Flemming Søgaard Povlsen (born 3 December 1966) 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 for

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, commonly known as Borussia Dortmund (), BVB (), or simply Dortmund (), is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its men's professional footb ...

in Germany, among other teams. He works as football expert on TV.

Club career

Povlsen started playing football in local town Viby, but moved on to Danish top-flight club

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 ...

in 1984. In 1985, he was awarded the Danish 1st Division ''Revelation of the Year''. He moved abroad in 1986, when he signed for Spanish club

Castilla CF Real Madrid Castilla Club de Fútbol is a Spanish football team that plays in Primera Federación – Group 1 for the 2022–23 season. It is Real Madrid's reserve team. They play their home games at the Alfredo Di Stéfano Stadium with a capa ...

, the reserve team of multiple European champions

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

. While at Castilla, he made his debut for the Denmark national team in the 5–0 win over

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

in an

1988 Olympic Games 1988 Olympics refers to both: *The 1988 Winter Olympics, which were held in Calgary, Alberta, Canada *The 1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul ...

qualifier. After only a year at CF Castilla, Povlsen moved on to 1. FC Köln in Germany, where he played alongside fellow Dane

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 ...

. Even though he wasn't a top goal scoring striker, Povlsen's speed and work rate endeared him to the fans, and he won two sets of silver medals, as the Köln team finished second in the 1988–89 and 1989–90 Bundesliga seasons. Povlsen did not play more than three matches for Köln in the 1989–90 season though, as he was bought by Dutch club

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; en, Philips Sports Association ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional football department, whi ...

in 1989. He played the remainder of the season at PSV, going on to win the Dutch cup and finishing second in the League. He moved back to Germany, where he settled down at

in 1990. Povlsen experienced his greatest success while at Dortmund, and quickly became a fan favourite. However, in an April 1993 game for Dortmund against 1. FC Köln, he tore his

anterior cruciate ligament The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligaments (the other being the posterior cruciate ligament) in the human knee. The two ligaments are also called "cruciform" ligaments, as they are arranged in a crossed formation ...

in the knee, and was out for recovery until October of the same year, when he made his come-back against

Wattenscheid 09 SG Wattenscheid 09 is a German association football club located in Wattenscheid, Bochum, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club claimed an official founding date of 18 September 1909 as Ballspiel-Verein Wattenscheid out of the merger of two earlier ...

. In an September 1994 match in the

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considere ...

tournament against 1. FC Kaiserslautern he suffered a cruciate ligament injury in his other knee, and though he had a short appearance in March 1995 against

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 thus was a part of the

1994–95 Bundesliga The 1994–95 Bundesliga was the 32nd season of the Bundesliga, Germany's premier football league. It began on 19 August 1994 and ended on 17 June 1995. FC Bayern Munich were the defending champions. Competition modus Every team played two games ...

winning Dortmund side, Povlsen had to end his career due to his knee injuries.

International career

When he won the 1992 European Championship with the Danish national team, his reputation was on the rise. Povlsen played all five Denmark matches in the tournament, and scored once in the semi-final

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pen ...

against

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, after an intense battle of nerves with Dutch keeper

Hans van Breukelen Johannes Franciscus "Hans" van Breukelen (; born 4 October 1956) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He was the technical director of the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) from 2017 until 2018. Van Breuke ...

, Povlsen's former PSV teammate. He was a constant part of the Denmark national team from his debut in 1987 until he retired. He scored 21 goals in his 62 international appearances for Denmark, and played at the 1988 European Championship (Euro 1988) as well as

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 ...

, a tournament which Denmark won. A knee injury ended his career in March 1995.

Coaching career

Following his retirement, Flemming Povlsen became a sports director at

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 ...

club FC Aarhus in December 2001. As the club underwent economical downsizing in November 2002, Povlsen offered to step down, which the club accepted. He played lower league football in

Brabrand Brabrand () is a postal district of Aarhus Municipality, Denmark. South of Brabrand, in the Aarhus river-valley, is the largest recreational area of Aarhus Municipality, comprising the Brabrand Lake and the meadow-lake of Årslev, with surroundin ...

and later switched to the old-boys team in his childhood club Aarhus GF. In March 2005, he became part of the coaching staff at

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 ...

club AC Horsens. In July 2009 he joined as Assistant Coach to

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 ...

but resigned on 6 October 2009 when Manager

John Jensen John Jensen (born 3 May 1965), nicknamed Faxe (), is a Danish football manager and former player. A former midfielder, his playing career lasted almost two entire decades, including a stint with Arsenal in England and three stints with Brøndb ...

was sacked. He is also teaching teenage kids at a football school called Hessel Gods Fodboldkostskole in Jutland.

Honours

Borussia Dortmund *

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 ...

: runner-up 1992–93 *

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 ...

: 1994–95; runner-up 1991–92 PSV Eindhoven *

KNVB Cup The KNVB Beker (; en, KNVB Cup), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organized by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. Ou ...

: 1989–90 1. FC Köln *

: runner-up 1988–89, 1989–90 Denmark *

UEFA 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

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Povlsen, Flemming 1966 births Living people Association football forwards Expatriate footballers in Germany Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate footballers in Spain Danish footballers Danish expatriate footballers Danish expatriate sportspeople in Germany Danish expatriate sportspeople in Spain Denmark international footballers Denmark under-21 international footballers Viby IF players Aarhus Gymnastikforening players Real Madrid Castilla footballers 1. FC Köln players Borussia Dortmund players PSV Eindhoven players Brabrand IF players Eredivisie players Bundesliga players UEFA Euro 1988 players UEFA Euro 1992 players UEFA European Championship-winning players