Ivan Nielsen (born 9 October 1956) is a

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 ...

former professional football player, who most prominently played professionally for Dutch clubs Feyenoord Rotterdam and

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, w ...

, winning the European Cup with PSV. A

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

, he was

capped In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the ea ...

51 times for the Danish national team, and represented his country at

1986 World Cup The 1986 FIFA World Cup was the 13th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in Mexico from 31 May to 29 June 1986. The tournament was the second to feature a 24-team format. Colombia had ...

and two European Championship tournaments.

Biography

Born on

Frederiksberg Frederiksberg () is a part of the Capital Region of Denmark. It is formally an independent municipality, Frederiksberg Municipality, separate from Copenhagen Municipality, but both are a part of the City of Copenhagen. It occupies an area of ...

in Copenhagen, Ivan Nielsen started his senior career with

Fremad Amager Boldklubben Fremad Amager (meaning in English: The Ball Club Forward Amager ; abbreviated Fremad A) is a Danish professional football club based in the district of Amager Vest, Copenhagen. As of the 2020–21 season, the club's senior men's tea ...

in 1975. He debuted for the Danish under-21 national team in September 1977, and went on to play six games and score one goal for the under-21 national team. In 1979, he moved abroad to play professionally with Feyenoord Rotterdam in the Dutch

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

championship. He was a part of the Feyenoord team which won the 1980 Dutch Cup, and made his debut for the Danish national team under national team manager

Sepp Piontek Josef Emanuel Hubertus "Sepp" Piontek (born 5 March 1940) is a German former Association football, footballer and manager. Playing career Born in Breslau, now Wrocław. Piontek started his playing career with VfL Germania Leer. Between 1963 and ...

in November 1980. In 1984, Nielsen and Feyenoord won both the 1984 Eredivisie championship and Dutch Cup trophy. He was called up for the Danish national team at the 1984 European Championship. He played full time in Denmark's four games at the tournament, before the team was eliminated in the semi-finals. He was also called up for the 1986 World Cup, where he played three games as Denmark reached the round of 16. After seven seasons at Feyenoord, he left the club in 1986. Moving on to defending Eredivisie champions

, Nielsen joined up with fellow Danish internationals Frank Arnesen and

Jan Heintze Jan Heintze (born 17 August 1963) is a Danish former professional footballer who played as a left-sided defensive midfielder and defender. He ended his career in the Netherlands with PSV Eindhoven, where he was a part of the PSV team which won ...

. Nielsen helped PSV win three Eredivisie championships in a row from 1987 to 1989, as well as the three Dutch Cups in a row from 1988 to 1990. His most notable result with PSV, was winning the international 1988 European Cup, when

S.L. Benfica Sport Lisboa e Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football. Founded on 28 February 1904 as ''Sport Lisboa'', Be ...

from

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

were beaten on

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 pe ...

in the final. Nielsen represented the Danish national team in the 1988 European Championship tournament. The tournament was a disappointment for the Danish team, though Nielsen was one of few older players who played up to standard. He ended his national team career in November 1989, having never scored in his 51 national team games. After four seasons at PSV, he returned to Denmark to end his career in 1990. He joined former club Fremad Amager, where he spent a single season. He moved to

B 1903 Boldklubben 1903 or B 1903 is a football club founded on 2 June 1903, located in Copenhagen, Denmark. Seven times winner of the Danish championship (introduced 1913) in 1920, 1924, 1926, 1938, 1969, 1970 and 1976 and twice winner of the Dan ...

in 1991, and when the club merged to form F.C. Copenhagen in 1992, Nielsen went on to play for the new club. He was a part of the Copenhagen team which won the 1993

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 ...

championship, in its first season of existence. After that season, he moved to

Næstved IF 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 ...

, where he ended his career. He managed Næstved, and later Dragør Boldklub, before starting his own plumbing business in Copenhagen.

Style of play

With his tall, 192 cm, and his strong body and stamina, he was a tough man-marker. In a 1986 World Cup match, he successfully marked Uruguayan star

Enzo Francescoli Enzo Francescoli Uriarte (; born 12 November 1961), nicknamed "El Príncipe" ("The Prince"), is a Uruguayan former footballer who played as a attacking midfielder. He is regarded as one of the best playmakers of his generation and as one of ...

, and left him unable to move and play his football. In the 7th minute he was booked for a strong tackle against Francescoli. Towards the end of the first half, Nielsen fouled him at the edge of the penalty area. The referee was close to the situation and awarded a penalty, on which Francescoli scored Uruguay's only goal (2–1) in Denmark's 6–1 win.

Honours

Feyenoord *

: 1983–84 * KNVB Cup: 1979–80, 1983–84 PSV *

: 1986–87, 1987–88, 1988–89 * KNVB Cup: 1987–88, 1988–89, 1989–90 * European Cup: 1987–88 FC Copenhagen *

1992–93 Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 '' Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since t ...

External links

Danish national team profile

F.C. Copenhagen profile

ShowStars profile

Company profile

Feyenoord-online profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nielsen, Ivan 1956 births Living people Danish footballers Feyenoord players PSV Eindhoven players F.C. Copenhagen players Eredivisie players Danish Superliga players Denmark international footballers Denmark under-21 international footballers 1986 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 1984 players UEFA Euro 1988 players Danish expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Danish expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Sportspeople from Frederiksberg Næstved Boldklub managers Association football defenders Fremad Amager players Danish football managers