Mads Bech Sørensen (born 7 January 1999), sometimes known as Mads Bech, 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

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 ...

. Bech began his career in his native

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

with AC Horsens and transferred to

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

in 2017. Largely a fringe player during six years in England, he returned to Denmark to join FC Midtjylland in 2023. Bech was capped by

at youth level.

Club career

AC Horsens

A left-sided

central defender 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 ...

, Bech began his youth career with Østbirk IF as a juvenile, before transferring to the

academy An academy ( Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy ...

at AC Horsens in 2011. After progressing through the youth ranks, he won his maiden call into the first team squad for a 1st Division match versus

HB Køge HB Køge () is a professional Danish football club based primarily in the town of Herfølge, and secondly in the town of Køge, both in the Køge Municipality, part of 'Region of Zealand', in the eastern part of Zealand, south of Copenhagen. It w ...

on 3 May 2015. At age 16 years, three months and 26 days, Bech became Horsens' youngest-ever player when he started in the 1–1 draw and he remained on the pitch until being substituted for Malthe Boesen (the player who had previously held the record) after 75 minutes. He made five further appearances during the remainder of the 2014–15 season and signed a new two-year contract on 9 June 2015. Over the course of the 2015–16 and 2016–17 seasons, Bech continued to make a handful of appearances a season, mostly as a substitute, even after Horsens' promotion to the Superliga in 2016. After signing a new three-year contract in May 2016, Bech made 10 appearances during the 2016–17 season and scored his first senior goal with a consolation in a 3–1

DBU Pokalen 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 ...

last-16 defeat to

AGF Aarhus Aarhus Gymnastikforening (; commonly known as AGF ), is a professional sports club based in Aarhus, Jutland, Denmark. Founded in 1880, it is one of the oldest clubs in the country and gymnastics and fencing are featured as its main sports. Howev ...

on 15 March 2017. Bech appeared in Horsens' opening three matches of the 2017–18 season and scored the first league goal of his career in a 4–1 victory over

Lyngby Kongens Lyngby (, Danish for "the King's Heather Town"; short form Lyngby) is the seat and commercial centre of Lyngby-Taarbæk Municipality in the northern suburbs of Copenhagen, Denmark. Lyngby Hovedgade is a busy shopping street and the site of ...

on 23 July 2017. Despite that excellent start to the season, he departed the club on 31 July, just two days after his final appearance for the club. In just over two years as a first team player at the CASA Arena, Bech made 25 appearances and scored two goals. While a Horsens player, Bech filled the roles of

left 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 ...

, central defender,

left midfield A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

and emerged as a

throw-in A throw-in is a method of restarting play in a game of association football when the ball has exited the side of the field of play. It is governed by Law 15 of The Laws of the Game. Award When the ball goes out of play past the touch-line ...

specialist, after receiving coaching from Thomas Grønnemark.

Brentford

2017–2019

On 31 July 2017, Bech moved to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

to join the

B team B, or b, is the second letter of the Latin-script alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is '' bee'' (pronounced ), plural ''bees''. It r ...

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

club

on a four-year contract for an undisclosed fee. Injuries to first team central defenders John Egan,

Andreas Bjelland Andreas Bjelland (born 11 July 1988) is a Danish-Norwegian professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Lyngby. He represented Denmark at international level and was part of the Danes' Euro 2012 squad. He is also adept as a full back ...

and

Chris Mepham Christopher James Mepham (born 5 November 1997) is a professional footballer who plays as a centre back for club AFC Bournemouth and the Wales national team. He is a product of the Brentford and Chelsea academies. Club career Early years A ce ...

saw Bech feature as an unused substitute on five occasions during the 2017–18 season. He battled with

homesickness Homesickness is the distress caused by being away from home.Kerns, Brumariu, Abraham. Kathryn A., Laura E., Michelle M.(2009/04/13). Homesickness at summer camp. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 54. Its cognitive hallmark is preoccupying thoughts of home ...

during the season and adjusting to life in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, but received support on the field from Danish teammate Andreas Bjelland and off it from the club's sleep coach. Bech was promoted to the first team squad for the 2018–19 season and made his debut for the club with a start in an

EFL Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

first round match versus

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. Southend are known as ...

on 14 August 2018. He was substituted with a

dead leg A charley horse is a painful involuntary cramp in the legs and/or foot, lasting anywhere from a few seconds to a day. The term formerly referred more commonly to bruising of the quadriceps muscle of the anterior or lateral thigh, or contusion of ...

after half an hour of the 4–2 victory. After returning to fitness, a knee injury suffered in October kept Bech out of action for months. A season-ending injury suffered by central defender

Yoann Barbet Yoann Barbet (born 10 May 1993) is a French professional footballer who plays as a centre-back and left-back for Ligue 2 club Bordeaux. A product of the Bordeaux youth system, he signed his first professional contract with Chamois Niortais a ...

in late March 2019 allowed Bech to break into the starting lineup and he finished the 2018–19 season with 10 appearances.

