Mathias Aaris Kragh Nielsen (born 2 March 1991) is 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 ...

footballer. He plays at

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

NSÍ Runavík NSÍ Runavík is a Faroese football club, playing in Runavík on the island of Eysturoy. It was founded 24 March 1957. In 2003 NSÍ participated for the first time on a European stage. In 2007, the club won the Faroe Islands Premier League for t ...

. Nielsen has 1 youth cap for

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 ...

, playing for the Danish under-20s. A versatile player, Nielsen's preference is playing as a defensive midfielder, though mostly utilized at centre back and occasionally

right 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 ...

Early life

Mathias Nielsen spent his entire youth career with

Herfølge Boldklub Herfølge Boldklub is a Danish football club founded in 1921. It is based in Herfølge, a southern suburb of Køge in the eastern part of Zealand. In 2009, the club shared its licence, and merged its professional football with Køge BK to form ...

, joining the club at 4 years of age, he went on to sign a contract with this childhood club in the summer of 2007. During the winter he would play indoor football with the team's indoor division, playing as goalkeeper. When Herfølge BK merged with

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 p ...

, Nielsen was carried over in to the newly formed club

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 ...

Senior career

F.C. Nordsjælland

1 July 2010 Nielsen moved to Superliga team F.C. Nordsjælland on a free transfer, signing a 1 year contract. He made his debut the following month as a substitute during the second leg of FCN's third qualifying round of the

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

, against Portuguese side Sporting Lisbon. Amid interest from Italian clubs

Parma Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmigiano-Reggiano, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 ...

and Napoli in March 2011, the young defender extended his contract with FCN for another two years. 17 July 2012, Nielsen left FCN for

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 ...

, having made a single appearance for the Farum club.

Næstved BK

After getting his contract with FC Nordsjælland terminated, he joined Danish 2nd Division club

. After only a few months in his new club, he got his contract extended until the summer 2015. However, he was sold in 2014.

AC Horsens

AC Horsens announced in July 2014, that they had signed Nielsen. His contract was extended with two years in July 2015 and once again in September 2016, this time until 2019. During his second season in the club, he became the captain of the team. In March 2017, Nielsen suffered a knee injury and that resulted in aa operation, that kept him out for the rest of the season.

Randers FC

Already in January 2019 it was confirmed, that Nielsen would join Randers FC for the 2019/20 season.Randers bekræfter: Henter Horsens-anfører
bold.dk, 7 January 2019

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Club

Nordsjælland * Danish Cup:

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

Randers *Danish Cup:

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 ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nielsen, Mathias 1991 births Living people People from Nuuk Danish men's footballers Danish expatriate men's footballers Men's association football defenders Herfølge Boldklub players Køge Boldklub players FC Nordsjælland players Viborg FF players AC Horsens players Randers FC players HB Køge players NSÍ Runavík players Danish Superliga players Danish 1st Division players Expatriate men's footballers in the Faroe Islands