Claus William Jensen (born 29 April 1977) is a Danish professional

football manager ''Football Manager'' (also known as ''Worldwide Soccer Manager'' in North America from 2004 to 2008) is a series of football management simulation video games developed by British developer Sports Interactive and published by Sega. The game bega ...

, and former

player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who ...

who is the manager of Danish 1st Division club

Nykøbing FC Nykøbing FC is a Danish professional association football club based in Nykøbing Falster on Falster. The club competes in Danish 1st Division, the second tier of the Danish football league system, and plays its home games at the Lollands B ...

. During his active playing career, he played as an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, 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 #Cent ...

. Jensen made 47 appearances for the Denmark national team, in which he scored 8 goals. He also represented Denmark at the 2002 World Cup and 2004 European Championship tournaments. He is the cousin of former winger

Anders Due Anders Due Hansen (born 17 March 1982) is a retired Danish footballer who currently is the assistant manager of Nykøbing FC. He played as a left midfielder and is the cousin of Danish national team and former Bolton, Charlton and Fulham midfie ...

, who currently works as his assistant in Nykøbing FC.

Playing career

Jensen was born in

Nykøbing Falster Nykøbing Falster (; originally named Nykøbing) is a southern Danish city, seat of the Guldborgsund ''kommune''. It belongs to Region Sjælland. The city lies on Falster, connected by the Frederick IX Bridge over the Guldborgsund (''Guld ...

, and played for a number of Danish lower-league teams, making his debut for the Danish under-19 national team in November 1995. In May 1996, he was loaned out from Danish second division club Nykøbing Falster Alliancen to

Næstved BK Næstved () is a town in the municipality of the same name, located in the southern part of the island of Zealand in Denmark. Næstved has several adult education centers, five elementary schools - and has at least one of each type of the four ...

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 ye ...

. He played four games while at Næstved, but could not prevent the club from being

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. ...

at the end of the season. He moved permanently to Superliga club

Lyngby FC Lyngby Boldklub () is a Danish professional football club founded in 1921. It is based at Lyngby Stadion in Kongens Lyngby, Lyngby-Taarbæk Municipality, a northern suburb of Copenhagen. From 1994 to 2001 the club was known as Lyngby FC. The club ...

in June 1996, signing a contract alongside later Danish international

Dennis Rommedahl Dennis Rommedahl (; born 22 July 1978) is a Danish former professional footballer who played as a right winger. The second-most capped national player for Denmark, he appeared in 126 matches and scored 21 goals for his country, and was a member ...

. He played two years at Lyngby before moving to play in England in July 1998. He was bought by First Division club Bolton Wanderers in a deal worth 1.8 million DKK. While at Bolton, he debuted for the Danish national team in March 2000. In July 2000, he moved to London to join promoted

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

club

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in ...

for £4 million, and became a popular player with fans due to his influence during games. The Charlton fans would sing his name to the tune "charge" (often used during baseball matches), using Claus for the build-up and singing his full name "Claus William Jensen" at the climax. He was called up to the Danish squad for the 2002 World Cup, where he made a single appearance as a substitute. In February 2003, he scored a hat-trick in a 4–1 friendly win against

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

; one of the goals was scored from a

direct free kick A free kick is a method of restarting play in association football. It is awarded after an infringement of the laws by the opposing team. Direct and indirect free kicks Free kicks may be either direct or indirect, distinguished as follows: ...

. He also represented Denmark at the 2004 European Championship, where he took part in three of Denmark's four matches. After more than 100 games for Charlton, in July 2004 he moved to the Addicks' London rivals

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

in a transfer deal worth £1.25 million. He made his Fulham debut at Manchester City on 14 August 2004. He spent three years with Fulham, but was plagued by injury and on 17 May 2007, Fulham manager

Lawrie Sanchez Lawrence Philip Sanchez (born 22 October 1959) is a Northern Irish football manager and former international footballer. The defining moment of his playing career came in the 1988 FA Cup Final, when he scored the winning goal for Wimbledon a ...

decided to release him; Jensen claims his release was inevitable because he did not fit into Sanchez's

long ball In association football, a long ball is an attempt to move the ball a long distance down the field via one long aerial kick from either a goalkeeper or a defender directly to an attacking player, with the ball generally bypassing the midfield. R ...

tactics. After three years with repeating injuries, he chose to end his professional career on 25 August 2007.

Managerial career

On 7 January 2020, Jensen was appointed manager of

in the Danish second tier, a team in which he formerly held the position of general manager.

Career statistics

Club

International goals

:''Scores and results list Denmark's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Jensen goal.''

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jensen, Claus 1977 births Living people Danish footballers Association football midfielders Denmark international footballers Denmark under-21 international footballers 2002 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2004 players Danish Superliga players Premier League players Lyngby Boldklub players Bolton Wanderers F.C. players Charlton Athletic F.C. players Fulham F.C. players Næstved Boldklub players People from Guldborgsund Municipality Danish expatriate footballers Danish expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate footballers in England Danish 1st Division managers Sportspeople from Region Zealand