2019–20 and loan to AFC Wimbledon

medial collateral ligament The medial collateral ligament (MCL), or tibial collateral ligament (TCL), is one of the four major ligaments of the knee. It is on the medial (inner) side of the knee joint in humans and other primates. Its primary function is to resist out ...

injury suffered prior to Brentford's first

friendly Friendly may refer to: Places * Friendly, West Yorkshire, a settlement in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England * Friendly, Maryland, an unincorporated community in the United States * Friendly, Eugene, Oregon, a neighborhood in the United States * ...

of the 2019–20

pre-season In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of Se ...

kept Bech out until late September 2019. He resumed his involvement with the first team squad in November 2019 and made two appearances before signing a new -year contract (which included the option of a further year) in January 2020. Down the Brentford defensive pecking order, Bech joined

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

club

AFC Wimbledon AFC Wimbledon is an English professional Association football, football club, based in London Borough of Merton, Merton, London, that plays in the EFL League Two, after being relegated from the EFL League One following the 2021–22 EFL Leagu ...

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that d ...

until the end of the 2019–20 season on 9 January 2020. The

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

and the cancellation of the League One regular season led to his early return from the loan in March 2020. Bech made 9 appearances and helped the Dons to avoid relegation to

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

. Bech was ineligible to play during the remainder of Brentford's 2019–20 season, which ended with defeat in the 2020 Championship play-off final.

2020–21

After beginning the

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

season restricted to EFL Cup appearances, by November 2020, injury and illness suffered by central defenders

Pontus Jansson Pontus Sven Gustav Jansson (; born 13 February 1991) is a Swedish professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for club Brentford, where he serves as club captain. Jansson started his career with local club Malmö FF before moving to Ita ...

and new signing

Charlie Goode Charles James Goode (born 3 August 1995) is an English professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for club Brentford. A graduate of the Fulham Academy, Goode began his senior career in non-League football, before breaking into League f ...

respectively allowed Bech to break into the league lineup alongside

Ethan Pinnock Ethan Rupert Pinnock (born 29 May 1993) is a professional Association football, footballer who plays as a centre-back for club Brentford F.C., Brentford and the Jamaica national football team, Jamaica national team. Pinnock began his career in ...

. He started all but one match of Brentford's run to the EFL Cup semi-finals and became the first team's throw-in specialist, after having received further coaching from Thomas Grønnemark and extending the length of his throws to . On 24 January 2021, Bech scored his first Brentford goal with the opener in a 3–1

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

fourth round defeat to

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

. Injury to left back

Rico Henry Rico Antonio Henry (born 8 July 1997) is an English professional footballer who plays as a left-back for club Brentford. He is a product of the Walsall academy and represented England at U19 and U20 level. Club career Walsall After a spell wi ...

in February 2021 saw Bech deployed in the position until head coach

Thomas Frank Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the Ap ...

switched to a

3-5-2 In association football, the formation of a team refers to the position players take in relation to each other on a Association football pitch, pitch. As association football is a fluid and fast-moving game, a player's position (with the excepti ...

formation in mid-April, at which time he dropped out of the starting lineup. Bech's breakthrough season was ended prematurely in May 2021, due to the necessary removal of his

appendix Appendix, or its plural form appendices, may refer to: __NOTOC__ In documents * Addendum, an addition made to a document by its author after its initial printing or publication * Bibliography, a systematic list of books and other works * Index (pub ...

and a stress fracture to his shin. By that point of the 2020–21 season, he had made 39 appearances and scored three goals. In his absence, Brentford gained promotion to the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

after a successful

playoff The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

campaign.

2021–22

Bech returned fit for Brentford's 2021–22 pre-season and began the regular season fourth in the central defensive pecking order behind Pontus Jansson, Ethan Pinnock and new signing

Kristoffer Ajer Kristoffer Vassbakk Ajer (born 17 April 1998) is a Norwegian professional footballer who plays for Premier League club Brentford and the Norway national team. Ajer has previously played for Start in the Tippeligaen and Celtic in the Scottish ...

