Brian Nielsen (born February 25, 1987) is a retired

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish ance ...

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 ...

. He has played 49 games for various Danish youth team selections, including nine matches for the

Denmark national under-21 football team The Denmark national under-21 football team has played since 1976 and is controlled by the Danish Football Association. Before 1976, the age limit was 23 years. Tournament record UEFA European U-21 Championship *''*Draws include knockout match ...

Career

Club

Nielsen began his career in the youth ranks of small Danish clubs Hjorten IF and Herlev IF, before joining the youth ranks of

Akademisk Boldklub Akademisk Boldklub Gladsaxe (or AB) is a Danish professional football club from Gladsaxe north of Copenhagen, currently playing at the 3rd highest level of Danish domestic football in the Danish 2nd Division group 1. The club was established on F ...

(AB) in the second-tier

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 ...

. He played 28 first team games and scored two goals as a semi-professional for AB. He was sold to 1st Division rivals

Vejle Boldklub Vejle Boldklub is a Danish professional football club based in Vejle in Jutland. Formed in 1891, the club is one of the most successful clubs in Danish football history, having won the Danish championship five times and the Danish cup title six t ...

in September 2005, signing a full-time professional contract, and debuted in a 3–0 victory over former club AB on September 19. In his first season with Vejle, he helped the club win the 2005-06 1st Division to gain

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

for 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 ...

championship. He played 23 of 33 games and scored one goal during the 2006–07 Superliga season, as the club were

relegated In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...

to the 1st Division. Nielsen stayed with Vejle, and helped the team win the 2007-08 1st Division. He played 28 games and scored five goals in the 2008–09 Superliga, but could not keep the club from being relegated once more. In his time with Vejle, Nielsen appeared in 99 official matches scoring 20 goals. With his contract expiring in December 2010, he was linked with the

clubs OB,

FC Copenhagen Football Club Copenhagen ( da, Football Club København, ), commonly known as FC København, FC Copenhagen, Copenhagen or simply FCK, is a professional Danish football club in Copenhagen, Denmark. FCK was founded in 1992 as a superstructure on ...

and

FC Midtjylland FC Midtjylland (, "Central Jutland") is a Danish professional football club based in Herning and Ikast in the western part of Jutland. The club is the result of a merger between Ikast FS and Herning Fremad. Midtjylland competes in the Danish Su ...

in November 2009. On 1 December 2009, it was announced that he was trialing with

Schalke 04 Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as FC Schalke 04 (), Schalke 04 (), or abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional German football and multi-sports club originally from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine ...

. Schalke manager

Felix Magath Wolfgang Felix Magath (; born 26 July 1953) is a German football manager and former player. The most notable spell of his playing career was with Hamburger SV, with whom he won three Bundesliga titles, the 1977 European Cup Winners' Cup Final a ...

said he could clearly see some perspective in the young winger, but an injury caused him to return to Denmark after a single training session. On April 14, 2010, Nielsen was loaned out to US club

New York Red Bulls The New York Red Bulls are an American professional soccer club based in the New York metropolitan area. The Red Bulls compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The club was established in October 1994 and be ...

. The deal was a cooperation between New York Red Bulls and

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n club Red Bull Salzburg, with Nielsen scheduled to ultimately join Red Bull Salzburg on 1 January 2011, according to Salzburg official Christoph Freund. As the Austrian

transfer window A transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club can transfer players from other playing staff into their playing staff. Such a transfer is completed by registering the player into the new club through FIFA. "Transfer win ...

was already closed, a direct buy was not possible for Salzburg, with Nielsen instead moving to New York Red Bulls as the US transfer window was open until April 15. Salzburg purchased Nielsen in 2010-11 and loaned him back to New York for the

2011 MLS season Eleven or 11 may refer to: *11 (number), the natural number following 10 and preceding 12 * one of the years 11 BC, AD 11, 1911, 2011, or any year ending in 11 Literature * ''Eleven'' (novel), a 2006 novel by British author David Llewellyn *'' ...

. Having waited for the approval of his U.S.

visa Visa most commonly refers to: *Visa Inc., a US multinational financial and payment cards company ** Visa Debit card issued by the above company ** Visa Electron, a debit card ** Visa Plus, an interbank network *Travel visa, a document that allows ...

application, he was seen to make an instant impact by head coach

Hans Backe Hans Roland "Hasse" Backe (; born 14 February 1952) is a Swedish football manager and former player who most recently led Finland's national team. Prior to this he managed the New York Red Bulls. He has coached clubs in Sweden, Norway, Greece, ...

. However, injuries limited Nielsen as he only appeared in two league matches for New York in 2010. Despite his injury setbacks it was decided that Nielsen would remain in New York for the 2011 season. His injuries continued throughout the entire 2011 MLS season. Nielsen's contract with Red Bull Salzburg - and his associated loan to New York Red Bulls - expired on 31 December 2011. He trained with the club as a trialist during 2012 pre-season camp but was not offered a contract.

International

Nielsen has represented Denmark at every youth level from the Under-16 to the Under-21 side. He has played a total 49 youth internationals, beginning with his October 2002 debut for the Under-16s. He represented the

in nine games from June 2007 to October 2008.

Honours

Club

Vejle BK Vejle Boldklub is a Danish professional football club based in Vejle in Jutland. Formed in 1891, the club is one of the most successful clubs in Danish football history, having won the Danish championship five times and the Danish cup title six t ...

: 2005-06, 2007-08 *

** Eastern Conference regular season:

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

References

External links

MLS profile

National team profile

Vejle Boldklub profile

tipsbladet.dk profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nielsen, Brian 1987 births Living people Danish men's footballers Danish expatriate men's footballers Denmark under-21 international footballers Herlev IF players Akademisk Boldklub players Vejle Boldklub players New York Red Bulls players FC Red Bull Salzburg players Danish expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate soccer players in the United States Major League Soccer players Association football midfielders People from Herlev Municipality Sportspeople from the Capital Region of Denmark