BIOGRAPHY
Stine Oftedal stepped away from handball in 2024 on a high: winning the EHF Champions League for a third time, and the Olympic Games for a first time, and being named MVP of the 2023/24 season at the EHF Excellence Awards.
Oftedal made an early impression on handball, winning the 2009 European women’s junior championship and then the 2010 IHF Junior Women’s World Championship, being named to the All-star Team in the latter tournament.
She made her senior national team debut in 2010 too, and was a key part of the squad until her retirement with 269 matches and 757 goals. Indeed Oftedal’s first senior medal also came in 2010, as Norway claimed another EHF EURO gold medal.
Across her international career, Oftedal won a total of nine major titles and five minor medals. She was named to the All-star Teams of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the 2015 and 2023 World Championship, and the 2018, 2020 and 2022 EHF EUROs. She was also the IHF World Player of the Year in 2019, and captained Norway from 2015 until her retirement.
Oftedal’s career at a club level was also extremely successful. She started out in Norway before spending four years at Issy-Paris Hand, but it was in Hungary, at Györi Audi ETO KC, that she really found a home. She became pivotal to Györ’s recent success, never once missing out on the EHF FINAL4 Women in six editions of the EHF Champions League, and winning three trophies.
At her final EHF FINAL4 in 2024, Oftedal was named MVP of the weekend; she was also four times the best centre back of the Champions League.
Oftedal married German handballer Rune Dahmke in the summer of 2024.
