Kresten Bjerre (22 February 1946 – 19 February 2014) was a Danish

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 ...

, who played professionally for

Houston Stars The Houston Stars were an American professional soccer team based out of Houston, Texas. The Stars were a charter member of the United Soccer Association (USA) in 1967 and when the USA and rival National Professional Soccer League (NPSL) me ...

in the United States, and

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

an clubs

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 ...

and R.W.D. Molenbeek. Nicknamed "Generalen" (the General),Kurt Stendal, "Generalen gik forrest", ''

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'' ...

'', 21 February 2006 the defender obtained a total 22

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for the Danish national team, for which he scored twelve goals in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Playing career

Club

Born in

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 ...

, Bjerre started playing football with local clubs Boldklubben Sylvia and

Akademisk Boldklub Akademisk Boldklub Gladsaxe (or AB) is a Danish professional football club from Gladsaxe north of Copenhagen, currently playing at the 3rd highest level of Danish domestic football in the Danish 2nd Division group 1. The club was established on ...

(AB). He helped AB win the 1967

Danish football championship The Danish football champions are the winners of the highest league of football in Denmark. The title has been contested since 1913, in a varying form of competitions. Since 1991, the winners have been found through the Danish Superliga champions ...

, and made his national team debut in May 1967. He played eight national team games until October 1967, scoring eight goals. He scored a

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 ...

against

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

, in a most remarkable 14-2 victory. He also scored two goals as Denmark beat the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

3-2 in the qualification for the 1968 European Championship. In early 1968, he moved abroad to play professionally for American team

in the NASL championship. Due to the Danish rules of amateurism, his national team career went on a hiatus. He played the 1968 season for Houston Stars, When the team folded after the season, Bjerre moved back to

. He went on to play for

in the

. In 1969, he moved on to

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

club R.W.D. Molenbeek. He was one of the best paid footballers in the

Belgian League The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 Belgian First Division A, 2020 ...

,Allan Lykke, "Flashback: Hvad blev der i grunden af Kresten Bjerre?", ''

Ekstra Bladet ''Ekstra Bladet'' is a Danish tabloid newspaper, published by JP/Politikens Hus in Copenhagen.About
(in Danish) ''E ...

'', 29 January 2006 and was the first foreign player to be named

team captain In team sport, captain is a title given to a member of the team. The title is frequently honorary, but in some cases the captain may have significant responsibility for strategy and teamwork while the game is in progress on the field. In eithe ...

in Belgian football. While at Molenbeek, the Danish rules of amateurism were abolished, and Bjerre re-entered the Danish national team in May 1971. He played 14 additional national team games, scoring a further four goals. In his last 13 Danish national games, Kresten Bjerre served as national team captain. The lacking professionalism of the Danish national team did not sit well with Bjerre, and he became a Belgian citizen in order for Danish international Benny Nielsen to take his place in Molenbeek's restricted quota of foreign players. This meant Bjerre's final farewell to the Danish national team in November 1973, though he changed back to Danish citizenship after retiring. Bjerre went on to concentrate on his Molenbeek career, and won the 1975 Belgian League championship with the team. He was a part of the Molenbeek team that reached the semi-finals of the European 1977

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 solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

tournament, before retiring at the end of that season.

Managerial career

He moved back to Denmark, where he became a football coach. Under his coaching,

Køge BK Køge (, older spelling ''Kjøge'') is a seaport on the coast of Køge Bugt (''Bay of Køge'') 39 km southwest of Copenhagen. It is the principal town and seat of Køge Municipality, Region Sjælland, Denmark. In 2022, the urban area had a ...

reached the 1979

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 ...

final, where the team lost 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 ...

. He later coached

Holbæk B&I Holbæk Bold- & Idrætsforening is a Danish football club currently playing in 2. Division East. They play at Holbæk Stadion in Holbæk on Zealand, which has a capacity of 10,500. From 2008 to 2014 their first team played under the name Nordv ...

Herfølge BK Herfølge is a suburb of the town of Køge, Denmark, located about 5 kilometers south of Køge, and is a part of Køge Municipality. The suburb is connected to Køge and Næstved by the Lille Syd railway line. Residential areas Holmebækhus ...

, and AB, as well as a number of minor Danish clubs. He went on to become the park manager of

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 ...

's stadium

Valby Idrætspark Valby Idrætspark is a multi-purpose stadium in Valby od Copenhagen, Denmark. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home ground of Boldklubben Frem. Valby Idrætspark has hosted a total of nine Danish FA-recognized internat ...

. Bjerre died from cancer in early 2014.Allan Nielsen, "Landsholdets general og perfekte straffesparksskytte er død", ''

Politiken ''Politiken'' is a leading Danish daily broadsheet newspaper, published by JP/Politikens Hus in Copenhagen, Denmark. It was founded in 1884 and played a role in the formation of the Danish Social Liberal Party. Since 1970 it has been indepe ...

'', 19 February 2014

Honours

: 1975 * Danish championship: 1967

References

External links

Danish national team profile

' {{DEFAULTSORT:Bjerre, Kresten 1946 births 2014 deaths Association football defenders Danish footballers Denmark international footballers Denmark under-21 international footballers Akademisk Boldklub players Houston Stars players PSV Eindhoven players R.W.D. Molenbeek players Go Ahead Eagles players Eredivisie players Belgian First Division A players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Danish expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate footballers in Belgium Expatriate soccer players in the United States Danish football managers Køge Boldklub managers Holbæk B&I managers Herfølge Boldklub managers Akademisk Boldklub managers Deaths from cancer in Denmark People from Frederikssund Municipality Sportspeople from the Capital Region of Denmark