Jesper Grønkjær

Jesper Grønkjær

Personal information
Date of birth	August 12, 1977 (1977-08-12) (age 33)
Place of birth	Nuuk, Greenland
Height	1.87 m (6 ft 1 1⁄2 in)
Playing position	Winger / Second striker
Club information
Current club	F.C. Copenhagen
Number	10
Youth career
	Thisted FC
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1995–1998	AaB	86	(10[1])
1998–2000	Ajax	55	(12[2])
2000–2004	Chelsea	88	(7[2])
2004–2005	Birmingham City	16	(0[2])
2005–2006	Atlético Madrid	16	(0[2])
2005–2006	VfB Stuttgart	25	(0[3])
2006–	F.C. Copenhagen	93	(13[1])
National team‡
1993	Denmark U-16	2	(2)
1992–1994	Denmark U-17	19	(13)
1994–1997	Denmark U-19	19	(7)
1996–1999	Denmark U-21	24	(4)
1999–2010	Denmark	80	(5)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 29 August 2010. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 20 June 2010

Jesper Grønkjær (born 12 August 1977 in Nuuk, Greenland) is a Danish professional football player who currently plays for F.C. Copenhagen. A pacey winger, earlier in his career he was told that he could have been a sprinter. He is able to play both right or left wing, as well as in the hole as supporting striker. He has been capped 80 times for the Danish national team, scoring five goals. He played for his country at the 2002 World Cup and the 2010 World Cup, as well as two European Championship tournaments. After Denmark's elimination from the 2010 World Cup, Grønkjær announced his retirement from international football.^[4]

Club career

AaB & Ajax

Raised in Thisted, Grønkjær started his career with local team Thisted FC. He moved on to defending Danish Superliga champions Aalborg Boldspilklub (AaB) in 1995. He played almost 100 matches for the club, including games in the European 1995–96 UEFA Champions League tournament. He attracted the attention of a string of European top clubs.

AaB sold Grønkjær in a £3.5 million transfer deal with Dutch club Ajax Amsterdam in October 1997, with Grønkjær moving to Amsterdam in July 1998. At Ajax, he was coached by fellow Dane Morten Olsen, and played alongside Danish international Ole Tobiasen. With Ajax, he won the 2000 Dutch Cup and he was named 1999–2000 "Ajax Player of the Year" by the fans.

Chelsea

In October 2000, Grønkjær joined English Premiership club Chelsea FC for £7.5m, which made him the then most expensive Danish football player. However, he was still sidelined with an injury until January 2001. His career at Chelsea lasted four years, and his erratic form caused much frustration for Chelsea manager Claudio Ranieri and the Chelsea fans. However, at his best he could tear past even the best full-backs and he created some great and important goals for the club.

A notable example was when Grønkjær assisted the first goal and scored the second against Liverpool FC on the final day of the 2002–03 season at Stamford Bridge to give Chelsea a 2–1 victory and the important fourth place in the league, which allowed the club to qualify for the upcoming 2003–04 UEFA Champions League tournament. The importance of this result cannot be overstated, as qualification for the Champions League was considered essential to Roman Abramovich's impending takeover of the club.

In the 2003–04 UEFA Champions League quarter-final second leg away at Highbury Stadium, Grønkjær came on for Scott Parker in the second half, with Arsenal FC leading 1–0 on the night and 2–1 on aggregate. Within six minutes of the substitution, Chelsea equalized through a goal by Frank Lampard. As Wayne Bridge scored three minutes before the final whistle, Chelsea went on to defeat Arsenal 3–2 on aggregate and book a place in the semi-finals.^[5] In the following semi-final against AS Monaco, he scored from outside the penalty area with a cross-come-shot, but it was not enough for Chelsea to reach the final, as the club was defeated 5–3 on aggregate by Monaco.

Grønkjær also scored a strike in front of 67,000 fans at Old Trafford against Manchester United in the penultimate game of the 2003–04 season, the second of a three-game scoring streak. His final goal scored for Chelsea came the following week against Leeds United, where he scored the winner with a header in the first half.

Three clubs in two years

Chelsea had fired manager Ranieri before Euro 2004, and Grønkjær left the club and started the 2004–05 season at league rivals Birmingham City. He had a poor start with Birmingham, as he had difficulty adapting to playing for a struggling team,^[6] and scored only once, against Lincoln City in the English League Cup.^[7] He was transferred to Atlético Madrid in January 2005 for a fee of around £2.5m. His spell with Atletico was also a troubled time for Grønkjær, and in the summer of 2005 he transferred to Bundesliga club VfB Stuttgart, where the club was building a formidable squad under manager Giovanni Trapattoni, with Grønkjær playing alongside fellow Dane Jon Dahl Tomasson.

However, despite the hype and expectations at the start of the season, the club struggled in mid-table. At the beginning of February 2006, Grønkjær and Tomasson openly criticised Trapattoni as "lacking the will to attack and win." The criticism came after 12 drawn games out of 20, and although Trapattoni wanted to assert his authority and benched both players in the next game, he himself was fired the very next day, on 9 February 2006. Rumours in the German and Danish media suggested that Grønkjær would leave Stuttgart in favour of Danish club F.C. Copenhagen^[8]

F.C. Copenhagen

Jesper Grønkjær during an F.C. Copenhagen warm-up

He was presented as a new player for the defending Danish champions F.C. Copenhagen on June 23, 2006.^[9] Seen as an important player in F.C. Copenhagen's first UEFA Champions League campaign in the 2006–07 tournament, Grønkjær picked up a groin injury in a September 2006 match against S.L. Benfica. He was prognosed an eight to twelve week recovery,^[10] and returned in a November game against Esbjerg fB in the Danish Cup. On December 6 2006, he scored his second Champions League goal in his career, against Celtic in a match FCK won 3–1 at Parken Stadium.

