Bent Christensen Arensøe, formerly known as Bent René Christensen, (born 4 January 1967) 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 striker. During his active career he earned the nickname "Turbo" for his velocity. He played in a string of clubs, most notably Danish club

Brøndby IF Brøndbyernes Idrætsforening (, usually abbreviated to Brøndby IF (), is a professional association football club based in Brøndbyvester, Capital Region of Denmark. The club was founded in 1964 as a merger between two local clubs and was p ...

, where he scored a combined 116 goals in 208 games and won five Danish championships. He played 26 games and scored eight goals for the

Denmark national football team The Denmark men's national football team ( da, Danmarks herre-fodboldlandshold or ''herrelandsholdet'') represents Denmark in men's international football competitions. It is controlled by the Danish Football Association (DBU), the governing bo ...

, and was a part of the Danish 1992 European Championship winning side.

Playing career

Club career

Born in

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 ...

, Christensen started his career with

Brønshøj BK Brønshøj, part of the municipality of Copenhagen, forms, together with Husum, the administrative city district (''bydel'') of Brønshøj-Husum, in Denmark. History The first mention of the village Brønshøj (Brunshoga), is in a letter dated Oc ...

in 1985, under manager

Ebbe Skovdahl Ebbe Skovdahl Hansen (5 July 1945 – 23 October 2020) was a Danish football manager. He most prominently was a successful manager at Brøndby IF, for whom he had also played in his active years. He helped turn the side into the most dominant D ...

. He moved abroad in the same year, 17 years old, to play for

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...

club

Servette FC Servette FC is a Swiss football club based in Geneva, founded in March 1890 with rugby as its first sporting activity, and named after the Geneva district of the same name. The football section was created on 17 January 1900. They play in the S ...

. With Servette, he won the 1985

Swiss Super League The Swiss Super League (known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a Swiss professional league in the top tier of the Swiss football league system and has been played in its current format since the 2003–04 season ...

. He wanted away from the club, and was initially loaned out to Danish club

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 1987. He moved permanently to Brøndby IF, under Brøndby manager Ebbe Skovdahl, later that year. He was a part of the Brøndby team that won the 1988 and 1989 Danish championships. In his time for Brøndby, he was Danish league top goalscorer three times, in the 1988 season, 1990 season and

1991 season File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, 1991 Russian presidential election, elected as Russia's first President of Russia, president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated ...

tournaments. He was part of the Brøndby team who, under manager

Morten Olsen Morten Per Olsen (born 14 August 1949) is a Danish football manager and former player. He was the head coach of the Denmark national team for 15 years from 2000 until 2015, guiding Denmark to the 2002 FIFA World Cup, 2004 European Championshi ...

, reached the semi-finals of the European 1991 UEFA Cup tournament, and he was sold to

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team

FC 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 Rhi ...

later that year. The

transfer deal In professional football, a transfer is the action taken whenever a player under contract moves between clubs. It refers to the transferring of a player's registration from one association football club to another. In general, the players can onl ...

was a race for Christensen's signature between Schalke and

Eintracht Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. () is a professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany. It is best known for its football club, which was founded on 8 March 1899. The team is currently playing in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the Germa ...

, and was worth

DEM DEM was the ISO 4217 currency code for the Deutsche Mark, former currency of Germany Computing * Digital elevation model, a digital representation of ground-surface topography or terrain ** .dem, a common extension for USGS DEM files * Discrete ...

5 million, which made Christensen the most expensive Danish footballer at the time, with a monthly wage of DKK 400,000. He did not find playing success at Schalke, where he scored eight goals in 49 games, and he earned the nickname " Trabi-Bent". He moved to Greek club

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós ( el, Ολυμπιακός Σύνδεσμος Φιλάθλων Πειραιώς, Olympic Club of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number ...

for the

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, where he found playing success. In July 1994, he moved on to

SD Compostela Sociedad Deportiva Compostela is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Santiago de Compostela, in the autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia. They play home matches at ''Estadio Multiusos de San Lázaro'', and ...

in Spain. He remained three seasons at Compostela with good success, before moving to Gençlerbirliği in Turkey in 1997. Christensen returned to Brøndby in March 1998, under manager

, and was a part of Brøndby's 1998 Danish Superliga and 1998

Danish Cup The Danish Cup ( da, Landspokalturneringen; often referred to as Pokalen) is the official "knockout" cup competition in Danish football, run by the Danish Football Association. The cup has been contested annually since 1955. The winner will quali ...

wins. He also took part in Brøndby's campaign in the European

1998–99 UEFA Champions League The 1998–99 UEFA Champions League was the 44th season of the UEFA Champions League, Europe's premier club football tournament, and the seventh since it was renamed from the "European Champion Clubs' Cup" or "European Cup". The competition was w ...

tournament. After the 1999–00 season, he ended his professional career, and played his last games with childhood club

in 2000.

