Per Nielsen

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Per Nielsen
Personal information
Full name Per Lundgren Nielsen
Date of birth October 15, 1973 (1973-10-15) (age 34)
Place of birth    Århus, Denmark
Height 1.91 m
Playing position Defender
Club information
Current club Brøndby IF
Youth clubs
1979-1993 Brøndby IF
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
1993-present Brøndby IF 390 (23)   
National team2
2002-present Denmark 10 (0)

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of 21 March 2008.
2 National team caps and goals correct
as of 20 March 2008.
* Appearances (Goals)

Per Lundgren Nielsen (born October 15, 1973) is a Danish professional football (soccer) player who has played in the central defense of Brøndby IF in the Danish Superliga his entire club career. With Brøndby, Nielsen has won five Danish championships and three Danish Cups since his senior debut in 1993, and from 2002 to 2008 he was the team captain. As of March 2008, he has played 10 matches for the Denmark national football team and is noted for 19 matches for the national under-21 team from 1994 to 1996.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Born in Århus, Per Nielsen's parents moved to Brøndby when he was a child, and he enrolled at Brøndby IF at the age of five. He was called up to play for the national under-21 team in March 1993, and Nielsen made his senior debut in the Brøndby IF jersey on June 26, 1993, and was touted as the long-term successor of central defender Uche Okechukwu. He moved into the senior squad, coming from a Brøndby youth team that sported several later first team regulars, including Kim Daugaard, Allan Ravn and later Danish national team player Ebbe Sand.[1] He became a mainstay in the team during the 1995-96 season as Brøndby won the Danish championship, and he has since then been a regular starter.

Despite winning several trophies with Brøndby, Nielsen never broke into the Danish national team, but he was selected to play for the league national team, consisting of the best players from the domestic Danish Superliga championship. He went on his first trip with the league national team in 1997, to the US Cup in California, United States. He likewise took part in the league national team campaign in Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela in 1999, with injuries forcing him out of the 1998 tour. Following the 2001-02 Danish championship triumph with Brøndby, goalkeeper Mogens Krogh retired, and Nielsen was chosen as new team captain. He finally debuted for the Danish national team in September 2002 as a late substitute, and he would go on to be among the fringe players of the Danish squad. After his second Danish Cup triumph in 2003, Per Nielsen was elected the 2003 Brøndby IF Player of the Year.

In 2004, the Danish football players' association announced a strike action. Brøndby was still in European competition, and would be forced to field a team consisting of retired Brøndby professionals, youth team players and recent signings who had yet to become members of the players' association, in the August 2004 UEFA Cup qualification re-match against FK Ventspils. Two days before the match, Per Nielsen and team mate Dan Anton Johansen broke the strike and returned to the Brøndby training,[2] causing a lot of controversy in the process. The day after, the players' and football clubs' associations reached a provisorical agreement,[3] and Brøndby's first team players were selected for the match, though they were eliminated on aggregate.

Nielsen was once again included in the Danish league national team's trip to California in 2004, where he made his 10th appearance for the team, with injuries forcing him out of the 2003 tour. In January 2006, Per Nielsen was called up for his sixth trip with the Danish league national team. However, he chose not to travel with the team to the Carlsberg Cup in Hong Kong, citing personal reasons, which national team coach Morten Olsen fully supported.[4]

In February 2008, Nielsen chose to resign from the position of team captain, stating that he would spend his remaining one and a half years at Brøndby helping the club move on, also if that meant his taking a place on the bench.[5] Stefán Gíslason was named his successor.

[edit] Honours

[edit] References

  1. ^ Kurt Stendal, "Brøndbys unge garde", Berlingske Tidende, 6 December 1993.
  2. ^ (Danish) Brøndby IF - 2004, Brøndby IF, 4 January 2005.
  3. ^ (Danish) OK04: Spillerkonflikt afblæst, Dansk Metal 25 August 2004.
  4. ^ (Danish) Ligalandsholds-afbud fra Per Nielsen, DBU, 5 January 2006.
  5. ^ (Danish) Per Nielsen overdrager anførerhvervet, Brøndby IF, 22 February 2008.

[edit] External links

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Brøndby IF – current squad

2 T. Andersen • 4 Nielsen • 5 Howard • 6 Holmén • 7 Lorentzen • 8 Daugaard • 9 Retov • 10 Ericsson • 13 Madsen • 16 S. Andersen • 17 Duncan • 18 von Schlebrügge • 19 Peguero • 20 Gíslason • 21 T. Rasmussen • 22 M. Rasmussen • 23 Spelmann • 24 Bischoff • 25 Mikkelsen • 26 Jensen • 28 Katongo • 30 Tørnes • 31 Williams • 32 Randrup • 33 Berthelsen • 40 Cramer • 41 Agger • Manager: Køhlert