Kasper Dolberg Rasmussen (; born 6 October 1997) is a Danish 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 plays as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for

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 ...

club 1899 Hoffenheim, on loan from

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

. He also represents the Denmark national team. Dolberg made his senior debut at

Silkeborg IF Silkeborg Idrætsforening, (; commonly known as Silkeborg IF or SIF in short) is a professional football club based in Silkeborg, Denmark. The club was founded in 1917, reached the highest level of Danish football in 1987, and afterwards became ...

in May 2015. He joined Ajax in July 2015 and made his debut for the club in July 2016. He represented Denmark at under-16, under-17, under-19 and under-21 level before making his senior international debut in November 2016. In May 2020, Dolberg was voted as player of the year by the fans of his club OGC Nice. While at Ajax, he was named

Dutch Football Talent of the year The title Dutch Footballer of the Year (Dutch: ''Voetballer van het Jaar'') has been awarded in the Netherlands since 1984. The award is determined by a poll of Dutch professional footballers playing in the First (Eredivisie) and Second (Eerste Divi ...

after his first season in the

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 ...

in 2017.

Club career

Silkeborg IF

On 17 May 2015, he made his senior debut for Silkeborg IF in a

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 ...

game against

Brøndby IF Brøndbyernes Idrætsforening (, usually abbreviated to Brøndby IF (), is a professional association football club based in Brøndbyvester, Capital Region of Denmark. The club was founded in 1964 as a merger between two local clubs and was p ...

, replacing

Adeola Lanre Runsewe Adeola Lanre Runsewe (born 1 December 1989) is a Nigerian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Turkish Cypriot club Baf Ülkü Yurdu. Career On 19 June 2011, Runsewe's contract with HB Køge was turned into a professional one ...

after 63 minutes in a 0-2 loss.

Ajax

On 5 January 2015,

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * ''Ajax'' (play), by the ancient Greek ...

announced that 17-year-old Dolberg would join from Silkeborg IF in the summer, signing a three-year contract valid from summer 2015 until summer 2018. He had been spotted by Danish scout John Steen Olsen, the same scout who discovered players such as

Zlatan Ibrahimović Zlatan Ibrahimović (, ; born 3 October 1981) is a Swedish professional footballer who plays as a striker for club AC Milan and the Sweden national team. Ibrahimović is renowned for his acrobatic strikes and volleys, powerful long-range sho ...

Viktor Fischer Viktor Gorridsen Fischer (born 9 June 1994) is a Danish professional association football, footballer who plays as an Midfielder#Attacking midfielder, attacking midfielder or as a Winger (association football), winger for Swedish club AIK Fotbol ...

, and

Christian Eriksen Christian Dannemann Eriksen (born 14 February 1992) is a Danish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Premier League club Manchester United and the Denmark national team. He is renowned for his vision, technique, passing, and fr ...

for the Dutch capital club. On 13 May 2016, Dolberg agreed to have his contract extended until 2021. On 26 July 2016, Dolberg scored his first goal in European competition on his competitive debut for Ajax, in a 1–1 Champions League qualification match against PAOK. He made his

debut for the club on 7 August 2016 in a match against

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 ...

, coming on as a substitute for

Mateo Cassierra Zander Mateo Cassierra Cabezas (born 13 April 1997) is a Colombian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Russian club Zenit St. Petersburg. Career Deportivo Cali Cassierra made his debut for Deportivo Cali in 2015. Despite having ...

. The following week he was in the starting line-up for the league match against

Roda JC Sportvereniging Roda Juliana Combinatie Kerkrade (; Ripuarian: ), also known as Roda JC Kerkrade () or commonly Roda JC or Roda, is a Dutch professional football club based in Kerkrade, Netherlands. Roda JC Kerkrade plays in the Eerste Divisie. ...

and he scored both of Ajax's goals in the 2–2 draw, his first goals in the Eredivisie. On 29 September 2016, Dolberg scored the only goal in a 1–0 victory over

Standard Liège Royal Standard de Liège, commonly referred to as Standard Liège (; nl, Standard Luik ; german: Standard Lüttich ) or simply Standard in Belgium, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Liège. They are one of the most ...

in a

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

match. He scored another goal in his first ''Klassieker'' against Ajax's great rival

Feyenoord 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 its ...

on 23 October 2016, securing a 1–1 draw away in Rotterdam. On 20 November 2016, he scored a first-half

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

in an

match against

NEC is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. The company was known as the Nippon Electric Company, Limited, before rebranding in 1983 as NEC. It prov ...

. This made him the youngest non-Dutch player ever to score a hattrick for Ajax. On 9 March 2017, Dolberg scored the equalizer in what ended in a 2–1 loss to

F.C. Copenhagen Football Club Copenhagen ( da, Football Club København, ), commonly known as FC København, FC Copenhagen, Copenhagen or simply FCK, is a professional Danish football club in Copenhagen, Denmark. FCK was founded in 1992 as a superstructure on ...

in the round of 16 of the

2016–17 UEFA Europa League The 2016–17 UEFA Europa League was the 46th season of Europe's secondary club association football, football tournament organised by UEFA, and the eighth season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. The 2017 UEFA Eu ...

campaign, thus ending a club record eight-month period in which Copenhagen had not conceded any goals at their home ground at

Parken Stadium Parken Stadium, also known simply as Parken and as Telia Parken (2014–2020), is a football stadium in the Indre Østerbro (''Inner Østerbro'') district of Copenhagen, Denmark, built from 1990 to 1992. The stadium, which features a retractable ...

since 20 August 2016.

