Rugile Rulyte (born 7 July 2002) is a professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Rosenborg. Born in Lithuania, she represents the Norway national team.

Rugile Rulyte
Personal information
Full name Rugile Maria Rulyte
Date of birth (2002-07-07) 7 July 2002 (age 22)[1]
Place of birth Lithuania
Height 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Position(s) Goalkeeper
Team information
Current team
Rosenborg
Number 1
Youth career
–2017 Leksvik
2019 Trondheims-Ørn
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2020– Rosenborg 31 (0)
International career
2017 Norway U15 1 (0)
2020 Norway U18 2 (0)
2020 Norway U19 1 (0)
2021 Norway U23 1 (0)
2021– Norway 1 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 1 December 2021
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 1 December 2021

Career

edit

Her family migrated to Norway when she was 10 years old, settling in Leksvik.[2] She took up football, became a youth international and then a junior team player for Trondheims-Ørn, which changed its name to Rosenborg in 2020.[3] Still under 20 of age, Rulyte was backup to Kristine Nøstmo in the 2020 and 2021.[4] Nøstmo had previously retired from international play, and in the fall of 2021 Nøstmo announced her intention to retire altogether, opening for Rulyte as the new first-choice.[5]

After only a few youth international games,[3] Rulyte received her first call-up for Norway in August 2021 at the age of 19.[4] At this point, she had only played 10 games in the Toppserien. She started her first match in November 2021 against the World Cup qualifier Armenia. The match was interrupted 20 minutes before the end due to fog. The last 20 minutes of the match were played the next day, and Norway eventually won 10–0. In doing so, she became the first immigrant to feature for Norway in 12 years, the last one was Nasra Abdullah against Sweden in 2009.[6]

Before she was selected for the Norwegian national team, Rulyte had received a request to represent the Lithuanian national team, but chose to decline and justified the choice by saying that she feels more connected to Norway than to Lithuania and that she feels the opportunities are greater with Norway.[7]

Honours

edit

Club

edit
Rosenborg

References

edit
  1. ^ Rugile Rulyte at Soccerway
  2. ^ "Rugile Rulyte" (in Norwegian). Football Association of Norway. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
  3. ^ a b Rugile Rulyte at the Norwegian Football Federation (in Norwegian)
  4. ^ a b Pedersen, Simen (31 August 2021). "Moren gråt da Rugile fikk den uventede beskjeden: – Det er helt magisk". Nidaros (in Norwegian). Retrieved 1 December 2021.
  5. ^ Bjerkevoll, Ola (19 October 2021). "Idolet legger opp. Det kan bety fast plass for Rulyte: – Skal ha æren for å ha lært meg masse". Fosna-Folket (in Norwegian). Retrieved 1 December 2021.
  6. ^ Hagen, Mathias; et al. (1 December 2021). "Her blir Rugile (19) den første med innvandrerbakgrunn på tolv år" (in Norwegian). NRK. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
  7. ^ Pedersen, Simen (31 August 2021). "Moren gråt da Rugile fikk den uventede beskjeden: – Det er helt magisk". Nidaros (in Norwegian). Retrieved 6 May 2023.