Erik Bo Andersen (born 14 November 1970) 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 ...
UEFA Euro 1996
The 1996 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 96, was the 10th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by European nations and organised by UEFA. It took place in England from 8 to 30 ...
. He played in the striker position and won the 1995
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 with
Aalborg Boldspilklub
Aalborg Boldspilklub is a Danish sports club based in the city of Aalborg. The club is also known as AaB for short (cf. logo) or Aalborg BK. Through time the club has had branches in cricket, tennis, ice hockey, handball, and basketball, but cur ...
, the
Scottish Premier Division
The Scottish Football League Premier Division was, from 1975 until 1998, the top division of the Scottish Football League and the entire Scottish football league system. It lay above the Scottish Football League First, Second and (from 1994) Th ...
twice with
Rangers F.C.
Rangers Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the Govan district of Glasgow which plays in the Scottish Premiership. Although not its official name, it is often referred to as Glasgow Rangers outside Scotland. The fou ...
, and the
Norwegian Cup
The Norwegian Football Cup ( no, Norgesmesterskapet i fotball for herrer) is the main knockout cup competition in Norwegian football. It is run by the Football Association of Norway and has been contested since 1902, making it the oldest football ...
with
Odd Grenland
Odd means unpaired, occasional, strange or unusual, or a person who is viewed as eccentric.
Odd may also refer to:
Acronym
* ODD (Text Encoding Initiative) ("One Document Does it all"), an abstracted literate-programming format for describing X ...
. Andersen also played for German club
MSV Duisburg
Meidericher Spielverein 02 e. V. Duisburg, commonly known as simply MSV Duisburg (), is a Football in Germany, German association football club based in Duisburg, North Rhine-Westphalia. Nicknamed ''Die Zebras'' for their traditional striped jers ...
, as well as
Odense BK
Odense Boldklub (; also known as Odense BK or the more commonly used OB) is a Danish professional football club based in the city Odense. The club has won three Danish championships and five Danish Cup trophies. OB play in the Danish Superliga ...
and
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 ...
in Denmark.
In November 2005, Andersen was elected to represent the
Danish Liberal Party
VenstreThe party name is officially not translated into any other language, but is in English often referred to as the Liberal Party. Similar rules apply for the name of the party's youth wing Venstres Ungdom. (, ), full name Venstre, Danmarks Li ...
in the
Randers municipality
Randers Municipality is a municipality (Danish, '' kommune'') in Region Midtjylland on the Jutland peninsula in central Denmark. The municipality covers an area of , and has a population of 96,559 (as of 1 April 2014). Its mayor, since 1 January ...
council.
Club career
AaB
Born in Dronningborg near
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). Erik Bo Andersen started his career at the local amateur team Dronningborg Boldklub. He moved to Aalborg Boldspilklub (AaB) in the top-flight
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 in January 1992 and made his Superliga debut in April 1992.
In his first year at AaB, Andersen spent his time in the reserve team improving his technique, before he got his national breakthrough when he scored two goals in a
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 ...
game against BK Frem in March 1993. He soon displayed his goal scoring abilities, which earned him the nickname ''Red Romario'', alluding to Brazilian striker Romario and Andersen's
red hair
Red hair (also known as orange hair and ginger hair) is a hair color found in one to two percent of the human population, appearing with greater frequency (two to six percent) among people of Northern or Northwestern European ancestry and ...
hat-trick
A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three.
Origin
The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...
s, and even scored four goals in a 5–0 win against
AGF Aarhus
Aarhus Gymnastikforening (; commonly known as AGF ), is a professional sports club based in Aarhus, Jutland, Denmark. Founded in 1880, it is one of the oldest clubs in the country and gymnastics and fencing are featured as its main sports. Howev ...
. He was league topscorer with 24 goals as AaB won the 1994–95 Superliga championship, the first championship in club history. He played the first half of the 1995–96 Superliga season, scoring 13 goals in 20 games, including another two hat-tricks. In February 1996, Andersen was bought in a
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 ...
Scottish Premier Division
The Scottish Football League Premier Division was, from 1975 until 1998, the top division of the Scottish Football League and the entire Scottish football league system. It lay above the Scottish Football League First, Second and (from 1994) Th ...
.