. He suffered a medial knee injury on his second appearance of the season, during a 3–1 EFL Cup second round win over

Forest Green Rovers Forest Green Rovers Football Club are a professional football club based in Nailsworth, Gloucestershire, England. The team compete in , the third tier of the English football league system, and have played their home games at The New Lawn since ...

on 24 August 2021. He returned to the matchday squad in late November and had to wait until 22 December to make his comeback, with a start in a 2–0 EFL Cup quarter-final defeat to

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

. The departure of Charlie Goode on loan and injuries suffered by Ethan Pinnock and Zanka allowed Bech to start in Brentford's final five Premier League matches of the season. Bech finished a mid-table 2021–22 season with 15 appearances.

2022–2023 and loans

Despite injuries to Ethan Pinnock, Kristoffer Ajer, Charlie Goode and with Zanka yet to sign a new contract, Bech began the

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

season as third-choice centre back, behind Pontus Jansson and new signing Ben Mee. After just 17 minutes of Premier League football and one EFL Cup start (on which he scored) during the opening month of the regular season, Bech joined French

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 ...

club

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 ...

on loan until the end of the

season. Aside from two friendly appearances during a December 2022

training camp A training camp is an organized period in which military personnel or athletes participate in a rigorous and focused schedule of training in order to learn or improve skills. Athletes typically utilise training camps to prepare for upcoming events, ...

, Bech failed to make a competitive appearance for the club and was recalled by Brentford on 1 January 2023. Following two appearances, the one-year option on Bech's contract was taken up and on 18 January 2023 he joined

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 ...

club

Groningen Groningen (; gos, Grunn or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen province in the Netherlands. The ''capital of the north'', Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of the northern part of t ...

on loan until the end of the

season. Though he featured as

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

during a spell interrupted by a broken forearm, Bech's 11 appearances failed to prevent the club's relegation to the

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (, en, First Division) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie and with the third-level Tweede Divisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as the ...

. Despite a near-full involvement in the 2023–24 pre-season match programme, Bech was absent from Brentford's early regular-season squads and he departed the club on 1 September 2023. During six years with Brentford, he made 72 appearances and scored four goals.

FC Midtjylland

On 1 September 2023, Bech returned to Denmark to sign a four-year contract with Superliga club

for an undisclosed fee. He made 27 appearances and scored a season-high four goals during the Superliga championship-winning 2023–24 season. In July 2024, Bech was named as club captain.

International career

Bech won his maiden call into the Denmark U18 squad in September 2016 and made 7 appearances during the 2016–17 season, captaining the team and scoring once in a 4–2 friendly victory over Belarus U18 on 18 October. He was promoted into the U19 squad in January 2017 and made two appearances during the remainder of the 2016–17 season. In mid-August 2017, Bech was named as captain of the Denmark U19 squad for the 2017 Four Nations Tournament, in which he made two appearances. Bech appeared in six of the 10 matches during the U21 team's successful 2021 European U21 Championship qualifying campaign and he was named in the squad for the

Finals Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

. He started each of Denmark's group matches and scored in a 2–0 win over Iceland U21 on 28 March 2021. Injury saw Bech replaced in the squad for the knockout stages, though his group stage performances were such that he was named in the Squad of the Tournament. On 24 May 2022, Bech won his maiden call-up to the senior team when he was named in the initial 29-man squad for four 2022–23 Nations League A matches in June 2022. He was cut from the final 26-man selection.

Personal life

Bech began his sporting career as a

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 ...

player, before switching to

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 ...

. He is an

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

supporter.

Career statistics

Honours

FC Midtjylland *

: 2023–24 Individual * UEFA European U21 Championship Squad of the Tournament:

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

Team of the Month: March 2024

References

External links

Mads Bech
at

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bech Sorensen, Mads 1999 births Living people Danish men's footballers Danish Superliga players Danish 1st Division players AC Horsens players Brentford F.C. players Denmark men's youth international footballers Danish expatriate men's footballers Danish expatriate sportspeople in England Men's association football central defenders Men's association football fullbacks Men's association football midfielders Sportspeople from Horsens Footballers from the Central Denmark Region English Football League players Denmark men's under-21 international footballers AFC Wimbledon players Premier League players Danish expatriate sportspeople in France OGC Nice players Danish expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands FC Groningen players Eredivisie players FC Midtjylland players