Sivert Nilsen is giving up silverware in Sotra to try and get Aberdeen’s season back on track at Kilmarnock.
Scandinavian football is normally in shutdown but for Nilsen the festive schedule was one of the most competitive times of the year. He had spells in Norway and Sweden with the likes of Elfsborg and SK Brann but it was more about the local bragging rights between him and his friends.
Nilsen would return home to his local village, just outside of Bergen, for a full-scale match with his mates on Christmas Eve. They would follow it up with a competitive five-a-side tournament on Boxing Day. Nilsen and his team-mates won the tournament last year but won’t be defending their title this year because the Dons ace will be playing competitively and looking to pick up three points at Kilmarnock. The 33-year-old midfielder said: “We are training on Christmas Day but in Norway we celebrate on December 24th.
“IWhen I was home there was a Christmas tradition in my hometown where we get together and play football on Christmas. Not a team, just friends in a big mass gathering of all the guys I played with when I was 15 or 16.
“We would just get together and it would be pretty full-on as it’s a full pitch and everybody is there. On Boxing Day in Norway it’s normal to have an indoor tournament and I always played in that.
“That was the most important thing as you don’t think about your career when you play in that. You can get injured as you can go 100 percent because your friends make up the team and you play other groups of friends from the same town.
“Unfortunately this year I am not able to go as we won it last year and it’s a big thing in my hometown. I think my friends are upset I can’t be there and we have another player
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