| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 11 June 1967 | ||
| Place of birth | Saltangará, Faroe Islands | ||
| Height | 1.81 m (5 ft 11 1⁄2 in) | ||
| Playing position | goalkeeper player/manager |
||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | NSÍ Runavík | ||
| Number | 1 | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1985-1986 | NSÍ Runavík | ? | (?) |
| 1986-1987 | Frederikshavn fI | ? | (?) |
| 1988-1990 | NSÍ | ? | (?) |
| 1991 | NSÍ | 15 | (0) |
| 1992-1997 | GÍ Gøta | 105 | (0) |
| 1998-1999 | Leiftur | 36 | (0) |
| 1999 | GÍ Gøta | 1 | (0) |
| 1999-2000 | → Ayr United (loan) | 4 | (0) |
| 2000 | B36 Tórshavn | 1 | (0) |
| 2000 | Leiftur | 16 | (0) |
| 2001-2007 | NSÍ | 150 | (0) |
| National team‡ | |||
| 1988-2006 | Faroe Islands | 65 | (0) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 4 November 2007. † Appearances (Goals). |
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Jens Martin Knudsen (born 11 June 1967, in Saltangará) was a Faroese footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He was perhaps best known for wearing a hat in his matches as a result of an injury he suffered at age 14. He later become known as "the bobble hat goalkeeper".
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Knudsen started his career as an amateur footballer for local team NSÍ Runavík. In 1992 he moved to GÍ Gøta to win a Faroese championship medal four times in a row between 1993 and 1996. After two seasons in Iceland with Leiftur he returned to the Faroe Islands and spent a short time on loan at Scottish team Ayr United before moving back to Leiftur for one more season. In 2001 he finally returned to his NSÍ again to become player/manager. He retired from playing football at the age of 40.
He is famous for his 65 appearances for the Faroe Islands national football team,[1] and his penchant for wearing a white, wooly bobble hat.[2] Knudsen made his debut in an August 1988 friendly match against Iceland, the country's first FIFA-recognized match.
The Faroe Islands pulled off one of the most famous upsets in football history in their first official competitive match, by beating then World Cup 1990 competitors Austria 1-0 in a UEFA 92 qualifier. Knudsen was one of the heroes on that night, pulling off a massive string of saves and becoming a cult hero in the process. At the time he was a part-time forklift truck driver from the Runavik fish factory. Also, due to the aforementioned hat, in international football journalism he earned the nickname "The Keeper with the Bobble Hat."
On the BBC TV series Fantasy Football League in 1996, he appeared with presenters Frank Skinner and David Baddiel on the shows famous segment Phoenix From The Flames to re-create the famous moment. David and Frank played the part of the Austrian strikers and Jens played the part of himself, saving their shots exactly the same as in the actual match with the real footage played after. A running gag seen in the sketch, was two people dressed as Egyptian pharaohs, getting confused thinking the islands are near there hence the name, only to be told by Frank Skinner "You've got it all wrong, the Faroe Islands are near Iceland", only to receive a reply in a stereotypical Egyptian accent of "Oh you mean the freezer place!". Jens is later seen standing outside an outlet of the store holding up a piece of card reading "FAROE ISLANDS".
He played his final international match on 14 May 2006 against Poland. He is the third most capped player for the Faroe Islands, with 65 caps to his name.