Azar Karadaş

Azar Karadaş — Biography

Azar Karadas was born on 9 August 1981 in Nordfjordeid, Norway. A Norwegian of Turkish descent, he holds both Norwegian and Turkish citizenship and played primarily as a centre-forward, though he could also operate as a central defender.

He began his career with Eid IL before turning professional with SK Brann in 1999. After transferring to Rosenborg in 2002, he won the Norwegian league title in 2002 and 2003, and drew attention in the Champions League by scoring twice in a 2-2 draw with Internazionale. In 2004 he moved to Portuguese club Benfica, where he helped end an 11-year title drought in the Primeira Liga, before being loaned to Portsmouth in England and to 1. FC Kaiserslautern in Germany. He rejoined Brann for a second spell in 2007 and helped the club win its first league title since 1963.

In 2009 he signed with Kasımpaşa in Turkey, and on 27 May 2012 he scored the goal that helped the club return to the Süper Lig in a play-off match against Adanaspor. From 2012 he had several spells at Sogndal before rejoining Brann for a third stint in 2014, where he ended his playing career. He won 10 caps for the Norway national team, scoring once. After retiring, he became an assistant coach at Brann 2, taking over as head coach in 2021; he later served as an assistant at Stabæk in 2023 before taking charge of IK Start in 2024.