OGC Nice

Dolberg signed for

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

on 29 August 2019 for a fee of 20.5 million euros. He finished his first

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

in France as the club's top scorer with 11 goals and was named the club's player of the season, as Nice finished in fifth place, securing a spot in the group stage for next season's

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

. Dolberg started the 2020–21 season with a brace on 29 August 2020 against

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...

, securing his team a 2–0 away win.

International career

In November 2016, Dolberg received his first call-up to the senior Denmark squad for matches against

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

and

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

. On 11 November 2016, he made his senior international debut, coming on as a second-half substitute in a 4–1 victory for Denmark over Kazakhstan. On 10 June 2017, in a 1–3 away win against

in the qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup, he came on as a substitute for

Yussuf Poulsen Yussuf Yurary Poulsen (; born 15 June 1994) is a Danish professional footballer who plays as a striker for Bundesliga club RB Leipzig and the Denmark national team. He sometimes uses ''Yurary'' as his shirt name. After starting his professiona ...

after 68 minutes and scored his first international goal in the 81st minute. In June 2018 he was named in Denmark's

squad In military terminology, a squad is among the smallest of military organizations and is led by a non-commissioned officer. NATO and US doctrine define a squad as an organization "larger than a team, but smaller than a section." while US Army do ...

for the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national Association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awa ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. In May 2021, he was selected in the final 26-man squad for the postponed

UEFA Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2020) or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe ...

tournament. Dolberg made his first start in the tournament, replacing the injured Yussuf Poulsen, in Denmark's

round of 16 A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

tie against

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

on 26 June and scored twice in a 4–0 win. He scored his third goal of the tournament in the quarter-finals against

after a spectacular cross from

Joakim Mæhle Joakim Mæhle Pedersen (born 20 May 1997) is a Danish professional footballer who plays as a full-back for Bundesliga club VfL Wolfsburg and the Denmark national team. Club career AaB Born in Østervrå, Vendsyssel, Mæhle started playing foo ...

Personal life

On 16 September 2019, Dolberg reported to the police that his luxury watch at an estimated value of €70,000 was stolen. Following a police investigation, in which the police recovered a surveillance video showing the culprit stealing the watch, his teammate Lamine Diaby-Fadiga confessed to the crime ten days later. Diaby was later sacked by the club. On 8 November 2021, Dolberg announced that he had been diagnosed with

Type 1 diabetes Type 1 diabetes (T1D), formerly known as juvenile diabetes, is an autoimmune disease that originates when cells that make insulin (beta cells) are destroyed by the immune system. Insulin is a hormone required for the cells to use blood sugar for ...

Career statistics

Club

International

:''As of match played 25 September 2022. Denmark score listed first, score column indicates score after each Dolberg goal.''

Honours

Ajax *

: 2018–19 *

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 ...

: 2018–19 *

Johan Cruyff Shield The Johan Cruyff Shield (, ) is a football trophy in the Netherlands named after Dutch footballer Johan Cruyff, also often referred to as the Dutch Super Cup. The winner is decided in one match only, played by the winner of the national footbal ...

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

runner-up: 2016–17 Nice *

Coupe de France The Coupe de France, formerly known as the Coupe Charles Simon, is the premier knockout cup competition in French football organized by the French Football Federation (FFF). It was first held in 1917 and is open to all amateur and profession ...

runner-up: 2021–22 Individual * Danish Talent of the Year: 2016 * Ajax Talent of the Year (Marco van Basten Award): 2017 *

Johan Cruyff Trophy The title Dutch Footballer of the Year (Dutch: ''Voetballer van het Jaar'') has been awarded in the Netherlands since 1984. The award is determined by a poll of Dutch professional footballers playing in the First (Eredivisie) and Second (Eerste Divi ...

: 2016–17 *OGC Nice Player of the Season: 2019–20

References

External links

* *
Kasper Dolberg
at the

Danish Football Association The Danish Football Union ( da, Dansk Boldspil-Union; DBU) is the governing body of football in Denmark. It is the organization of the Danish football clubs and runs the professional Danish football leagues and the men's and women's national t ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dolberg, Kasper 1997 births Living people People from Silkeborg Association football forwards Danish men's footballers Denmark international footballers Denmark under-21 international footballers Denmark youth international footballers Silkeborg IF players AFC Ajax players OGC Nice players Danish Superliga players Eredivisie players Ligue 1 players 2018 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2020 players 2022 FIFA World Cup players Danish expatriate footballers Danish expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Danish expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate footballers in France Sportspeople from the Central Denmark Region