Per Skou

Per Skou started his career in 1908 playing for the Fodbollklubben av 1908 which merged with Odd in Skien in 1910. In 1911 the left back joined the club Lyn in Kristiania (now Oslo) and another year later Odd. For the period from 1912-17, he returned to Odd and then played for more than a decade (1918-29) for Lyn again. With both clubs, he won Norwegian cup championships, with Lyn in 1911 and with Odd Skien in 1913 and 1915. Additionally, he lost two finals, with Odd in 1910 and with Lyn in 1923.

Skou had his international début for Norway in 1911 in a friendly against Sweden. At the 1912 Olympic Games, he represented Norway in the matches against Denmark and Austria, both of which were lost without scoring a single goal. Skou scored his only goal for the national team in 1913, converting a penalty kick in the 1-1 draw against Sweden. In 1918, he was a member of the Norwegian team that beat Denmark 3-1, Norway’s first ever victory in an international match. Skou had a second appearance at the Olympics in 1920, where he played two of three matches, including the one in which Norway eliminated the favourites from England. He won his 41st and last cap in 1923 in a 2-2 draw against Switzerland. He captained the national team in five games.

After his active career, Skou became sports director of Skien. After acting as vice president for two years, he was president of the Norwegian Football Association from 1929-33 and was subsequently made their first honorary member. In 1936, the football club Lyn also made him an honorary member and in 1962, Skou was awarded the King’s Gold Medal of Merit.

Skou started his professional career working for Centralbanken for one year. He was the employed by the paper manufacturer Union for about 50 years of his working life, eventually as head of the auditing department. In addition, he was a member of the insurance commission in the Federation of Norwegian Industries. In 1917, he married Magdalene Theresa Eliassen with whom he had one daughter.