Bjarne Goldbæk

Bjarne Goldbæk (born 6 October 1968) is a Danish former professional footballer and current sports pundit for Eurosport. An attacking midfielder, he played for a number of foreign clubs, including Chelsea and Fulham in England and several clubs in Germany. He most prominently won the 1990 German Cup tournament and 1990–91 Bundesliga championship with 1. FC Kaiserslautern. For the Denmark national team, Goldbæk was capped 28 times, and he was a part of the Danish squads for the 1998 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2000 tournaments.

Bjarne Goldbæk
Personal information
Date of birth (1968-10-06) 6 October 1968
Place of birth Copenhagen, Denmark
Height 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position(s) Attacking midfielder
Youth career
0000–1987 B 1901
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1987 Næstved IF 17 (4)
1987–1989 Schalke 04 74 (8)
1989–1993 1. FC Kaiserslautern 80 (11)
1993–1994 Tennis Borussia Berlin 24 (5)
1994–1996 1. FC Köln 30 (2)
1996–1998 Copenhagen 74 (16)
1998–2000 Chelsea 29 (5)
2000–2003 Fulham 85 (6)
2003–2005 Rot-Weiss Essen 61 (9)
Total 474 (56)
International career
1987–1988 Denmark U-21 5 (0)
1987–2001 Denmark 28 (0)
Medal record
Men's football
Representing  Denmark
CONMEBOL–UEFA Cup of Champions
Runner-up1993 Argentina
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

He works as a football agent, and as an occasional football commentator on Eurosport during Bundesliga matches.

Club career

Born in Copenhagen, Goldbæk started his career with Danish club B 1901, before he was snapped up by the top-flight Danish 1st Division club Næstved IF in 1987.[1] He quickly moved abroad to play for Schalke 04 of the Bundesliga in September that year. In December 1989, Goldbæk changed clubs to Bundesliga rivals 1. FC Kaiserslautern, where he won the German Bundesliga championship in the 1990–91 season. He further played for Tennis Borussia Berlin and 1. FC Köln in Germany, before returning to Denmark to play for F.C. Copenhagen in 1996.

At F.C. Copenhagen, he quickly became a mainstay in the team, and he was awarded the 1998 F.C. Copenhagen Player of the Year award. Following good displays and a goal scored in two UEFA Cup Winners' Cup matches against Chelsea,[2][3] he joined them in November 1998 for a fee of £330,000, in a deal that sent fellow Dane Brian Laudrup from Chelsea to Copenhagen.[3][4] Goldbæk originally made a big impression when he moved to Stamford Bridge, but was not in favour with Chelsea's manager Gianluca Vialli, who tried to off-load him to Birmingham City and Nottingham Forest. He struggled to hold down a regular rotation place at Chelsea, before Fulham snatched him from Chelsea in January 2000, at the cost of £650,000.[5] He made his Fulham debut in January 2000, a 1–0 home defeat at the hands of Grimsby Town.[6] However, he soon became an important player, as Fulham won the English First Division crown in the 2000–01 season. As Fulham manager Jean Tigana's team strengthened, it appeared Goldbæk's future was becoming bleak at the club.[7] He made just 17 appearances in the 2001–02 season.[8] However, he started the next campaign in the picture, as he came on as a substitute in the Intertoto Cup game against FC Haka from Finland in early July 2002.[9] As a result, Goldbæk would sign a one-year contract extension.[10]

He left Fulham to play for Regionalliga club Rot-Weiss Essen in 2003.[11] Goldbæk justified his move by stating that he had moved with his family into a house located in the nearby town of Gladbeck, and the support Rot-Weiss Essen commanded by regularly having 10.000 spectators at their home games .[12] He was the team captain when the club earned promotion to the 2. Bundesliga in 2004, but as Rot-Weiss Essen were relegated to the Regionalliga again the following year, Goldbæk retired his active career in summer 2005.

International career

Goldbæk made his debut for the Denmark national team on 18 November 1987, in a 1988 Olympic Games qualifier against the West Germany Olympic national team, which ended in a 1–0 defeat.[13]

After retirement

Goldbæk works as a licensed consultant for players and coaches.

Career statistics

Club
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition[14][15][16]
Club Season League Cup Continental Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Næstved IF 1987 Danish 1st Division 174000000174
Schalke 04 1987–88 Bundesliga 223420000265
1988–89 2. Bundesliga 332000000332
1989–90 193110000204
Total 7485300007911
1. FC Kaiserslautern 1989–90 Bundesliga 3010000040
1990–91 224100010244
1991–92 242201031303
1992–93 285100050345
1993–94 3000000030
Total 80115010919512
Tennis Borussia Berlin 1993–94 2. Bundesliga 245300000275
1. FC Köln 1994–95 Bundesliga 140200000160
1995–96 162000000162
Total 302200000322
Copenhagen 1996–97 Danish Superliga 327000000327
1997–98 306000040346
1998–99 123000042165
Total 74160000827218
Chelsea 1998–99 Premier League 235600000295
1999–2000 6000000060
Total 295600000355
Fulham 1999–2000 First Division 183100000193
2000–01 432100000442
2001–02 Premier League 131202000171
2002–03 110311030181
Total 856713030987
Rot-Weiss Essen 2003–04 Regionalliga 307000000307
2004–05 2. Bundesliga 312100000322
Career total 474662944020352773

International
Appearances and goals by national team and year[13]
National teamYearAppsGoals
Denmark 198710
198800
198900
199000
199130
199210
199330
199400
199500
199620
199700
199820
199990
200050
200120
Total280

Honours

1. FC Kaiserslautern

F.C. Copenhagen

Chelsea

Fulham

Individual

References
  1. "Dagens portræt – Farligt og flittigt talent". Politiken. 18 November 1992.
  2. Tongue, Steve (23 October 1998). "Desailly saves hapless Chelsea". The Independent. Independent News and Media. Retrieved 23 February 2012.
  3. "Season 1998/99". F.C. Copenhagen. Archived from the original on 11 August 2009. Retrieved 23 February 2012.
  4. "Casiraghi injury may put young Finn in firing line". The Guardian. Guardian News and Media. 10 November 1998. Retrieved 23 February 2012.
  5. Thomas, Russell; Foot, David (15 January 2000). "Goldbaek grabs Fulham chance". The Guardian. Guardian News and Media. Retrieved 23 February 2012.
  6. "Games played by Bjarne Goldbæk in 1999/2000". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 24 February 2012.
  7. "Goldbaek faces soccer wilderness". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 14 May 2002. Retrieved 24 February 2012.
  8. "Games played by Bjarne Goldbæk in 2001/2002". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 23 February 2012.
  9. "Fulham in Intertoto stalemate". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 6 July 2002. Retrieved 23 February 2012.
  10. "Bjarne signs new deal". Fulham Official Website. 17 May 2002. Retrieved 10 April 2014.
  11. "Bjarne Goldbaek wechselt zu RWE". Kicker. Olympia-Verlag GmbH. 10 June 2003. Retrieved 24 February 2012.
  12. "Wir müssen den Aufstieg nachholen" (in German). kicker.de. 10 June 2003. Retrieved 24 June 2012.
  13. "Bjarne Goldbæk profile". Danish Football Association. Retrieved 24 February 2012.
  14. "Bjarne Goldbæk". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmermann. Retrieved 24 February 2012.
  15. "Bjarne Goldbæk". ESPN Soccernet. Retrieved 24 February 2012.
  16. "Bjarne Goldbæk profile". Worldfootball.net. Retrieved 24 February 2012.
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