Aabrekk later worked for the Football Association of Norway as a coordinator for youth development in Western Norway. He also served as Nils Johan Semb's assistant coach for the Norwegian under-21 team from 1992 to 1998, and when Semb succeeded Egil Olsen as head coach of the Norway national football team in 1998, Aabrekk became assistant coach of the national senior team. At the same time, he worked as Kjell Tennfjord's assistant in Brann, and in the summer of 1998 he became their head coach. After leading Brann to the finals of the 1999 Norwegian Cup, where they lost 2–0 against Rosenborg, he received a one-year leave of absence to work full-time as assistant coach of the national team during their preparations for the UEFA Euro 2000 football championship. He resigned from his job at Brann without returning, because Brann had already hired Teitur Thordarson as their head coach and offered Aabrekk a position in their youth department, a job Brann claimed it was impossible to combine with the position of assistant coach of the national team.