Lasse Nielsen (; 3 March 1987) is a Danish former 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 played 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 ...

Career

Nielsen came through the ranks of

second division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

side

Næstved BK Næstved () is a town in the municipality of the same name, located in the southern part of the island of Zealand in Denmark. Næstved has several adult education centers, five elementary schools - and has at least one of each type of the four ...

and made his first-team debut in 2005. On 4 July 2011, he signed a three-year contract with rivals

FC Vestsjælland FC Vestsjælland, also known as FCV Vikings, was a professional Danish association football club that played in the Danish 1st Division until its closure in 2015. They played their home matches at Harboe Arena Slagelse in Slagelse, which has a cap ...

. Two years later, Nielsen and Vestsjælland reached promotion to the

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 ...

and he made his debut in the highest tier on 21 July 2013 in a 1–1 draw away 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 ...

. During the season, Nielsen formed a partnership in central defense with Jean-Claude Bozga, and the duo allowed the fewest goals on headers of all Superliga-clubs early on in the season. His performances during the 2013–14 season attracted interest from various Superliga-clubs and on 14 June 2014, Nielsen signed a two-year contract on a free transfer with OB. His first season at OB resulted in 32 appearances in which he scored two goals. OB, however, struggled, and the club ended on a disappointing ninth place in the league table. He saw less playing time the following season, making 21 appearances and scoring no goals. On 18 May 2016, with Nielsen's contract expiring in OB, he was signed by Polish

Ekstraklasa Poland Ekstraklasa (), meaning "Extra Class" in Polish, named PKO Ekstraklasa since the 2019–20 season due to its sponsorship by PKO Bank Polski, is the top Polish professional league for men's association football teams. Contested by 18 cl ...

club

Lech Poznań Kolejowy Klub Sportowy Lech Poznań S.A., commonly referred to as KKS Lech Poznań or simply Lech Poznań (), is a Polish professional association football, football club based in Poznań and currently competing in the Ekstraklasa, the nation' ...

on a three-year deal. On 7 July 2016, Nielsen won the

Polish SuperCup The Polish Super Cup (, ) is an annually held match between the champions of the Ekstraklasa and the Polish Cup winners or, if the Ekstraklasa champions also win the Polish Cup, the Cup's runners-up. As of 2021, the Polish Super Cup has been pl ...

in a 4–1 win over

Legia Warsaw Legia Warszawa (), commonly referred to as Legia Warsaw or simply Legia, is a professional football club based in Warsaw, Poland. Legia is the most successful Polish football club in history, winning record 15 Ekstraklasa champions titles, a ...

, making his first start and scoring his first goal for the club. He made seven starts in his first 15 league games in Poland, and called the level on which he played a clear "step up" compared to the Danish Superliga. On 23 January 2018, Nielsen signed a three-year contract with Swedish

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; en, the All-Swedish, also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan, en, the Football All-Swedish) is a Swedish professional league for men's association football clubs. It was founded in 1924 and is the top tier of the Swedish football lea ...

side

Trelleborg Trelleborg () is a town in Skåne County, Sweden, with 43,359 inhabitants as of December 31, 2015. It is the southernmost town in Sweden located some west from the southernmost point of Sweden and the Scandinavian peninsula. It is one of the mo ...

, and transferred back to Denmark a year later, signing with

Lyngby BK 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 clu ...

on 30 January 2019. Nielsen returned to his first senior club,

Næstved Boldklub Næstved Boldklub is a Danish association football team based in Næstved in the South of Zealand. Næstved Boldklub is the professional superstructure of the parent club Næstved Idræts Forening (Næstved IF) and currently plays in the Danish ...

, on 9 August 2020. He was assigned a leading role in the club, which had recently suffered relegation to the

Danish 2nd Division The 2nd Division ( da, Danmarksturneringens 2. division or Herre-DM 2. division) is a semi-professional association football league for men and the third division in Denmark. It is organised by the Divisionsforeningen on behalf of the Danish Footb ...

. He retired from football in June 2022, to instead become assistant coach of Næstved.

Career statistics

¹ Including

Honours

Club

Lech Poznań *

Polish Super Cup The Polish Super Cup (, ) is an annually held match between the champions of the Ekstraklasa and the Polish Cup winners or, if the Ekstraklasa champions also win the Polish Cup, the Cup's runners-up. As of 2021, the Polish Super Cup has been pl ...

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

References

External links

*
archive
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nielsen, Lasse 1987 births Living people Danish men's footballers Men's association football defenders Allsvenskan players Danish 1st Division players Danish 2nd Division players Danish Superliga players Danish expatriate men's footballers Danish expatriate sportspeople in Poland Danish expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Ekstraklasa players Expatriate men's footballers in Poland Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden FC Vestsjælland players Lech Poznań players Lyngby Boldklub players Næstved Boldklub players Odense Boldklub players Trelleborgs FF players