Kaj Frederik Christiansen (19 March 1921 – 14 January 2008) was a Danish

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 began his career as an amateur player for

BK Frem Boldklubben Frem (also known as Frem, BK Frem or BK Frem Copenhagen) is a Danish sports club based in the Valby- Sydhavnen area of Copenhagen. It is best known for its semi-professional football team. Since its foundation in 1886, Frem has wo ...

, winning the 1944 Danish Championship. He played professionally for French clubs

Stade Français Stade Français Paris Rugby () is a French professional rugby union club based in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. The club plays in the Top 14 domestic league in France and is one of the most successful French clubs of the modern era. The ...

Le Havre AC Le Havre Athletic Club (; commonly referred to as Le Havre) is a French association football club based in Le Havre, Normandy. The club was founded as an athletics and rugby club in 1872, making Le Havre AC the oldest professional French foo ...

Olympique Lyonnais Olympique Lyonnais (), commonly referred to as simply Lyon () or OL, is a men and women's French professional football club based in Lyon in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. The men play in France's highest football division, Ligue 1. Founded in 1950, th ...

, and

Grenoble Foot 38 Grenoble Foot 38, commonly referred to as simply Grenoble or GF38, is a French association football club based in Grenoble. The club plays its home matches at the Stade des Alpes, a sports complex based in the heart of the city, and wears white ...

, winning the 1954

French Division 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsorship by Balkrishna Industries, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions making up the Ligue de ...

with Olympique Lyonnais. Kaj Christiansen scored six goals in five matches 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 ...

between 1943 and 1948. He was named 1943 Danish Sports Talent of the Year. As a manager, he was named 1964 Manager of the Year in France, and won the 1967

Danish Cup The Danish Cup ( da, Landspokalturneringen; often referred to as Pokalen) is the official "knockout" cup competition in Danish football, run by the Danish Football Association. The cup has been contested annually since 1955. The winner will quali ...

with

Randers Freja Randers Sportsklub Freja (often abbreviated Randers Freja) is a Danish sport club with teams in athletics, handball, table tennis and football. History Randers Freja was founded in 1898, and was accepted into the JBU in 1907. The football d ...

Biography

Kaj Christiansen started his amateur footballing career with KFUM's Boldklub, but like so many of his prolific KFUM teammates, he eventually moved to a larger

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

club to make his national breakthrough. Christiansen moved to

, where he made his senior debut against

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) on 21 March 1943. He scored four goals in the first half, but KB retaliated with six goals in the second half, and Frem lost 4–6.Boldklubben Frem profile
Playing in the

centre forward Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

position, Christiansen was seen as the natural successor of Frem's club icon and the most popular Danish footballer of his time, centre forward

Pauli Jørgensen Etvin Carl Pauli Jørgensen (4 December 1905 – 30 October 1993), known simply as Pauli Jørgensen, was a Danish amateur football player and manager. In his position of centre forward, Jørgensen played 297 matches and scored 288 goals for Bol ...

. Rather than Jørgensen's physical style, Kaj Christiansen was a quick player of great anticipation. Just months after his debut for Frem, Christiansen made his debut for the

in June 1943, the last Danish international game during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. He scored two goals on headers in the debut game, a 3–2 win against the

Sweden national football team The Sweden national football team ( sv, svenska fotbollslandslaget) represents Sweden in men's international football and it is controlled by the Swedish Football Association, the governing body of football in Sweden. Sweden's home ground is F ...

, with Danish

King Christian X Christian X ( da, Christian Carl Frederik Albert Alexander Vilhelm; 26 September 1870 – 20 April 1947) was King of Denmark from 1912 to his death in 1947, and the only King of Iceland as Kristján X, in the form of a personal union rather ...

in attendance. He was subsequently named 1943 Danish Sports Talent of the Year. In his first season with Frem, Kaj Christiansen and the team won the 1943–44 Danish Championship. When the Danish national team played its next games in 1945, Christiansen played two games and scored two goals that year. He scored two additional goals in another two international games, playing one each in 1946 and 1948. In 1948, Kaj Christiansen signed a professional contract. He was thus ineligible to play for the amateur-only Danish national team, and was not picked for the Danish team which won bronze medals at the

1948 Summer Olympics The 1948 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and also known as London 1948) were an international multi-sport event held from 29 July to 14 August 1948 in London, England, United Kingdom. Following a twelve-year hiatus ca ...

."Dødsfald", Horsens Folkeblad, 25 January 2008 Kaj Christiansen played seven seasons as a professional in

French football Association football is the most popular sport in France. The French Football Federation (FFF, Fédération Française de Football) is the national governing body and is responsible for overseeing all aspects of association football in the cou ...

. He signed with French team

in 1948. He played a single season in the club, finishing 10th in the

1948–49 French Division 1 Stade de Reims won Division 1 season 1948/1949 of the French Association Football League with 48 points. Participating teams * AS Cannes * SR Colmar * Lille OSC * Olympique de Marseille * FC Metz * SO Montpellier * FC Nancy * OGC Nice * R ...

season. He then moved to Division 2 team

, which he helped finish 2nd in the 1949–50 French Division 2, winning promotion for Division 1. He stayed a further two seasons with Le Havre, helping the club to impressive 3rd and 7th-place finishes in the Division 1. In 1952, Christiansen moved to newly relegated Division 2 team

. In his second year at the club, Lyonnais won the

1953–54 French Division 2 Statistics of Ligue 2, Division 2 in the 1953–54 season. Overview It was contested by 20 teams, and Olympique Lyonnais won the championship. League standings ReferencesFrance - List of final tables (RSSSF)
{{DEFAULTSORT:1953-54 Frenc ...

and secured promotion for Division 1. Kaj Christiansen moved on to Division 2 team

, for whom he played his last season as an active player.Kaj Christiansen
worldfootball.net Following his active career, Christiansen turned to the role of football coach. He took a coaching license in France, and was named 1964 Manager of the Year in France. He returned to Denmark, and coached

for some years, culminating in winning the 1967

tournament. He also coached minor team Vorup and his old club BK Frem. In 1969, he and his family moved back to live in

Hyères Hyères (), Provençal Occitan: ''Ieras'' in classical norm, or ''Iero'' in Mistralian norm) is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. The old town lies from the sea clustered around t ...

, France. Here, he coached several French teams, and got a job as a

physical education Physical education, often abbreviated to Phys Ed. or P.E., is a subject taught in schools around the world. It is usually taught during primary and secondary education, and encourages psychomotor learning by using a play and movement explorati ...

teacher.

Honours

Club

Frem * Danish Championship: 1943–44 Lyon *

: 1953–54

Individual

*Danish Sports Talent of the Year: 1943 *Manager of the Year in France: 1964

Coach

Randers Freja *

: 1967

References

External links

Danish national team profile

Boldklubben Frem profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Christiansen, Kaj 1921 births 2008 deaths Men's association football forwards Danish men's footballers Denmark men's international footballers Danish football managers Boldklubben Frem players Stade Français (association football) players Le Havre AC players Olympique Lyonnais players Grenoble Foot 38 players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Danish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in France Boldklubben Frem managers Danish expatriate sportspeople in France