Hardball is a Norwegian investment company founded in 2004 to finance player transfers for the association football team Brann from Bergen, Norway.
Former news editor at Norwegian TV 2 and managing director of software company Vizrt, Bjarne Berg, fronted Hardball and was one of several members of the investors group until his death in 2010.
Hardball has no ownership in Brann, and the power to sell or trade players stays with the club.
According to Bjarne Berg, the company's long-term goal is to make itself redundant without losing money in the process.
[1] The company has partially or fully financed the following player transfers: Note!