Karl Aage Hansen (4 July 1921 – 23 November 1990) was 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 ance ...

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 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 ...

. He won a

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receive ...

with 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 ...

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 ...

in London. He scored 17 goals in 22 games for the Danish national team, and was Danish

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 ...

on 17 occasions. He got his breakthrough as an amateur player in Danish club

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 F ...

, but moved abroad in 1948 to play professionally for a number of European clubs, including

Juventus F.C. )''I Bianconeri'' (The White and Blacks)''Le Zebre'' (The Zebras)''La Signora Omicidi'' (The Killer Lady)''La Gheuba'' (: The Hunchback) , founded = as Sport-Club Juventus , ground = Juventus Stadium , capacity = 41,507 , owner = Agnelli ...

and

UC Sampdoria Unione Calcio Sampdoria, commonly referred to as Sampdoria (), is an Italian professional football club based in Genoa. The club was formed in 1946 from the merger of two existing sports clubs whose roots can be traced back to the 1890s, S ...

in Italy and

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. The ...

in England.

Career

Amateur years

Karl Aage Hansen had a strong physique, and was a good dribbler with excellent technique, who played in the

inside 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. He had a lax approach to training, but kept in shape through

team handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...

decathlon The decathlon is a combined event in Athletics (sport), athletics consisting of ten track and field events. The word "decathlon" was formed, in analogy to the word "pentathlon", from Greek language, Greek δέκα (''déka'', meaning "ten") and ...

, and doing gymnastics. He played handball for KFUM Handball and football for KFUM Boldklub.KFUMs BOLDKLUB Fra klubbens historie
. Kfum-fodbold.dk. When he moved from KFUM Boldklub to play football for

(AB), he moved from KFUM Handball to HG Handball, where most of his AB teammates played. Hansen won the Danish handball championship with HG and represented the

Denmark men's national handball team The Denmark men's national handball team ( da, Danmarks håndboldlandshold, Denmark's national handball team) is controlled by the Danish Handball Association and represents Denmark in international matches. They are the ...

. Hansen's preferred sport was football, and his move to top club AB was motivated by a greater possibility to get selected for the

. Hansen made his international debut on 20 June 1943, as Denmark won 3–2 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 ...

, the last international game during the

German occupation of Denmark At the outset of World War II in September 1939, Denmark declared itself neutral. For most of the war, the country was a protectorate and then an occupied territory of Germany. The decision to occupy Denmark was taken in Berlin on 17 December ...

. With AB, Hansen won the Danish championship three times, namely in the 1942–43 and 1944–45 Danish War Tournaments, as well as the 1946–47 Danish 1st Division. He was called up to the first Danish national team assembled after 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 ...

in June 1945, and only missed a single of Denmark's next 15 games until June 1947. In these 14 games, Hansen scored 13 goals and was likewise named

in 13 games. In the run-up to the

in London, Hansen missed a few international games due to injury. He returned to the final warm-up game, scoring two goals as Denmark beat the

Poland national football team The Poland national football team ( pl, Reprezentacja Polski w piłce nożnej) has represented Poland in men's international tournaments football competitions since their first match in 1921. The team is controlled by the Polish Football Associ ...

8–0. Hansen was considered the most important player of the Olympic team, with his leadership skills, great work rate, creative passing, and ability to score goals. In the first game of the Olympic tournament against the

Egypt national football team The Egypt national football team ( ar, منتخب مصر لكرة القدم), known colloquially as "the Pharaohs", represents Egypt in men's FIFA, international Association football, football, and is governed by the Egyptian Football Associati ...

, Hansen scored two goals, including a goal from a solo dribble from inside the Danish half, and was credited for securing Denmark the 3–1 victory in

extra time Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played onl ...

. Having captained Denmark to a 5–3 win against the

Italy national football team The Italy national football team ( it, Nazionale di calcio dell'Italia) has represented Italy in international football since its first match in 1910. The national team is controlled by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC), the governing bo ...

in the quarter-final, Hansen's injury reappeared during the semi-final against Sweden. As no substitutions were allowed, Denmark played on with the hampered Hansen, and lost the game 2–4. Without Hansen, but with 11 fit players, Denmark won the

game 5–3 against the

Great Britain national football team The Great Britain men's Olympic football team is the men's football team that represents the United Kingdom at the Summer Olympic Games (where it competes as Great Britain, currently branded Team GB). The team is organised by the English Footb ...

. Following the competition, Karl Aage Hansen and

Carl Aage Præst Carl may refer to: *Carl, Georgia, city in USA *Carl, West Virginia, an unincorporated community *Carl (name), includes info about the name, variations of the name, and a list of people with the name *Carl², a TV series * "Carl", an episode of tel ...

were selected as Denmark's top performers at the tournament.p.383
. (PDF) . Karl Aage Hansen only played two additional international games for Denmark, before he signed a professional contract, and was banned from the amateur-only national team selection.

