substitutes for the 4-1 win over Iraq). The juicy detail: he is the son of Erik Thorstvedt, the former Tottenham goalkeeper who won 97 caps and started in goal for Norway at the 1994 World Cup, making the Thorstvedts a genuine footballing dynasty; Norwegian broadcaster NRK featured Kristian's life in Italy in its World Cup series "Vi skal til VM."