Claus Lundekvam (born 22 February 1973) is a Norwegian former professional footballer who played as a centre-back. Lundekvam began his career with Brann before moving to English side Southampton in 1996 where he played until his retirement in 2008. He made a total of 413 appearances for the club where 290 was in the Premier League. He notably played for Southampton in the 2003 FA Cup Final against Arsenal. Lundekvam was capped 40 times for Norway and often captained the national team. Playing career Born in Austevoll, Norway, Lundekvam joined Brann as a junior player with his senior debut coming in 1993. He eventually gained a regular place at centre-back before being sold to English side Southampton in the autumn of 1996. He was the team's first choice for captain for several years. Lundekvam made his debut for Norway in November 1995, but did not become a regular until 2002. He was capped 40 times, scoring twice. His first international goal, against Bosnia-Herzegovina in 2002, was the 1,000th goal in the history of the Norwegian national team. He scored only two goals during his Saints career. His first came against Wolverhampton Wanderers on 3 April 2004 in a 4–1 win, and his second against Cardiff in 2006 – coincidentally, both teams were managed at the time by former Saints manager Dave Jones. In 2002–03, he contributed to what was undoubtedly Southampton's best season since the 1980s, when they finished eighth in the Premier League and reached the FA Cup final, where they narrowly missed out on silverware in a 1–0 loss to Arsenal. This was during the management of Gordon Strachan, who famously joked when Lundekvam was stretchered off injured in a game against Leicester City in the 2003–04 season that he "didn't have a clue" whether the player was unconscious as "that's what he's always like". Lundekvam remained at Southampton after their relegation from the Premier League in 2005. He went off injured after five minutes of the first game of the 2006–07 season, away to Derby County on 6 August 2006 (being replaced in the centre of defence by Chris Baird) and missed the first two months of the season. He then enjoyed a long run in the team before another injury in March put him out for another month. In the game at St Mary's against Southend United on 6 May 2007, he fell awkwardly sustaining a