Jørgen Kristensen (born 12 December 1946), nicknamed ''Troldmanden'' (the Wizard), 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

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 who played professionally for a number of foreign clubs and won the 1974

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 ...

with

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

club

Feyenoord Rotterdam Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the club changed to various names before settling on being called after it ...

. He played as an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As #Cent ...

or winger, and was one of the most technical ballplayers 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 ...

. He played 19 matches and scored three goals 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 ...

Biography

Born in

Hedehusene Hedehusene is a suburban town located on the rail line between Copenhagen and Roskilde in the Capital Region of Denmark. It has absorbed the villages of ''Baldersbrønde'' and Fløng and almost merged with Roskilde's eastern Trekroner neighbourhoo ...

, he started playing football with a local team. He moved to

Køge Boldklub Køge Boldklub is a Danish football club from Køge, Zealand. History In 1954, the club became the first outside Copenhagen to win the Danish Championship. The club declared bankruptcy in February 2009, but continued as an amateur side in the ...

at the age of 20, where he played for a year, before moving abroad to play for

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

team Detroit Cougars. He joined

club

Sparta Rotterdam Sparta Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club based in Rotterdam. Established on 1 April 1888, Sparta Rotterdam is the oldest professional football team in the Netherlands. Sparta currently compete in the Eredivisie, the top flight ...

, for whom he made his debut for the Denmark national team in June 1971. He moved to Sparta's inner-city rivals

, and was eventually dropped from the Danish national team in November 1972. He was a part of the Feyenoord team which won the 1974

, but despite playing for a successful team, he was not recalled for the Danish national team. Partly because the national team had prolific attacking players like

Henning Jensen Henning Jensen (17 August 1949 – 4 December 2017) was a Danish football player who played professionally for German club Borussia Mönchengladbach, Spanish club Real Madrid and Dutch club Ajax Amsterdam where he won the domestic league champi ...

Ulrik le Fevre Ulrik le Fevre (born 25 June 1946) is a Danish former professional football player and manager, and current FIFA-licensed player agent. He was a left winger, who had a fierce shot. He played for Danish club Vejle Boldklub, German club Borussia ...

Per Røntved Per Christian Røntved (born 27 January 1949) is a Danish former professional footballer who played for German club Werder Bremen from 1972 to 1979. He also played for Danish clubs Brønshøj BK, Randers Freja, and Hvidovre IF. He was named 197 ...

and not least

Allan Simonsen Allan Rodenkam Simonsen (born 15 December 1952) is a Danish former footballer and manager. He most prominently played as a striker for German Bundesliga club Borussia Mönchengladbach, winning the 1975 and 1979 UEFA Cups, as well as for Barcel ...

. And partly because Kristensen had trouble in getting the time off to travel home to Denmark to play for the national team. He moved back to Denmark to play for Køge again, and was recalled for the Danish national team in August 1976. He moved abroad once more, to play for

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

team

Hertha BSC Hertha, Berliner Sport-Club e. V., commonly known as Hertha BSC (), and sometimes referred to as Hertha Berlin, Hertha BSC Berlin, or simply Hertha, is a German professional football club based in the locality of Westend of the borough of Charl ...

in September 1976. With Hertha, he finished in third place of the 1976

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 footbal ...

championship and reached the 1977

German Cup 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 considered ...

final. In 1978, he returned to Denmark, to play for

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 ...

. At the end of his Danish career, he moved to the United States to play

indoor soccer Indoor soccer or arena soccer (known internationally as indoor football, fast football, or showball) is five-a-side version of minifootball, derived from association football and adapted to be played in walled hardcourt indoor arena. Indoor socc ...

, playing for

Wichita Wings The Wichita Wings were a professional indoor soccer franchise based in Wichita, Kansas. The Wings were admitted to the Major Indoor Soccer League as an expansion team on August 21, 1979.

and the Kansas City Comets.

References

* Marco de los Reyes, "Troldmanden", ''

Berlingske Tidende ''Berlingske'', previously known as ''Berlingske Tidende'' (, ''Berling's Times''), is a Danish national daily newspaper based in Copenhagen. It is considered a newspaper of record for Denmark. First published on 3 January 1749, ''Berlingske'' ...

'', 11 December 2006

External links

* *
NASL/MISL stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kristensen, Jorgen 1946 births Living people Danish men's footballers Men's association football wingers Køge Boldklub players Calgary Boomers players Chicago Sting (NASL) players Detroit Cougars (soccer) players Sparta Rotterdam players Feyenoord players Hertha BSC players Tulsa Roughnecks (1978–1984) players Kansas City Comets (1979–1991) players Wichita Wings (MISL) players Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992) players Eredivisie players Bundesliga players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Denmark men's international footballers Danish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's soccer players in Canada Danish expatriate sportspeople in Canada Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Danish expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Danish expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in West Germany Danish expatriate sportspeople in West Germany Footballers from Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht UEFA Europa League winning players