The father of a current Arsenal star has matched one of the Gunners' most impressive accomplishments ever by going unbeaten in a full league season.
Arsene Wenger's side of 2003/04 is regarded by Premier League fans as one of the best in the competition's history, after the north Londoners went 38 matches undefeated. Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp, Patrick Vieira and co. managed to lift the famous trophy with a record of 26 wins and 12 draws.
Although Arsenal are not the only team to go a complete league campaign without tasting defeat, their achievement is still as impressive as it was 22 years ago. But while one of their current players, Martin Odegaard, is simply hoping to taste Premier League glory by the end of the 2025/26 campaign, his dad has only recently finished an unbeaten season of his own.
While Hans Erik Odegaard enjoyed a stellar playing career in Norway at Drammens BK, Stromsgodset and Sanderfjord, he has since embarked on a new profession in management. Formerly the Real Madrid U17 manager while his son was settling in in Spain, he has since taken on a senior position at his former club Sanderfjord and most recently Lillestrom in 2025.
Having been relegated from the Eliteserien in 2024, the club hired Hans Erik in January last year in the hope that they could immediately bounce back to the Norwegian top flight. And it's fair to say that their faith has been repaid.
During his time in the dugout, Lillestrom have claimed the title as invincible champions, winning 25 matches and drawing just five. It marked the first time in the league's history that a club had gone a full season without tasting defeat, and he's since extended that record to 35 wins.
Even more impressively, they conceded just 18 league goals across 30 matches, scoring 87 times by comparison. Second-placed Start were some way behind the champions, earning 25 points less across the course of the campaign.
Securing promotion at the first time of asking, Hans Erik will now have to contend with Norway's best sides when the Eliteserien 2026 season gets underway next weekend. They are first set to face Aalesund on Sunday 15th March, who also earned promotion to the top flight last year.
Martin Odegaard Could Follow Father into Coaching
Arsenal's Martin Odegaard celebrates after beating Aston Villa.
As the captain and heartbeat of the current Arsenal team, Martin Odegaard often finds himself praised for his intelligence on the pitch, something which could benefit him should he choose to follow his father's footsteps and pursue a career in coaching. But the Norwegian international is staying focused on his current situation at present.
Speaking to the Gunners' media team in 2025 about potentially going into management, he said: "I haven’t started any coaching qualifications or anything, so maybe it’s something I will do in the future. At the moment though I feel like I have enough on my schedule.
"A lot of people ask me whether I would be interested in coaching and to be fair, I’m not sure. I’ll have to see towards the end of my career and also when I stop playing, I guess I’ll see how it feels.
"When you’ve been in football for so long, it can be quite hard to stop completely at that point. It could be natural to stay in the game in some way, but also what we are doing every day is quite intense and a lot of hard work. So the question is whether you want more of that, or take a break from it. That’s the question I’ll have to ask myself in the end."