Anders Kure Vidkjær (; born 12 September 1985) is a Danish former professional
footballer
A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...
who played as a
centre-back
In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring.
Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...
. He played most of his career for hometown club AGF together with his brother, Kasper Kure.
Early life
Anders Kure Vidkjær was born on 12 September 1985 in
Aarhus
Aarhus (, , ; officially spelled Århus from 1948 until 1 January 2011) is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and approximately northwest ...
, Denmark, and grew up in the southern suburb of
Højbjerg
Højbjerg is a postal district of Aarhus, Denmark.
Højbjerg originated as a coastal suburb to the south of Aarhus, but has now completely merged with the city. Højbjerg is located 5 km from the city centre and had a population of 22,000 ...
, the son of Bente and Peter. Both parents worked to support the family, his mother as a municipal worker for Aarhus Municipality, and his father as a logistics worker in
shipping
Freight transport, also referred as ''Freight Forwarding'', is the physical process of transporting Commodity, commodities and merchandise goods and cargo. The term shipping originally referred to transport by sea but in American English, it h ...
. Kure attended Rosenvangsskolen in nearby Viby J, and was a fan of local club AGF as a child. He started playing
badminton
Badminton is a racquet sport played using racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per side) and "doubles" (with two players pe ...
as a schoolboy for Aarhus Badmintonklub, but soon switched to
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
where he began playing for AGF alongside his older brother Kasper Kure as a nine-year-old.
Club career
AGF
Youth squads
Already from an early age, Kure was a standout player in
defense
Defense or defence may refer to:
Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups
* Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare
* Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks
* Defense industr ...
for AGF, and the youth teams he played for were among the best in the country. As a 13-year-old, he was included in the regional team for his age group, and was later chosen for a team consisting of the best youth players from
Jutland
Jutland ( da, Jylland ; german: Jütland ; ang, Ēota land ), known anciently as the Cimbric or Cimbrian Peninsula ( la, Cimbricus Chersonesus; da, den Kimbriske Halvø, links=no or ; german: Kimbrische Halbinsel, links=no), is a peninsula of ...
, where he impressed.
He signed his first youth contract with AGF at age 16, despite interest from English club
Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area.
Until the early 1800s, the a ...
.
First team
Kure made his professional debut for AGF on 16 August 2003 in the
Danish Superliga
The Danish Superliga ( da, Superligaen, ) is the current Danish football championship tournament, and administered by the Danish Football Association. It is the highest football league in Denmark and is currently contested by 12 teams each yea ...
, coming on as a substitute for
Alex Nørlund
Alex Nørlund Andersen (born 28 January 1975) is a Danish former football player in the attacking midfielder position. He played 229 games for Vejle Boldklub, and also represented Danish Superliga clubs Viborg FF and AGF, winning the 2000 Danish ...
with 18 minutes to play, after fellow
centre-back
In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring.
Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...
Morten Petersen
Morten Roald Petersen (born 27 May 1978) is a Danish retired football central defender who spent most of his career with Lyngby Boldklub. He has played several games for the Danish Under-21 and Under-19 national teams.
Petersen began his pr ...
had been sent off. His brother, Kasper, scored in the game which ended in a 5–3 victory against Midtjylland.
On 1 August 2004, Kure signed his first professional contract. He had made his breakthrough for the first team as a left-back the previous season, and competed with regular starter Shane Cansdell-Sherriff.
He scored his first goal on 7 May 2006 in a 3–1 away win over
Esbjerg fB
Esbjerg forenede Boldklubber (; commonly known as Esbjerg fB or EfB in short) is a Danish professional football club based in Esbjerg, West Jutland, that plays in the 2nd division, the third-tier of the Danish football league system. Foun ...
at
Blue Water Arena
The Esbjerg Stadium ( da, Esbjerg Stadion), known as the Blue Water Arena for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium located within Esbjerg Idrætspark in Esbjerg, Denmark. It is the home ground of Esbjerg fB and has a capacity of 16,942, of w ...
; the first match under new head coach
Ove Pedersen
Ove Pedersen (born 30 August 1954) is a Danish football manager and a former player. He works as an assistant to the sporting director in FC Midtjylland, Svend Graversen.second tier in the 2005–06 season, after more than 30 seasons in the top tier.
