Stephan Andersen

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Stephan Maigaard Andersen (born November 26, 1981) is a Danish professional football player, who plays as a goalkeeper for Brøndby IF in the Danish Superliga. Andersen has played a single game for the Denmark national football team and was chosen to represent his country at the 2004 European Championship.

[edit] Biography

Starting his career at the youth teams of Hvidovre IF, he moved youth setup of multiple Danish champions Brøndby IF. When he wasn't seen as a long-term prospect for the Brøndby goalkeeping position, he left Brøndby in the winter 1999, to rejoin Hvidovre. Andersen made his senior debut for Hvidovre IF in the lower league Danish 1st Division, and was recognized as a big talent. He was called up for the Danish under-21 national team in June 2001, where he immediately displaced the two years older Rune Pedersen.

In March 2002, Hvidovre owner, and professional goalkeeper, Peter Schmeichel chose to end his engagement in the club. Hvidovre actively sought to off-load Andersen, one of only two professional players in the squad. He was initially wanted by a number of clubs in English football, including Schmeichel's club Aston Villa FC and Sunderland AFC, the club of Danish international goalkeeper Thomas Sørensen. Sunderland opted to buy Norwegian international goalkeeper Thomas Myhre instead, and no other foreign offers materialized. Andersen moved to Akademisk Boldklub (AB) in the top-flight Danish Superliga championship in August 2002. While at AB, he reached 21 games for the Danish under-21 national team, and was the first goalkeeper to win a Danish talent award, when he was named 2003 Danish under-21 Talent of the Year. Following strong displays for AB, Andersen made his Danish national team debut against Spain in March 2004. He was selected as a backup goalkeeper for the Danish national team squad at the 2004 European Championship, where Thomas Sørensen was preferred as the starting goalkeeper in every game.

He moved abroad to join English club Charlton Athletic in a DKK 8 million transfer deal in June 2004.^[1] In his first season with the London club, he only made two first team appearances. Due to an injury sustained by first choice goalkeeper Dean Kiely, Andersen started the 2005-06 season in the team. Charlton's poor mid-season form saw him dropped in favour of Kiely at first, then Thomas Myhre, who established himself as first choice as Charlton turned their season around. Andersen was reinstated into the lineup for the last two games of the season, when Myhre suffered an injury. In the 2006 summer transfer window, Andersen looked ready to join Leeds United on a season-long loan deal,^[2] but as Charlton insisted on a clause to allow the club to recall Andersen at any time during the season, the transfer fell through at the last moment.^[3] In the first half of the 2006-07 season, he saw the loaned-in Scott Carson become Charlton's starting goalkeeper. In November 2006, Andersen signed a transfer deal to move back to Denmark to play for Superliga side Brøndby IF at the start of the January 2007 transfer window.^[1]

[edit] Honours

• 2003 Danish under-21 Talent of the Year

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Danish national team profile
• (Danish) Brøndby IF profile
• Career statistics at Danmarks Radio
• Soccerbase career statistics

v • d • e Denmark squad - UEFA Euro 2004 1 Sørensen • 2 Bøgelund • 3 Henriksen • 4 Laursen • 5 N. Jensen • 6 Helveg • 7 Gravesen • 8 Grønkjær • 9 Tomasson • 10 Jørgensen • 11 Sand • 12 Kahlenberg • 13 Krøldrup • 14 C. Jensen • 15 D. Jensen • 16 Skov-Jensen • 17 Poulsen • 18 Priske • 19 Rommedahl • 20 Perez • 21 Madsen • 22 Andersen • 23 Løvenkrands • Coach: Olsen