Pål Arne Johansen (born 16 February 1977) is a Norwegian professional footballmidfielder and manager. He is the head coach of Allsvenskan club Häcken.
Career
Johansen hails from Brønnøy where he played youth football for Sport-71 and Brønnøysund, and made his senior debut for Brønnøy in 1993. Ahead of the 1994 season, he moved south to attend the Norwegian School of Elite Sport and play youth football for Bærum.[1] His first senior team in Southeast Norway was Fossum, joining 1. divisjon team Lyn in 1998. After barely featuring in their promotion season of 2000, he went on to Ull/Kisa.[2] In 2002, he joined Bærum,[3] but after one season he pursued a coaching career, starting as player-manager of Groruddalen. He also immersed himself in theoretical football studies at the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, co-writing the book Ferdighetsutvikling i fotball in 2002.[4] Johansen was a player developer in Lyn, and in late 2005, when Lyn contested the 2005–06 Royal League, Johansen was acting assistant manager under Henning Berg. Johansen however resigned because of the values espoused by Lyn's directors.[5]