Kristian Dirks Riis (born 17 February 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

centre-back 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 ...

for

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 ...

club

Lyngby Boldklub Lyngby Boldklub () is a Danish professional football club founded in 1921. It is based at Lyngby Stadion in Kongens Lyngby, Lyngby-Taarbæk Municipality, a northern suburb of Copenhagen. From 1994 to 2001 the club was known as Lyngby FC. The club ...

Club career

Early career

Riis started career at the local club Haderslev FK. Later, he joined

SønderjyskE SønderjyskE is a Danish sport corporation. They have a football team (SønderjyskE Fodbold, based in Haderslev), two handball teams (SønderjyskE Håndbold, one male based in Sønderborg, one female based in Aabenraa) and an ice hockey team (S ...

, playing there until 2011, before joining

FC Midtjylland FC Midtjylland (, "Central Jutland") is a Danish professional football club based in Herning and Ikast in the western part of Jutland. The club is the result of a merger between Ikast FS and Herning Fremad. Midtjylland competes in the Danish Su ...

at the age of 15 in 2011. He started playing for their U17 team, was later promoted to the U19 team later, and finally to the first team squad in 2016.

Midtjylland

Riis was promoted to the first team squad in the summer 2016 at the age of 19, signing a five-year professional contract on 14 June 2016. Riis made his official debut for Midtjylland at the age of 19 on 31 July 2016, in a

match against

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 ...

. Riis played the whole match, which his club won 3–0. After surprisingly being selected to represent the Danish under-21s in early April 2017, he suffered an injury which ruled him out. It was a knee injury that would keep him out for 4–5 weeks.

Loan to Vendsyssel

On 31 August 2017, Riis was loaned out to the

Danish 1st Division The 1st Division (''1. Division'') is the second-highest football league in Denmark, also known as NordicBet Liga for sponsorship reasons. From 1945 to 1991 the 1. Division was the name of the highest level of football in Denmark. With the forma ...

club

Vendsyssel FF Vendsyssel Forenede Fodboldklubber is a professional football club based in Hjørring, Denmark. The team competes in the Danish 1st Division, the second tier of Danish football. The club plays home matches at Nord Energi Arena, which has a capaci ...

for the rest of the season. During his time at the club, he played a big role in

's promotion to the

2018–19 Danish Superliga The 2018–19 Danish Superliga season was the 29th season of the Danish Superliga. Midtjylland were the defending champions. The season started on 13 July 2018 and ended on 26 May 2019. Teams FC Helsingør finished as loser in the relegation pl ...

. He played a total of 26 games for the club and scored one goal.

Loan to Esbjerg

On 21 August 2018,

Esbjerg fB Esbjerg forenede Boldklubber (; commonly known as Esbjerg fB or EfB in short) is a Danish professional football club based in Esbjerg, West Jutland, that plays in the 2nd division, the third-tier of the Danish football league system. Foun ...

announced the signing of Riis on a loan deal for the rest of the season. After an injury plagued time at the club with only one game played, Midtjylland decided to recall him on 25 March 2019.

Lyngby

After having only played nine minutes of football throughout the 2020–21 season at Midtjylland, Riis left the club and instead joined newly relegated Danish 1st Division club,

, on 1 July 2021. Riis signed a two-year deal. Riis had a strong first season at Lyngby, helping the team win promotion back to the Danish Superliga for the 2022–23 season with 25 appearances and one goal. Riis played the first eight games of the 2022–23 season, before suffering a

torn meniscus A tear of a meniscus is a rupturing of one or more of the fibrocartilage strips in the knee called menisci. When doctors and patients refer to "torn cartilage" in the knee, they actually may be referring to an injury to a meniscus at the top of ...

in early September 2022, which required surgery and an injury break for the rest of 2022.

Career statistics

Honours

Midtjylland *

: 2019–20 *

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 ...

: 2018–19

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Riis, Kristian 1997 births Living people Danish men's footballers Denmark youth international footballers Association football defenders People from Haderslev Municipality Danish Superliga players Danish 1st Division players SønderjyskE Fodbold players FC Midtjylland players Vendsyssel FF players Esbjerg fB players Lyngby Boldklub players Sportspeople from the Region of Southern Denmark