FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023: Cecilie Fiskersrand on Engagement

Norway goalkeeper Cecilie Fiskstrand (27 years old) had one principle when she fell in love with Krister Deepwijk Sondeh (29 years old). It didn’t quite go according to plan.

2022 ended in the best possible way for Norway and LSK goalkeeper Cecilie Fiskersrand, a year marked mainly by a cruciate ligament injury that occurred that spring.

Just over a year later, Fiskersrand stood at the World Cup finals in New Zealand with a ring on his finger, and his fiancée was there as a support player on the bench.

The trip was planned long before the duo knew if the goalkeeper had been declared fit and selected for the World Cup.

– He ordered the tickets in November last year, and I hadn’t started playing ball yet. I still walk around with a limp, but he’s been a believer since day one, Fiskstrand says, laughing and looking away at his fiancée.

Now the goalkeeper reveals how Sondi proposed, and what her reaction was when he got down on one knee.

– We were in London on a trip, and we went to Hyde Park. When we were alone, he proposed. So I said when he got on his knees: Get up! “Stop the nonsense, it’s not funny!” Until I took out the ring and said, ‘Well, that’s true,’ said Fiskersrand, and burst into laughter.

– Were you so surprised?

– I had told him that it is not permissible for him to get engaged until two years after our love, and he did that after a year and a half. I never thought he would do that, says Fiskstrand.

She continues:

– It went well. But I was totally surprised. I thought he was joking.

VG Sunde asks if he’s nervous:

– I was very nervous. Not because of the answer, but because of the principle, he says, laughing.

– Have you planned the proposal for a long time?

– Yes, I’ve had it since the first day I saw her. My enthusiasm for Cecily has always been there. She was a very pretty girl and I was a little mischievous boy. I wasn’t exactly on her radar. It took ten years before she could cheat on me, he says.

The couple grew up in Sunnmøre, and had known each other their entire lives. Fiskstrand played for Langevåg’s first team as a 14-year-old, for whom Sunde also played, but it would be some time before love blossomed.

– We were in the same circle of friends. It wasn’t until we spent the summer at Sanmore that we were more together. “Then we discovered there was more,” Fiskersrand says.

Sondhi backed Fiskstrand during the FIFA World Cup in New Zealand, and it never came to fruition.

When Norway met Japan in the round of 16, Sondhi opted to drive all the way from Auckland to Wellington to watch the match. It took nearly eight hours.

After the restroom, the couple went on a five-day vacation trip to the Hawaiian island of Oahu.

– We had hoped to get as far as possible, but when we were exhausted, we sat down in the morning and found a plane. It was a long tournament, so it was good to have fun and think about other things, says Fiskersrand.

– But planning the wedding then?

– No, it’s too late. “We’re not quite there yet,” Fiskstrand says with a laugh.