Mathias Ross Jensen (born 15 January 2001) 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 ...

who plays as a

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 ...

for club

NEC is a Japanese multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. The company was known as the Nippon Electric Company, Limited, before rebranding in 1983 as NEC. It provides IT and network soluti ...

on loan from Turkish club

Galatasaray Galatasaray Spor Kulübü (, ''Galatasaray Sports Club'') is a Turkish sports club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul in Turkey. Most notable for its association football department, the club also consists of various other de ...

. He is the older brother of Oliver Ross.

Club career

AaB Fodbold

Growing up in the Hasseris district of Aalborg, Ross started his football career as a 10-year-old at Aalborg KFUM. At under-13 level he joined the AaB youth academy. In his first year as a U17 player, other centre-backs were preferred ahead of Ross, which meant that he mainly appeared on the reserve team or as a substitute striker in the final minutes. In his second U17 year, however, he became a regular player for the team in the U17 league. AaB U17 finished the 2017–18 season in third place in the league table, and in June 2018 he was named U17 Player of the Year in AaB. Ross made his professional debut for the AaB first team on 2 September 2018, when he came on as a substitute after 27 minutes for an injured Jakob Blåbjerg in a 2–2 draw against

Randers FC Randers FC () is a professional football club based in Randers, East Jutland, Denmark, that plays in the Danish Superliga, the top flight of the Danish football league system. Founded on 1 January 2003, the club builds upon the license of Rande ...

. At the time of the substitution, AaB were behind 2–1, and newspaper ''

Tipsbladet ''Tipsbladet'' is a weekly Danish sports magazine focusing on football. It the oldest football magazine in Scandinavia and is headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark. History and profile ''Tipsbladet'' was founded by Elwin Hansen in 1948. The maga ...

'' described Ross' debut as "excellent". A month later, in October 2018, he was permanently promoted to AaB's first team squad. During the regular season he was used three times, but from the relegation round he established himself as a starter in the first team. AaB eventually qualified for the play-offs to participate in the first qualifying round for the

UEFA 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. ...

, where they were, eliminated in the first round against AGF. In January 2019, Ross signed a contract extension keeping him in AaB until 2023.

Galatasaray

On 8 September 2022, Ross signed a four-year contract with

. It was announced that a transfer fee of €1,750,000 would be paid to the player's former team, AaB. Ross became the champion in the

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), officially known as Spor Toto Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional league for association football clubs. It is the top-flight of the Turkish football league system and is run by the ...

in the 2022–23 season with Galatasaray. Defeating Ankaragücü 4–1 away in the match played on 30 May 2023, Galatasaray secured the lead with two weeks before the end and won the 23rd championship in its history.

Loan to NEC Nijmegen

On 21 July 2023, Ross was loaned out to the Eredivisie club

for one

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and ...

. Accordingly, NEC Nijmegen would pay a temporary transfer fee of €250,000 to Galatasaray.

International career

Ross made his international debut on 7 October 2017 as part of the Denmark under-17 team, when he was part of the starting lineup and played 90 minutes in a 3–4 defeat to

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

in a

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

. He went from being a peripheral player under the auspices of the Danish Football Association (DBU) to being

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 ...

in the last match during the 2017 UEFA European Under-17 Championship. He made 11 appearances for the national under-17 team. Ross made his first appearance for the Denmark under-19 team on 7 September 2018, and soon established himself as a starter.

Honours

: 2022–23

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ross, Mathias 2001 births Footballers from Aalborg Living people Men's association football central defenders Danish men's footballers Denmark men's youth international footballers Denmark men's under-21 international footballers Danish Superliga players Eredivisie players AaB Fodbold players Galatasaray S.K. footballers NEC Nijmegen players Danish expatriate men's footballers Danish expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Danish expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands