Frederik Joachim August Markmann (13 October 1848 – 15 July 1927) was a Danish football executive, who was the first chairman of the Danish Football Association from May 1889 to 1890.

Official career

Born in 1848 as the son of a master baker, he became a student at the von Westenske Institute in 1866, studied law, and took his master's degree ( Jurist) in 1872. In the following year he was employed as an assistant in the Overformynderiet's bookkeeping, then in the

Ministry of Finance A ministry of finance is a part of the government in most countries that is responsible for matters related to the finance. Lists of current ministries of finance Named "Ministry" * Ministry of Finance (Afghanistan) * Ministry of Finance and Ec ...

. He became a

clerk A clerk is a white-collar worker who conducts general office tasks, or a worker who performs similar sales-related tasks in a retail environment. The responsibilities of clerical workers commonly include record keeping, filing, staffing service ...

in the Domain Office in 1889, a county administrator for Holstebro Amtstuedistrikt in 1892, appointed county administrator for Vejle Amtstuedistrikt in 1913 and forest treasurer for Randbøl District at the same time. He was dismissed from the state service on 25 September 1921 and was simultaneously appointed Dannebrogsman. Markmann was also a municipal auditor in

Holstebro Holstebro is the main town in Holstebro Municipality, Denmark. The town, bisected by ''Storåen'' ("The Large Creek") and has a population of 36,489 (1 January 2022).Fælledparken The park Fælledparken in Copenhagen, Denmark, was created 1906–1914 by landscape architect Edvard Glæsel in cooperation with the Copenhagen Municipality on the commons (Danish: ''fælled'') previously named ''Nørrefælled'' and ''Østerfæ ...

, Markmann co-founded

Kjøbenhavns Boldklub Kjøbenhavns Boldklub or KB is a Danish sports club based in Copenhagen. The club was founded 26 April 1876 on the grassy fields in outer Copenhagen which later became Fælledparken. Tennis has been played since 1883. The club hosted, in 1921, on ...

(KB), one of the first

sports club A sports club or sporting club, sometimes an athletics club or sports society or sports association, is a group of people formed for the purpose of playing sports. Sports clubs range from organisations whose members play together, unpaid, and ...

in the country. Football was added to the club's programme on 24 October 1878, making it the oldest football club in the world outside of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

and the oldest football club on continental Europe. Markmann was the chairman of KB between 1880 and 1883, carrying out a great deal of work over the three years and was appointed an honorary member upon his resignation. In 1886, Markmann, together with E. Wescher, Ludvig Sylow, and Holger Forchhammer, translated the English association rules into

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

, so from then on rules such as offside and "hand on the ball" were used in

Danish football Association football is the most popular sport in Denmark, with 331,693 players and 1,647 clubs registered () under the Danish FA. The game was introduced into Denmark by British sailors. Kjøbenhavns Boldklub is the oldest club outside of the U ...

. These rules were first used in a match the following year, in 1887. Prior to this, the matches would be played with a mixture of rugby and football rules, so this translation was a big step in the development of football in Denmark. When 26 associations founded the Danish Football Association on 18 May 1889, Frederik Markmann became the union's first chairman, despite not playing football on a daily basis, in fact, he was not even a football man, but rather a former

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

and

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

player at KB, of which he was also a co-founder and chairman. This is due to the fact that at the beginning, the primary driving force behind DBU was not football, but cricket. However, Markmann believed that football could also be included in DBU, because the two sports were complementary to each other. Although football still had a tarnished reputation, Markmann believed that it was ideal for winter training for the cricketers and therefore had every right to be part of the association. It was under his presidency, that DBU organized the first edition of Fodboldturneringen (), which was held between 1889 and 1903, with KB winning on four occasions, including back-to-back titles in 1896–97 and 1897–98. The Fodboldturneringen was the forerunner for the Danish National Football Tournament, which was held for the first time in 1912–13, ending with a KB triumph, thus becoming the first Danish champions. Despite some encouraging first steps, he was replaced as chairman in the following year, by clubmate Harald Hilarius-Kalkau.

Later life

Markmann married Thomasine Kirstine Frøsig (1870 - 1950) on 4 April 1926 in St. Nicolai Church in Vejle. However, Markmann died the following year on 15 July 1927, at the age of 78.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Markmann, Frederik 1848 births 1927 deaths Danish football chairmen and investors Danish football referees Sportspeople from Copenhagen Danish lawyers