Christian Thielsen Keller (born 17 August 1980) 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
defensive midfielder
A midfielder is an outfield position in association football.
Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...
. He represented Denmark at various youth levels, making a combined total of 27 appearances.
Vejen
Vejen with a population of 10,009 (1 January 2022) is the main town in Vejen Municipality, Denmark.
Geography
The town is situated in the Danish region of Syddanmark and is a railway town at the railway between the cities of Kolding and Esbjerg. ...
, before moving to top-flight 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 ...
Danish Football Association
The Danish Football Union ( da, Dansk Boldspil-Union; DBU) is the governing body of football in Denmark. It is the organization of the Danish football clubs and runs the professional Danish football leagues and the men's and women's national t ...
at age 15, before making his under-16 national debut in March 1996. He made his senior debut for Vejle in April 1999.Christian Keller at
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 ...
A regular in the Vejle starting line-up, he moved to
Viborg FF
Viborg Fodsports Forening ("Viborg Footsport Association"), or Viborg F.F. and VFF for short, is a Danish professional football club based in Viborg. The club was founded in 1896 and waited more than a century before winning its only national ...
when Vejle 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 secondary
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 ...
at the end of the 2001–02 season. He spent three years at Viborg, playing 92 league games and scoring 11 goals,Christian Keller at Danskfodbold.com until his contract ran out in June 2005.
He moved abroad on a free transfer, to play for Italian club
Torino F.C.
Torino Football Club (), commonly referred to as Torino or simply Toro, is an Italian professional football club based in Turin, Piedmont. They currently play in Serie A.
Founded as ''Foot-Ball Club Torino'' in 1906, Torino are among the mos ...
, who looked to win
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 top-flight
Serie A
The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...
championship. Because of financial irregularities, Torino were not allowed to compete in the Serie A, and were relegated to the secondary
Serie B
The Serie B (), currently named Serie Balkrishna Industries, BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 ...
division. After a few games for Torino, Keller was brought to Serie A club S.S. Lazio in August 2005. He played seven Serie A games for the club before moving to
Stabæk Fotball
Stabæk Fotball is a Norwegian professional football club based in Bærum, a suburb of Oslo. It is part of the multi-sport organization Stabæk IF. Founded in 1912, the club's name is an archaic spelling of the suburban area Stabekk, from whic ...
in August 2006.
While at Stabæk, Keller was called up for the league national team by national team 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 ...
in January 2007, to play a number of unofficial national team games in the United States,
El Salvador
El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...
and
Honduras
Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...
Danish Football Association
The Danish Football Union ( da, Dansk Boldspil-Union; DBU) is the governing body of football in Denmark. It is the organization of the Danish football clubs and runs the professional Danish football leagues and the men's and women's national t ...
Keller was also voted 'Player of the Year' by the Stabæk supporters in 2008, after the club took home the Norwegian Championship.Stabæk player of the year /ref>
In June 2009, Keller signed a contract with Turkish club
Kasımpaşa S.K.
Kasımpaşa Spor Kulübü. (, Kasımpaşa Sports Club), commercially registered as Kasımpaşa Sportif Faaliyetleri A.Ş., colloquially known Kasımpaşa, is a Turkish professional football club located in the Beyoğlu district of Istanbul.
The c ...
On 23 June 2011, he returned to Denmark after signing a four-year deal with
Randers
Randers () is a city in Randers Municipality, Central Denmark Region on the Jutland peninsula. It is Denmark's sixth-largest city, with a population of 62,802 (as of 1 January 2022).Randers henter Christian Keller /ref>
After signing a one-year contract with
Viborg FF
Viborg Fodsports Forening ("Viborg Footsport Association"), or Viborg F.F. and VFF for short, is a Danish professional football club based in Viborg. The club was founded in 1896 and waited more than a century before winning its only national ...
in the summer of 2016, the club announced in January 2017, that Keller would retire when his contract expired in the summer of 2017.
Jonas Borring and Keller
In March 2016 it emerged that Keller had been together with
Jonas Borring
Jonas Skov Borring (born 4 January 1985) is a Danish former professional footballer who played as a left winger.
Club career OB
Borring started his career in Glamsbjerg IF and has later played for Årslev Boldklub, Dalum IF and B 1913 before joi ...
's now ex-wife. This episode escalated quickly, and Keller's teammates in
Randers FC
Randers FC () is a professional football club based in Randers, East Jutland, Denmark, that plays in the Danish Superliga, the top flight of the Danish football league system. Founded on 1 January 2003, the club builds upon the license of Rand ...
would not play with him, though he was the captain of the team. Keller was out of the squad after this episode. Borring left the club in March shortly after the incident, and on 20 June 2016 it was announced that Randers FC had released Keller.Randers ophæver med Keller bold.dk, 20 June 2016
Honours
Stabæk
*
Tippeliga
Eliteserien () is a Norwegian professional league for association football clubs. At the top of the Norwegian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion ...
:
2008
File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
Individual
* Stabæk player of the year: 2008 (selected by the fans)