Norwegian lottery millionaire buys share in footballer

Yngvar Borgesen, who recently won more than 102m Norwegian crowns (£11.5m) on the Eurojackpot lottery, put up 2.5m crowns (£282,000) so that Odd Grenland could keep their promising defender Fredrik Semb Berge, according to the newspaper Verdens Gang.

"I sat and thought about what I could do locally, and the answer was Odd. They have a good profile and mean a lot for the local community," Borgesen told the newspaper.

Odd Grenland, who are 14th in Norway's 16-team top flight, said in a statement that in return for his investment Borgesen would receive 25% of any future transfer sum for Semb Berge, who made his senior international debut for Norway in January against South Africa. Kazinform refers to theguardian.co.uk

The player told Verdens Gang: "He's a very nice guy who thought it was good to help, so I think this is positive. It means that Odd can get more money for me and that they don't have to sell me at any price."