Rangers
At Rangers, Andersen played alongside fellow Dane
Brian Laudrup
Brian Laudrup (, born 22 February 1969) is a Danish former professional footballer who played as a winger, forward or as a midfielder, and was regarded as one of the most talented players of his generation. He currently works as a football com ...
. During his time at Rangers, Andersen's technical shortcomings and awkward playing style earned him the nickname ''
Bambi
''Bambi'' is a 1942 American animated drama film directed by David Hand (supervising a team of sequence directors), produced by Walt Disney and based on the 1923 book ''Bambi, a Life in the Woods'' by Austrian author and hunter Felix Salten. ...
''. His best Rangers moment was when he came on as a substitute and scored twice in the 3–1 victory over arch-rivals
Celtic
Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to:
Language and ethnicity
*pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia
**Celts (modern)
*Celtic languages
**Proto-Celtic language
* Celtic music
*Celtic nations
Sports Fo ...
at
Ibrox Stadium
Ibrox Stadium is a football stadium on the south side of the River Clyde in the Ibrox area of Glasgow, Scotland. The home of Rangers Football Club, Ibrox is the third largest football stadium in Scotland, with an all-seated capacity of .
O ...
. It was the goals to make it 2–1 and 3–1, which he delivered. Rangers won the Premier Division titles in both 1995/96 and 1996/97, but he could not establish himself in the Rangers
starting line-up
In sports, a starting lineup is an official list of the set of players who will participate in the event when the game begins. The players in the starting lineup are commonly referred to as ''starters'', whereas the others are ''substitutes'' o ...
, and was eventually not allowed to train with the first team.
When Rangers bought striker
Marco Negri
Marco Negri (born 27 October 1970) is an Italian former footballer who played as a striker for Udinese, Novara, Ternana, Cosenza, Perugia, Rangers, Vicenza, Cagliari, Bologna and Livorno.
Career Early career in Italy and breakthrough with Pe ...
in the summer 1997, Andersen left the club shortly thereafter. He scored 15 goals in 23 league games for the club. A number of clubs were interested in Andersen, but the transfer fee demands of Rangers proved too high, and Andersen had to rescind the sign-on fee of £300,000 Rangers still owed him from the Aalborg BK transfer, before an offer was accepted. He later regretted having caved in to Rangers, claiming he should have played hard-ball in order to get the money owed to him, inspired by the approach of
Peter Møller
Peter Møller Nielsen (born 23 March 1972) is a Danish former professional football player who became a sports journalist after ending his football career in December 2005. In 2018 he became sporting director of Dansk Boldspil Union. He won fo ...
.
Plagued by injury
Superliga
relegation
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. ...
battlers
Odense Boldklub
Odense Boldklub (; also known as Odense BK or the more commonly used OB) is a Danish professional football club based in the city Odense. The club has won three Danish championships and five Danish Cup trophies. OB play in the Danish Superliga ...
(OB) honoured the Rangers demand, and paid £800,000 for Andersen in October 1997. Andersen scored six goals in 16 Superliga games, but could not prevent Odense from being relegated at the end of the season. Andersen moved abroad once more, as OB sold him for DKK 9.6 million to
MSV Duisburg
Meidericher Spielverein 02 e. V. Duisburg, commonly known as simply MSV Duisburg (), is a Football in Germany, German association football club based in Duisburg, North Rhine-Westphalia. Nicknamed ''Die Zebras'' for their traditional striped jers ...
in the German
Bundesliga
The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...
in July 1998, to play alongside fellow Dane
Stig Tøfting
Stig Tøfting (born 14 August 1969), commonly known as Tøffe, is a former Danish professional footballer and assistant coach, who most recently was the assistant of Erik Rasmussen at AGF.
Tøfting was a hard-hitting combative defensive midfi ...
. Andersen suffered an injury during the pre-season training, and had to undergo a one-and-a-half month recovery. When he recovered he was relegated to a substitute role, and Andersen never found his goal scoring form in Duisburg. Following two goals in 25 games, Andersen was loaned out to Superliga relegation battlers
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 ...
from January to and including June 2000, to play under his former AaB coach
Poul Erik Andreasen
Poul Erik Andreasen (born 17 December 1949) is a Danish ex-football (soccer) player and manager, who managed the Danish Superliga side Aalborg BK (AaB) during their 1994-95 Superliga victory. In 1996-1999 he coached Norwegian Viking FK
Viking ...