During his time with AGF, Kure grew into a fan favourite and was named
vice-captain Vice-captain, alternate captain (ice hockey) or vice-skip (curling) may refer to a role in a number of sports immediately below the role of captain. The vice-captain may have a number of different roles, including substituting as captain when the re ...
behind Steffen Rasmussen. He became renowned being a hard- tackling defender with an extremely high work rate. He left the club as his contract expired in June 2014 after more than 20 years at the club. He made 222 appearances for the club, in which he scored nine goals.
Vestsjælland
On 4 September 2014, Kure signed a three-year contract with Superliga club
FC Vestsjælland
FC Vestsjælland, also known as FCV Vikings, was a professional Danish association football club that played in the Danish 1st Division until its closure in 2015. They played their home matches at Harboe Arena Slagelse in Slagelse, which has a cap ...
. He made his debut on 22 September as he started in a 1–0 home win against AaB on
Slagelse Stadium
Slagelse Stadium (Danish: Slagelse Stadion; currently known as Harboe Arena Slagelse for sponsorship reasons) is a sports center located in Slagelse, Denmark, which, among other things, is used for athletics and the running of football matches on ...
. On 18 April 2015, he scored his first goal for the club, heading in a cross from Henrik Madsen to secure in 2–1 victory against AaB. His second goal came two games later, heading in a free kick by
Rasmus Festersen
Rasmus Festersen (born 26 August 1986) is leader in tech and a retired Danish association football, footballer who played as an Forward (association football), attacking midfielder/striker.
Football career
Rasmus Festersen signed his first profe ...
to help Vestsjælland to another 2–1 home win, this time against
Nordsjælland
North Zealand, also North Sealand ( da, Nordsjælland), refers to the northern part of the Danish island of Zealand which is not clearly defined but generally covers the area north of Copenhagen. The Danish tourist authorities have recently in ...
. In his first season at the club, in which they suffered relegation, he made 22 appearances, scoring twice.
Kure left Vestsjælland as a free agent after the club filed for bankruptcy in December 2015.
Vejle
Kure joined Vejle Boldklub on 11 January 2016, signing a six-month contract. He made his debut on 20 March, starting in a 4–3 win in the local rivalry match against AC Horsens.
He left the club as his contract expired in June 2016. After having considered his future during the summer, Kure decided to retire in September 2016 to focus on a career outside football.
International career
Kure was capped at youth level for
Denmark
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, song_type = National and royal anthem
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...
, making appearances between under-15 to
under-20
Junior is a category of athletics in which athletes compete under the age of 20 years. Countries all around the world compete in athletics. World Junior Athletics Competitions are held every two years which contain the best junior competitors in ...
level. During his years for the national youth teams, he faced other players born in 1985, such as
Cristiano Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro (; born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a forward and captains the Portugal national team. He is currently a free agent. Widely regarded as one of the greatest p ...
,
Wayne Rooney
Wayne Mark Rooney (born 24 October 1985) is an English professional football manager and former player, who is the manager of Major League Soccer club D.C. United in the United States. He spent much of his playing career as a forward while als ...
,
Roberto Soldado
Roberto Soldado Rillo (; born 27 May 1985) is a Spanish professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Striker (association football), striker for Segunda División club Levante UD, Levante.
After emerging through Real Madrid CF, ...
and
Mario Gomez
is a character created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the title character of the ''Mario'' franchise and the mascot of Japanese video game company Nintendo. Mario has appeared in over 200 video games since his creat ...
.
Personal life
Kure was married to Vicki in December 2013. He studied
economy
An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with the ...
at
Aarhus University
Aarhus University ( da, Aarhus Universitet, abbreviated AU) is a public research university with its main campus located in Aarhus, Denmark. It is the second largest and second oldest university in Denmark. The university is part of the Coimbra Gr ...
.
After his football career, Kure first moved to
Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Central (CET)
, utc_offset1 = +1
, timezone1_DST = Central (CEST)
, utc_offset1_DST = +2
, postal ...
, Germany, where he worked as change manager for DSV. He since moved to
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
where he began working for the Ministry of Finance specialising in digitalisation, including
NemID
NemID (literally: EasyID) is a common log-in solution for Danish Internet banks, government websites and some other private companies. NemID is managed by the Nets DanID A/S company and came into use on July 1, 2010. Everyone in Denmark who i ...
.
Honours
AGF
*
Danish 1st Division
The 1st Division (''1. Division'') is the second-highest football league in Denmark, also known as NordicBet Liga for sponsorship reasons. From 1945 to 1991 the 1. Division was the name of the highest level of football in Denmark. With the forma ...
:
2010–11
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...