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 (age 56)
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-up 1993 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1998 for a fee of £330,000, in a deal that sent fellow Dane Brian Laudrup from Chelsea to Copenhagen.^[3][4] Goldbæk originally made a big impression when he moved to Stamford Bridge, but was not in favour with Chelsea's manager Gianluca Vialli, who tried to off-load him to Birmingham City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
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Næstved IF	1987	Danish 1st Division	17	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	17	4
Schalke 04	1987–88	Bundesliga	22	3	4	2	0	0	0	0	26	5
	1988–89	2. Bundesliga	33	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	33	2
	1989–90		19	3	1	1	0	0	0	0	20	4
	Total		74	8	5	3	0	0	0	0	79	11
1. FC Kaiserslautern	1989–90	Bundesliga	3	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	4	0
	1990–91		22	4	1	0	0	0	1	0	24	4
	1991–92		24	2	2	0	1	0	3	1	30	3
	1992–93		28	5	1	0	0	0	5	0	34	5
	1993–94		3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0
	Total		80	11	5	0	1	0	9	1	95	12
Tennis Borussia Berlin	1993–94	2. Bundesliga	24	5	3	0	0	0	0	0	27	5
1. FC Köln	1994–95	Bundesliga	14	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	16	0
	1995–96		16	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	16	2
	Total		30	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	32	2
Copenhagen	1996–97	Danish Superliga	32	7	0	0	0	0	0	0	32	7
	1997–98		30	6	0	0	0	0	4	0	34	6
	1998–99		12	3	0	0	0	0	4	2	16	5
	Total		74	16	0	0	0	0	8	2	72	18
Chelsea	1998–99	Premier League	23	5	6	0	0	0	0	0	29	5
	1999–2000		6	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	6	0
	Total		29	5	6	0	0	0	0	0	35	5
Fulham	1999–2000	First Division	18	3	1	0	0	0	0	0	19	3
	2000–01		43	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	44	2
	2001–02	Premier League	13	1	2	0	2	0	0	0	17	1
	2002–03		11	0	3	1	1	0	3	0	18	1
	Total		85	6	7	1	3	0	3	0	98	7
Rot-Weiss Essen	2003–04	Regionalliga	30	7	0	0	0	0	0	0	30	7
	2004–05	2. Bundesliga	31	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	32	2
Career total			474	66	29	4	4	0	20	3	527	73

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year^[13]

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Denmark	1987	1	0
	1988	0	0
	1989	0	0
	1990	0	0
	1991	3	0
	1992	1	0
	1993	3	0
	1994	0	0
	1995	0	0
	1996	2	0
	1997	0	0
	1998	2	0
	1999	9	0
	2000	5	0
	2001	2	0
Total		28	0

Honours

1. FC Kaiserslautern

• DFB-Pokal: 1990
• Bundesliga: 1990–91
• DFB-Supercup: 1991

F.C. Copenhagen

• Danish Cup: 1996–97

Chelsea

• FA Cup: 2000

Fulham

• Football League First Division: 2000–01

Individual

• Copenhagen Player of the Year: 1998

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. Archived from the original on 14 July 2012. Retrieved 24 February 2012.
16. "Bjarne Goldbæk profile". Worldfootball.net. Retrieved 24 February 2012.

External links

• Bjarne Goldbæk at National-Football-Teams.com
• Bjarne Goldbæk national team profile at the Danish Football Association (in Danish)
• Bjarne Goldbæk at NipserStat (F.C. Copenhagen career stats) (in Danish)
• Bjarne Goldbæk at fussballdaten.de (in German)