. Despite seven goals in 14 games from Andersen, Vejle were relegated at the end of the season. Andersen did not want to return to Duisburg, and moved to
Odd Grenland
Odd means unpaired, occasional, strange or unusual, or a person who is viewed as eccentric.
Odd may also refer to:
Acronym
* ODD (Text Encoding Initiative) ("One Document Does it all"), an abstracted literate-programming format for describing X ...
in the
Norwegian Premier League
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 ...
in July 2000.
At Odd Grenland, Andersen was seen as the replacement of
Norwegian international The Norwegian International in badminton is an international open held in Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost po ...
Frode Johnsen
Frode Johnsen (born 17 March 1974) is a Norwegian former professional footballer who played for Odd and Rosenborg in the Tippeligaen and for Nagoya Grampus and Shimizu S-Pulse in Japan. He played in several positions, but was preferred as a ...
who had just been sold, and Andersen joined former AaB teammate
Christian Flindt Bjerg
Christian Flindt Bjerg (born 19 February 1974) is a Danish professional football manager and former player. He is currently the manager of Danish 2nd Division club Skive IK.
Early life
Flindt Bjerg was born in 1974 in Innsbruck, Austria, when ...
at the club. He was bought for DKK 2.8 million, a transfer fee record for Odd Grenland. After a few games for Odd Grenland, including winning the 2000
Norwegian Cup
The Norwegian Football Cup ( no, Norgesmesterskapet i fotball for herrer) is the main knockout cup competition in Norwegian football. It is run by the Football Association of Norway and has been contested since 1902, making it the oldest football ...
tournament, Andersen suffered a knee injury in fall 2000. He did not return to playing football until August 2001. After complications with the injured knee, he underwent another half year of recovery. During his injuries, Grenland did not have the medical staff to care for Andersen, and he was left to tend to the injuries himself, and was helped by his former club AaB. He eventually paid Odd Grenland to let him go in December 2001, and returned to play for AaB in January 2002. He did not become a part of the starting line-up due injuries, and when he suffered yet another knee injury in spring 2003, he decided to end his career. Andersen played a combined total of 142 games and scored 66 goals for AaB in all competitions.
International career
Andersen was called up for the Denmark national team and made his international debut in an April 1995 match against Macedonia, when he replaced AaB teammate Peter Rasmussen at half time. While at Rangers, he was selected for the Danish squad at the 1996 European Championship, and played three minutes as Denmark won 3–0 against
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
. This was his last national team game. Erik Bo Andersen played a total six national team games but did not score any goals.
While at Odense BK, Andersen was once more in the periphery of the national team for a short period of time, as he played four games for the Danish league national football team, a selection of the best Danish Superliga players in January 1998.
Post-playing career
At his retirement, Andersen moved back to coach his childhood club Dronningborg Boldklub in the lower leagues of Danish football.
In the 2005 Danish municipality elections, Andersen was a candidate for the
Danish Liberal Party
VenstreThe party name is officially not translated into any other language, but is in English often referred to as the Liberal Party. Similar rules apply for the name of the party's youth wing Venstres Ungdom. (, ), full name Venstre, Danmarks Li ...
in the
Randers municipality
Randers Municipality is a municipality (Danish, '' kommune'') in Region Midtjylland on the Jutland peninsula in central Denmark. The municipality covers an area of , and has a population of 96,559 (as of 1 April 2014). Its mayor, since 1 January ...
. He received 217 personal votes, and was elected for the Randers municipality council by a margin of 13 votes.
He started the developing company EBA Invest, and invested in a real estate development project near Dronningborg. In 2004, Andersen staked all his football earnings in buying a field outside Randers, which he developed into a fully working residential area, before selling it off in 65 building plots.
Honours
AaB
*
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 ...
: 1995
Rangers
*
Scottish Premier Division
The Scottish Football League Premier Division was, from 1975 until 1998, the top division of the Scottish Football League and the entire Scottish football league system. It lay above the Scottish Football League First, Second and (from 1994) Th ...
: 1995–96 and 1996–97
*
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Norwegian Cup
The Norwegian Football Cup ( no, Norgesmesterskapet i fotball for herrer) is the main knockout cup competition in Norwegian football. It is run by the Football Association of Norway and has been contested since 1902, making it the oldest football ...