During 2007–08 and 2008–09 Grønkjær suffered several injuries and was out for most of both seasons. He recovered in early 2009 and at the end of 2008–09 season he had again earned a place in the starting line up.

International career

While at Thisted FC, he made his debut for the Danish youth national teams in October 1992 and played 6 matches, scoring twice at the 1994 UEFA European Under-16 Football Championship where Denmark were finalists. With three goals in six matches, as the Danish national youth team won silver medals at the 1994 European Under-16 Championship, he showed himself one of the brightest talents in Danish football. He was named 1995 Danish Under-19 Player of the Year

In his first year at Ajax, Grønkjær made his debut for the Danish national team in the 2000 European Championship (Euro 2000) qualification game against Italy on March 27, 1999. In the very first minute of the game, he famously echoed Jesper Olsen's 1986 World Cup mistimed backpass to Spanish forward Emilio Butragueño, as Grønkjær passed the ball to Italian forward Filippo Inzaghi who promptly scored the first goal in Italy's 2–1 victory.^[11] Despite the disappointing debut game, Grønkjær became an important part of the national team under coach Bo Johansson and he played full time in Denmark's three games at the Euro 2000 main tournament.

While at Chelsea, Grønkjær became a mainstay in the Danish national team under new national team coach Morten Olsen, and he played in all of Denmark's four games at the 2002 World Cup. In the qualification games for Euro 2004, he scored the game-winning goal in a 1–0 victory over closest rivals Norway, helping Denmark qualify for the final tournament in Portugal. He missed the opening game of Euro 2004 due to the death of his mother, but went to Portugal to join the Danish squad and scored the second goal of the 2–0 win against Bulgaria.

He was included in Olsen's squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.^[12]

Career highlights

Club statistics

International goals

Scores and results list Denmark's goal tally first.

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	2001-04-25	Copenhagen, Denmark	Slovenia	1–0	3–0	Friendly match
2	2002-05-26	Wakayama, Japan	Tunisia	1–0	2–1	Friendly match
3	2003-06-07	Copenhagen, Denmark	Norway	1–0	1–0	Euro 2004 qual.
4	2003-08-20	Copenhagen, Denmark	Finland	1–0	1–1	Friendly match
5	2004-06-18	Braga, Portugal	Bulgaria	2–0	2–0	Euro 2004

Honours

• 1995 Danish Under-19 Player of the Year
• 1999 Dutch Cup with Ajax
• 2007 Danish Superliga with Copenhagen
• 2006–07 TIPS-bladet's Player of the Year
• 2007 Danish Superliga Profile of the Year
• 2007 Danish Superliga Player of the Year
• 2007 Team of the Year
• 2007 TIPS-bladet's Autumn Profile
• 2009 Danish Cup with Copenhagen
• 2009 Danish Superliga with Copenhagen
• 2010 Danish Superliga with Copenhagen

References

External links

• Danish national team statistics
• Danish Superliga statistics
• F.C. Copenhagen profile
• AaB profile
• Fussballdaten profile
• Soccerbase profile

Denmark squads Denmark squad – UEFA Euro 2000 1 Schmeichel • 2 Schjønberg • 3 Henriksen • 4 Høgh • 5 Heintze • 6 Helveg • 7 A. Nielsen • 8 Grønkjær • 9 Tomasson • 10 Jørgensen • 11 Sand • 12 Colding • 13 Laursen • 14 B.S. Nielsen • 15 Tøfting • 16 Sørensen • 17 Goldbæk • 18 Molnar • 19 Bisgaard • 20 Gravesen • 21 Beck • 22 Kjær • Coach: Johansson Denmark squad – 2002 FIFA World Cup 1 Sørensen • 2 Tøfting • 3 Henriksen • 4 Laursen • 5 Heintze (c) • 6 Helveg • 7 Gravesen • 8 Grønkjær • 9 Tomasson • 10 Jørgensen • 11 Sand • 12 N. Jensen • 13 Lustü • 14 C. Jensen • 15 Michaelsen • 16 Kjær • 17 Poulsen • 18 Løvenkrands • 19 Rommedahl • 20 Bøgelund • 21 Madsen • 22 Christiansen • 23 Nielsen • Coach: Olsen 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 Denmark squad – 2010 FIFA World Cup 1 Sørensen • 2 C. Poulsen • 3 Kjær • 4 Agger • 5 Kvist • 6 L. Jacobsen • 7 Jensen • 8 Grønkjær • 9 Tomasson (c) • 10 Jørgensen • 11 Bendtner • 12 Kahlenberg • 13 Krøldrup • 14 J. Poulsen • 15 S. B. Poulsen • 16 Andersen • 17 Beckmann • 18 Larsen • 19 Rommedahl • 20 Enevoldsen • 21 Eriksen • 22 Christiansen • 23 Mtiliga • Coach: Olsen