He was also capped 15 times for the Norway national football team, scoring 5 goals.

[1] Pesen was a creative and goalscoring midfielder, and is considered by many to be Brann's best player in their championship-seasons 1962 and 1963.

He never reached the same level in the following seasons, possibly losing his motivation after being so successful in his younger years.

After his retirement in 1972, Pesen continued his football life as head coach in many of the Bergen-based clubs in the lower divisions.

In 2000 Pesen was diagnosed with cancer, and for a while it looked like he would pull through, but he had a fallback, and died on 22 March 2001 at the age of 61.