Kristoffer Velde

Kristoffer Velde

Velde with Lech Poznań in 2023
Personal information
Date of birth	(1999-09-09) 9 September 1999 (age 25)
Place of birth	Haugesund, Norway
Height	1.79 m (5 ft 10 in) [1]
Position(s)	Winger
Team information
Current team	Portland Timbers
Number	99
Youth career
0000–2012	Kopervik
2013	Vard
2014	Kopervik
2015–2017	Haugesund
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2017–2021	Haugesund	101	(21)
2019	→ Nest-Sotra (loan)	0	(0)
2022–2024	Lech Poznań	72	(18)
2024–2025	Olympiacos	21	(4)
2025–	Portland Timbers	0	(0)
International career‡
2017	Norway U19	2	(1)
2023	Norway	1	(0)
* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 4 May 2025 ‡ National team caps and goals as of 20:51, 20 June 2023 (UTC)

Kristoffer Velde (born 9 September 1999) is a Norwegian professional footballer who plays as a winger for Major League Soccer club Portland Timbers and the Norway national team. ^[1]

Club career

Velde played youth football in Kopervik, spent the 2013 season in Vard's youth setup, returned to Kopervik before joining Haugesund in 2015. He made his senior debut in 2017.

In early January 2019 it was announced that Velde was loaned out to Nest-Sotra for the 2019 season. ^[2] The loan was terminated in early April 2019. ^[3]

He moved to Polish club Lech Poznań in January 2022. ^[4] In his first half-season with the team, he played a back-up role as Lech won the 2021–22 Ekstraklasa title. ^[5] Following the departure of Jakub Kamiński, Velde became a regular in the club's starting line-up. He played a key role in Lech's 2022–23 UEFA Europa Conference League run, recording seven goals and four assists throughout the campaign that saw the Polish club reach the quarter-finals. In total, Velde made 98 appearances, scored 29 goals and assisted 18 more across all competitions for Lech. ^[6]

Velde with Lech Poznań in 2022.

On 29 July 2024, Velde was transferred to Super League Greece club Olympiacos for an undisclosed fee, reported to be €3.5 million, with an additional €1.5 million in bonuses. ^[7]

On 13 August 2025, Velde signed with Major League Soccer side Portland Timbers on a three-and-a-half year deal for a reported $5 million transfer fee. ^[8]

International career

In 2017, he featured for the Norway under-19s. ^[9] Velde received his first international callup for the senior team in June 2023, and won his first cap as a substitute against Cyprus. ^[10]

Personal life

Velde is half Argentinean. ^[11] He is nicknamed "Veldinho". ^{[12] [13]}

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 4 May 2025 ^[14]

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			National cup [a]		Europe		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Haugesund	2017	Eliteserien	9	0	0	0	—		—		9	0
	2018	Eliteserien	9	2	5	2	—		—		14	4
	2019	Eliteserien	26	4	6	2	6 [b]	2	—		38	8
	2020	Eliteserien	28	8	0	0	—		—		28	8
	2021	Eliteserien	29	7	1	0	—		—		30	7
	Total		101	21	12	4	6	2	—		119	27
Lech Poznań	2021–22	Ekstraklasa	8	0	2	0	—		—		10	0
	2022–23	Ekstraklasa	30	8	1	0	16 [c]	8	1 [d]	0	48	16
	2023–24	Ekstraklasa	33	10	3	1	3 [e]	2	—		39	13
	2024–25	Ekstraklasa	1	0	0	0	—		—		1	0
	Total		72	18	6	1	19	10	1	0	98	29
Olympiacos	2024–25	Super League Greece	21	4	6	2	6 [b]	0	—		33	6
Career total			194	43	24	7	31	12	1	0	240	62

1. Includes Norwegian Football Cup, Polish Cup, Greek Football Cup
2. Appearances in UEFA Europa League
3. Two appearances and one goal in UEFA Champions League, fourteen appearances and seven goals in UEFA Europa Conference League
4. Appearance in Polish Super Cup
5. Appearances in UEFA Europa Conference League

International

As of match played 20 June 2023 ^[15]

Appearances and goals by national team and year

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Norway
	2023	1	0
Total		1	0

Honours

Olympiacos

• Super League Greece: 2024–25 ^[16]
• Greek Football Cup: 2024–25 ^[17]

Individual

• Ekstraklasa Player of the Month: May 2023 ^[18]

References

1. Kristoffer Velde at Soccerway . Retrieved 22 January 2019.
2. Kristoffer Velde signerer for Nest-Sotra! Archived 28 December 2019 at the Wayback Machine , nestsotra.no, 9 January 2019
3. Han er tilbake!, fkh.no, 8 April 2019
4. "Kristoffer Velde piłkarzem Lecha Poznań". www.lechpoznan.pl. 12 January 2022.
5. "PKO Ekstraklasa: Lech Poznań mistrzem Polski 2021/22". sport.tvp.pl (in Polish). 14 May 2022. Retrieved 29 July 2024.
6. "Kristoffer Velde opuszcza Lecha Poznań" (in Polish). Lech Poznań. 29 July 2024. Retrieved 29 July 2024.
7. "Olympiakos Pireus potwierdził transfer Kristoffera Velde". goal.pl (in Polish). 29 July 2024. Retrieved 29 July 2024.
8. "Portland Timbers acquire DP forward Kristoffer Velde | MLSSoccer.com". mlssoccer.
9. Fotballforbund, Norges. "Kristoffer Velde – Profil". fotball.no – Norges Fotballforbund.
10. Solberg, Preben Ørpetveit (20 June 2023). "Velde fikk debuten i sluttminuttene". Karmøynytt (in Norwegian). Retrieved 22 June 2023.
11. Arntzen, Mats (8 June 2023). "Landslagsklare Velde åpner opp om tøff tid: − Fra det verste av det verste til gud i Poznan". VG (in Norwegian). Retrieved 22 June 2023.
12. "Se hvem som kom på rundens lag!". VG.no. 2 August 2020. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
13. ""Veldinho" ut 2022". Haugesund. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
14. "Kristoffer Velde". altomfotball.no (in Norwegian). TV 2. Archived from the original on 16 May 2019. Retrieved 20 July 2019.
15. "Kristoffer Velde". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmermann. Retrieved 2 April 2025.
16. Tomaras, Dimitris (13 April 2025). "Ολυμπιακός – ΑΕΚ 1–0: Θρυλικό και το 48!" [Olympiacos – AEK 1–0: 48th was also legendary!] (in Greek). Gazzetta. Retrieved 13 April 2025.
17. "Θρυλικό νταμπλ στα 100 χρόνια Ολυμπιακός" [Legendary double in Olympiacos' 100th anniversary] (in Greek). Olympiacos F.C. 17 May 2025. Retrieved 21 May 2025.
18. "PIŁKARZ MAJA 2023: KRISTOFFER VELDE (LECH POZNAŃ)" (in Polish). Ekstraklasa. 7 June 2023. Archived from the original on 7 June 2023. Retrieved 7 June 2023.