Toronto FC confirms acquisition of defender Sigurd Rosted

Norwegian international joins TFC from Danish club Brøndby

Toronto FC has added another centre-back to its ranks ahead of the 2023 Major League Soccer season. After much speculation, Norwegian defender Sigurd Rosted is officially a Red.

Toronto has acquired the 28-year-old from Brøndby IF using Targeted Allocation Money, signing Rosted to a three-year deal with an option for a fourth.

TFC has allowed 66 goals in back-to-back MLS seasons, so the defence and goalkeeping departments have quickly been addressed by the club’s management during the offseason. Rosted joins MLS veterans Sean Johnson and Matt Hedges, as well as Italian left-back Raoul Petretta as the club’s notable additions in the defensive third.

Rosted is now Toronto’s seventh signing of the offseason as the roster begins to take shape. He will get his first chance to suit up for his new side at the Coachella Valley Invitational preseason tournament which begins on February 8 in Indio, California.

An experienced defender at the European level, Rosted has played professionally in Denmark, Belgium and his native Norway. He had been a regular at Brøndby since joining the Danish powerhouse from KAA Gent in August 2019.

Photo by Lars Ronbog / FrontZoneSport via Getty Images

The 6’2’’ centre-half was an integral part of the squad during the club’s 2020-21 title-winning season in which Brøndby claimed the Danish Superliga by finishing a sole point above FC Midtjylland. He scored three goals and assisted one in 23 appearances as Brøndby were crowned Danish champions for the 11th time. Rosted recently made his 100th appearance for Brøndby against Aalborg BK in October 2022, his penultimate match for the club.

Born in Oslo, Rosted spent the first six years of his career in Norway with Kjelsås Fotball and then Sarpsborg 08. Toronto FC Head Coach and Sporting Director Bob Bradley, who was previously the manager of Stabæk Fotball in the Norwegian Eliteserien, seems to be using his connections in Scandinavia to recruit talent to Toronto. Rosted is the second Norwegian to sign for TFC in 2023, with striker Adama Diomande having become a Red in January.

“Sigurd is an experienced centre-back who has shown his leadership and intelligence while playing at a high level in a strong European league,” said Bradley via a club press release.

“We are very excited to add Sigurd to our group as we know he is excited for this new challenge and to represent our club.”

Rosted has represented his country five times since making his national team debut in March 2018, though he has not made an appearance for Norway since the same year. He was called up to squads in 2019 and 2020 but was an unused substitute in European Qualifiers and UEFA Nations League action.

Though he will be playing his club football in North America for the first time, Rosted has connections to several players who TFC fans will be familiar with. Rosted was teammates with Canada men’s national team striker Jonathan David while with Gent, and played alongside 2022 MLS MVP Hany Mukhtar at Brøndby. Furthermore, Rosted and fellow TFC centre-back Luke Singh were both at Brøndby in 2019, though Singh never featured for the senior team during his loan spell in Denmark.