Erik Sørensen, also known by his full name Erik Lykke Sørensen, (born 22 January 1940) is a Danish former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player and manager. He was a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

, and played professionally in the 1960s and 1970s for Scottish clubs

Greenock Morton Greenock Morton Football Club is a Scottish professional football club, which plays in the Scottish Championship. The club was founded as Morton Football Club in 1874, making it one of the oldest senior Scottish clubs. Morton was renamed Greeno ...

and

Rangers A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...

, and later served as the manager of Morton. He played 15 games 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 ...

from 1963 to 1971.

Career

Born in

Odense Odense ( , , ) is the third largest city in Denmark (behind Copenhagen and Aarhus) and the largest city on the island of Funen. As of 1 January 2022, the city proper had a population of 180,863 while Odense Municipality had a population of 20 ...

, Sørensen made his breakthrough with local top-flight club B1913 in the amateur-only Danish championship. He made his debut for the Denmark national team in June 1963, and played five of Denmark's seven games in the successful qualification campaign for the

1964 European Nations' Cup The 1964 European Nations' Cup was the second edition of the UEFA European Championship. The final tournament was held in Spain. It was won by the hosts 2–1 over the defending champions, the Soviet Union. The tournament was a knockout compet ...

tournament. Before the final tournament, Sørensen signed a professional contract and was banned from the amateur-only national team. He signed with Scottish team

. Morton

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

Hal Stewart had originally wanted to sign another Danish goalkeeper, but was advised to sign Sørensen instead.Jeffrey, Jim (1999). ''Greenock Morton Football Club 1874-1999'' Tempus, 1999. Sørensen played in a trial game against

Third Lanark Third Lanark Athletic Club was a Scottish football club based in Glasgow. Founded in 1872 as an offshoot of the 3rd Lanarkshire Rifle Volunteers, the club was a founder member of the Scottish Football Association (SFA) in 1872 and the Scottish ...

dressed all in black. Morton refused to name the new player and he was dubbed by the media "The man in black" or "Mr. X". From 1963 to 1967, Sørensen played 102 league games for Morton.Newcastle Fans profile
/ref> In 1967, he was sold for £25,000 to rival Scottish club

. He played 30 games for Rangers, before returning to Morton in 1970. When the Danish Football Association abolished the rule of amateurism, Sørensen returned to the Denmark national team in May 1971, eight years after his debut. He played a further five national team games, including a 1–0 win against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, before ending his international career in June 1971.Erik Lykke Sørensen - Alle hold (Alle kampe)
at the

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 ...

He left Morton in 1973, having played a total 173 league games for the club. He eventually became Morton manager for a short time in the mid 70s. He also ran a public house in

Greenock Greenock (; sco, Greenock; gd, Grianaig, ) is a town and administrative centre in the Inverclyde council areas of Scotland, council area in Scotland, United Kingdom and a former burgh of barony, burgh within the Counties of Scotland, historic ...

after he retired from the game. In the late 1970s he briefly returned to football to play for Danish amateur side

Svendborg fB SfB-Oure FA (), is an association football club based in the town of Svendborg, Denmark, that competes in the Danish 3rd Division, the fourth tier of the Danish football league system. Founded in 2018 as an elite superstructure of Svendborg fB and ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sorensen, Erik 1940 births Living people Footballers from Odense Danish men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Denmark men's international footballers Boldklubben 1913 players Odense Boldklub players Greenock Morton F.C. players Rangers F.C. players SfB-Oure FA players Danish football managers Scottish Football League managers Greenock Morton F.C. managers Greenock Morton F.C. non-playing staff Danish expatriate football managers Danish expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Expatriate footballers in Scotland Expatriate football managers in Scotland Publicans