International career

Christensen made his international debut with the Denmark under-19 national team in July 1983. He scored a combined five goals in 28 games for the under-19 and under-17 teams until June 1985, scoring one goal at the

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...

UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship The UEFA European Under-19 Championship, or simply UEFA Under-19 Championship or the UEFA Euro U-19, is an annual football competition contested by the European men's under-19 national teams of the member associations of UEFA. Spain and England ...

. He made his Danish under-21 debut in October 1986, and scored two goals in six games for the team until September 1987. He made his senior debut for the Danish national team in the February 1989

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

against

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

. He scored six goals in four games in Denmark's

UEFA Euro 1992 qualifying The qualifying competition for UEFA Euro 1992 was a series of parallel association football competitions to be held over 1990 and 1991 to decide the qualifiers for UEFA Euro 1992, to be held in Sweden. The draw for the qualifying rounds was held ...

campaign. He was selected to represent the Danish national team at the

UEFA Euro 1992 The 1992 UEFA European Football Championship was hosted by Sweden between 10 and 26 June 1992. It was the ninth UEFA European Championship, which is held every four years and supported by UEFA. Denmark won the 1992 championship, having qualifi ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. Christensen played Denmark's first two games in the tournament without scoring, but was injured and travelled home while the rest of the squad went on to win the tournament. Christensen didn't take part in the Danish public celebrations of the trophy, and did not really feel a part of the winning team. While at Compostela, Christensen played his last national team match in November 1994, against

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, and ended his national team career after 26 matches and 8 goals.

Coaching career

In January 2003, he started as head coach of Værløse Boldklub, which he led to the

Danish 2nd Division The 2nd Division ( da, Danmarksturneringens 2. division or Herre-DM 2. division) is a semi-professional association football league for men and the third division in Denmark. It is organised by the Divisionsforeningen on behalf of the Danish Footb ...

. In October 2005 he was hired as head coach of the Brøndby IF youth team, and in June 2010 he was additionally named coach in charge of special training of attackers for the first team. In 2011, Christensen was named assistant coach in Brøndby. When

Thomas Frank Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the Ap ...

was named new manager of

in June 2013, Christensen succeeded him as manager of the Danish national under-19 football team.

Career highlights

Club statistics

Total number of goals for Brøndby (1987–1991 and 1998–2000): *

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 ...

: 80 goals *

: 16 goals *

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from la, Inter, 'between' + german: toto, 'betting pool'),Most precisely, from (football pool); cf. often abbreviated and more known in the German-speaking world as UI Cup and originally called the International Foot ...

: 10 goals *

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

: 10 goals * Total score in 208 games: 116 goals

Honours

: 1984–85 * Danish Championship:

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

, 1997–98 *

: 1988–89, 1997–98 *

European Football Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition is contes ...

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

References

External links

Danish national team profile

Brøndby IF 1998–2000 profile

Danish career statistics (Superliga games since 1991)
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Christensen Arensoe, Bent 1967 births Living people Association football forwards Danish men's footballers Denmark international footballers Denmark under-21 international footballers Servette FC players Vejle Boldklub players Brøndby IF players Danish football managers FC Schalke 04 players Olympiacos F.C. players SD Compostela footballers Gençlerbirliği S.K. footballers La Liga players Danish Superliga players Bundesliga players Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in Germany Expatriate footballers in Greece Expatriate footballers in Turkey Expatriate footballers in Switzerland Danish expatriate men's footballers UEFA Euro 1992 players UEFA European Championship-winning players Brønshøj Boldklub players Danish expatriate sportspeople in Germany Danish expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Danish expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Danish expatriate sportspeople in Greece Danish expatriate sportspeople in Spain Brøndby IF non-playing staff Footballers from Copenhagen