Professional career

Hansen's first year abroad was spent at

, which narrowly avoided

relegation In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...

from the top-flight 1948–49 Football League First Division. In 1949, Hansen moved to Italy to play for

Atalanta Bergamo Atalanta Bergamasca Calcio, commonly referred to as Atalanta, is a professional football club based in Bergamo, Lombardy, Italy. The club plays in Serie A, having gained promotion from Serie B in 2010–11. Atalanta was founded in 1907 by Lice ...

, and received a transfer fee of approximately DKK150,000. At Atalanta, he played alongside fellow Danish Olympic footballer

Jørgen Leschly Sørensen Jørgen Leschly Sørensen (24 September 1922 – 21 February 1999) was a Danish footballer who played as a forward. He started as an amateur player in Danish football, and won the 1945 Danish championship with B.93. He played 14 games and scor ...

. Hansen scored 18 goals in 37 games,Roberto Di Maggio
Danish Players in Italy

RSSSF The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (RSSSF) is an international organization dedicated to collecting statistics about association football. The foundation aims to build an exhaustive archive of football-related information from around the ...

, 2 January 2005 as Atalanta finished in eight place of the

1949–50 Serie A The 1949–50 Serie A season was won by Juventus. Teams Como and Venezia had been promoted from Serie B. Final classification Results Top goalscorers References and sources *''Almanacco Illustrato del Calcio - La Storia 1898-2004'', Pan ...

season. For the next season, Hansen moved on to defending Serie A champions

Juventus FC )''I Bianconeri'' (The White and Blacks)''Le Zebre'' (The Zebras)''La Signora Omicidi'' (The Killer Lady)''La Gheuba'' (: The Hunchback) , founded = as Sport-Club Juventus , ground = Juventus Stadium , capacity = 41,507 , owner = Agnelli ...

, where he was to play alongside fellow Danish Olympians John Hansen and

. As a part of his contract, Karl Aage demanded a clause to let him change clubs on a free transfer. The three Danes had a great understanding on the pitch. In his first season at Juventus, Karl Aage Hansen scored 23 goals in 34 games, making him the joint third highest goal scorer of the season. During the

1951–52 Serie A The 1951–52 Serie A season was won by Juventus. Teams SPAL and Legnano had been promoted from Serie B. Six out of the twenty clubs came from Lombardy, a record for a single region of Italy. Events FIGC decided to restore the original 18-c ...

season, Karl Aage scored only 12 goals, but in his stead John Hansen stepped up, and became league top goal scorer, as Juventus won the Serie A championship. Karl Aage Hansen played an additional season with Juventus, before leaving the club on a free transfer in 1953. The Juventus leaders thought Karl Aage Hansen over the hill, and would not offer him a satisfactory contract. He played 87 games and scored 37 goals in the Serie A for Juventus. Karl Aage Hansen had not liked being in Juventus as much as his time in Atalanta, and looked forward to move on. In the end, he chose Serie A rivals Sampdoria Genoa as his new club, and got the transfer sum himself. He stayed a single season with Sampdoria, helping the club finish 8th in the

1953–54 Serie A The 1953–54 Serie A season was won by Internazionale. Teams Genoa and Legnano had been promoted from Serie B. Final classification Results Relegation tie-breaker ''Played in Milan, Florence and Rome'' Palermo relegated to Serie B. ...

season, before making yet another lucrative move to the young Serie A team

Catania Calcio Catania S.S.D., commonly known as Catania, is an Italian football club based in the city of Catania, Sicily, that plays in . Originally founded in 1908 as ''Associazione Sportiva pro Educazione Fisica'', the club boasts 17 appearances in the t ...

in 1954. Hansen spent three seasons with Catania, even following the club into the

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie Balkrishna Industries, BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 ...

, when the team was relegated due to

match fixing In organized sports, match fixing is the act of playing or officiating a match with the intention of achieving a pre-determined result, violating the rules of the game and often the law. There are many reasons why match fixing might take place, ...

in 1955. He played a total 79 games and scored seven goals for Catania. In 1957, Hansen's professional career was over, and he returned to Denmark. He is estimated to be the member of the Danish 1948 Olympics team who made the most money from his professional career, due to his many lucrative free transfer moves, each time earning the entire transfer fee for himself.

References

External links

Danish national team profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hansen, Karl Aage 1921 births 1990 deaths Danish men's footballers Denmark men's international footballers Danish male handball players Footballers at the 1948 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers for Denmark Olympic bronze medalists for Denmark Men's association football forwards Juventus F.C. players U.C. Sampdoria players Atalanta B.C. players Catania S.S.D. players Huddersfield Town A.F.C. players English Football League players Serie A players Serie B players Expatriate footballers in Italy Expatriate footballers in England Danish expatriate men's footballers Olympic medalists in football Medalists at the 1948 Summer Olympics