Finn Døssing

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Personal information
Finn Døssing
Full name	Finn Døssing Jensen
Date of birth	27 April 1941
Place of birth	Viborg, Denmark
Position	Striker
Professional clubs*
Years	Club	Apps (goals)
1958-1964 1964-1968 1968	Viborg FF Dundee United Aalborg BK	349 (?) 101 (80) 24 (7)
* Professional club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.

Finn Døssing Jensen (born 27 April 1941 in Viborg, Jutland) is a former Danish football player most famous for his spell in Scotland at Dundee United in the 1960s. He is one of the greatest goalscorers ever at the club, where he remains hugely popular.

[edit] Biography

Døssing started his career with his hometown club Viborg FF in 1958, aged 17. He played a number of Danish national youth team matches, and made his debut for the Denmark under-21 national football team in September 1963. He never played a senior national team match, standing in the shadow of striker Ole Madsen. With the help of Jack Johnson, a former manager of B 1913, Døssing got in contact with Dundee United. He played a trial match for the club, scoring all four goals in a 4-0 win for Dundee Unied. In December 1964, he signed his first professional contract, and moved to Dundee United under manager Jerry Kerr. This effectively banned him from the strictly amateur Danish national team.

United had made a poor start to the 1964-65 First Division season and appeared to be heading towards relegation, which would have undone the great work done by Kerr since leading the team to promotion in the 1959-60 season. Since then the club had enjoyed their longest ever spell in the top flight and were becoming established as a permanent fixture in the First Division although relegation in the Spring of 1965 may have doomed the club to obscurity. However, Kerr had taken a gamble in bringing some of the first foreigners to play in Scotland. The signing of Finn Døssing turned out to be an inspired move by Kerr, with Døssing scoring 21 goals in only 19 matches and playing a huge role in the club moving into mid-table security that year. The following year, in the 1965-66 season, Døssing scored 25 goals, helping United to finished in 5th place in the league qualifying for Europe for the first time. Sadly, he did not adequately reap the reward of his efforts, as injury kept him out of both victories against FC Barcelona and the first game against Juventus, although in the home leg against the Italian giants, he returned to his usual form by scoring the game’s only goal.

After three years he left Tannadice Park a hero, having scored 76 goals in 115 appearances for and helping "the Arabs" have their first taste of European football. Returning to Denmark, he chose to play for Aalborg BK (AaB). According to the Danish rules of amateurism, Døssing was dictated a half year quarantine before he was eligible to play in the Danish championship. He entered an AaB team which had not won in their first eight matches, and helped the club finish in mid-table. Expectations were high before the 1969 season, but days before the opening of the season, Døssing decided to leave AaB. He moved back to birthtown Viborg to run his own gents’ outfitters business, a decision he never regretted.

He retains association with Dundee United by his membership of the ArabTRUST (the club's supporters trust) and with one of the Federation of Dundee United Supporters’ Clubs , in Argyll, being named after him. After almost 40 years since last playing for United, he remains the idol of some of the club's fans, many of whom still consider him their favourite player.