Michael Krohn-Dehli (; born 6 June 1983) 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 ...

. He played mostly as an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, 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 #Cent ...

, but was also deployed as a winger. A technically gifted player, Krohn-Dehli started his professional career in the Netherlands, but would make his breakthrough for native childhood club,

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 ...

, where he amassed 26 goals in 122

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 ...

appearances. This earned him a move to

Celta Celta is Galician, Portuguese and Spanish for the Celts. It may also refer to: * Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults (CELTA), an English teaching certificate * Celta (train), an international train service connecting Vigo and Port ...

in Spain, where he remained for the rest of his career, also representing

Sevilla Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Gua ...

and

Deportivo La Coruña ''Deportivo'' (Spanish, 'sporting') may refer to: * Deportivo de La Coruña, commonly known as simply Deportivo, a Spanish football club * Déportivo, a French rock band * Deportivo (Mexicable), an aerial lift station in Ecatepec, Mexico * Deport ...

. A

Danish international 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 ...

, Krohn-Dehli won 62 caps for the country, representing it at the

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and at

Euro 2012 The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2012 or simply Euro 2012, was the 14th European Championship for men's national football teams organised by UEFA. The final tournament, held between 8 June and 1 ...

Club career

Early career

Born in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

, Krohn-Dehli began playing football at Rosenhøj BK in Denmark. After that he played for Danish clubs

Hvidovre IF Hvidovre Idrætsforening, more commonly known as Hvidovre IF () is a Denmark, Danish professional association football, football club based in Hvidovre. The club competes in the Danish 1st Division, the second tier of Danish football league syste ...

and

. In 2002, Krohn-Dehli joined

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * ''Ajax'' (play), by the ancient Greek ...

from Brøndby. He excelled as a youth team player for Ajax under

Danny Blind Dirk Franciscus "Danny" Blind (; born 1 August 1961) is a Dutch former football player and coach. He played as a defender for Sparta Rotterdam, Ajax and the Netherlands national team. As coach he has managed Ajax and the Netherlands national te ...

. In 2004, however, he was allowed to leave Ajax by manager

Ronald Koeman Ronald Koeman (; born 21 March 1963) is a Dutch professional football manager and former player. He is the younger brother of his former international teammate Erwin Koeman and the son of former Dutch international Martin Koeman. Koeman was cap ...

and he joined

RKC Waalwijk RKC Waalwijk () is a Dutch professional football club based in Waalwijk, that is currently competing in the Eredivisie. Its name is derived from 'Rooms Katholieke Combinatie' ('Roman Catholic Combination' in Dutch) and was established as a merger ...

on a free transfer. There he made his professional debut on 15 August 2004 in a goalless draw against

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 ...

Return to Ajax

Two years later, Krohn-Dehli was re-signed by Ajax on a free transfer until 2009. The midfielder made his debut for Ajax on 17 September 2006 in a 2–0 league win against

Roda JC Kerkrade Sportvereniging Roda Juliana Combinatie Kerkrade (; Ripuarian: ), also known as Roda JC Kerkrade () or commonly Roda JC or Roda, is a Dutch professional football club based in Kerkrade, Netherlands. Roda JC Kerkrade plays in the Eerste Divisie. ...

. After the winter break with only three appearances for Ajax he was sent on loan to

Sparta Rotterdam Sparta Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club based in Rotterdam. Established on 1 April 1888, Sparta Rotterdam is the oldest professional football team in the Netherlands. Sparta currently compete in the Eredivisie, the top flight ...

on 31 January 2007 for the remainder of the season. Five days later he made his first out of 12 appearances for Sparta against Roda JC Kerkrade. After his spell at Sparta and the summer break he returned to Ajax for the 2007–08 season.

Return to Brøndby

Ajax announced on 29 August 2008 that they would transfer Krohn-Dehli to Danish club

. He made his debut two days later on 31 August against FC Copenhagen.

Celta

On 21 August 2012, it was announced that Krohn-Dehli would be joining

Celta de Vigo Real Club Celta de Vigo (; ), commonly known as Celta de Vigo or simply Celta, is a Spanish professional football club based in Vigo, Galicia, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spanish football. Nicknamed ''Os Celestes'' (The Sky Blues ...

after completing a medical. His performances in 2014 led to interest from

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

Sevilla

On 1 June 2015, Krohn-Dehli officially signed a two-year contract with fellow

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

team

. On 28 April 2016, he dislocated his left

kneecap The patella, also known as the kneecap, is a flat, rounded triangular bone which articulates with the femur (thigh bone) and covers and protects the anterior articular surface of the knee joint. The patella is found in many tetrapods, such as m ...

shortly after being subbed on in the first

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semi-final at

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against

Shakhtar Donetsk Football Club Shakhtar Donetsk ( uk, Футбольний клуб «Шахтар» Донецьк , short nickname "miners") is a Ukrainian professional football club from the city of Donetsk. In 2014, due to the War in Donbass, the club was f ...

, much to the dismay of both teammates and opponents. He had knee surgery performed the following day at Clínica Sagrado Corazón de Sevilla after having flown back home with the rest of the squad. Later that day, following the surgery, Sevilla FC released a statement on the club's website, revealing that he would miss seven to eight months of action, depending on his rehabilitation. Almost six months later to the day, on 27 October, Sevilla released footage of a recovering Krohn-Dehli running on one of the club's training grounds. One month later, Krohn-Dehli was back on the training pitch with the rest of the squad.

Deportivo La Coruña

On 29 January 2018, Krohn-Dehli joined La Liga side

on a free transfer and a one-and-a-half-year contract. Following the club's relegation from the highest tier, Krohn-Dehli was released in July 2019. On 10 July 2020, a year after leaving Deportivo, Krohn-Dehli announced through his agent that he had officially retired from professional football and would pursuit a career as a pundit.

International career

Krohn-Dehli made his debut for 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 ...

in a

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qualification match against

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein (german: link=no, Fürstentum Liechtenstein), is a German-speaking microstate located in the Alps between Austria and Switzerland. Liechtenstein is a semi-constitutional monarchy ...

on 11 October 2006. Michael Krohn-Dehli - Maarten Stekelenburg 20120609

Krohn-Dehli scored the only goal in Denmark's 1–0 victory over the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

UEFA Euro 2012 The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2012 or simply Euro 2012, was the 14th European Championship for men's national football teams organised by UEFA. The final tournament, held between 8 June and 1 ...

. After that match, Krohn-Dehli said he was satisfied with scoring and told reporters after the game, "It's a little bit special for me as I played for eight years in Holland and have a Dutch girlfriend, so I think the whole family was cheering in Holland". He also scored the lone goal for Denmark in the final group stage game against Germany, a 1–2 loss. In May 2018 he was named in Denmark's preliminary 35-man

squad In military terminology, a squad is among the smallest of military organizations and is led by a non-commissioned officer. NATO and US doctrine define a squad as an organization "larger than a team, but smaller than a section." while US Army do ...

for the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national Association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awa ...

in Russia, returning after a 3 years absence. After the World Cup, he announced his retirement from the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exam ...

Career statistics

Club

International

Source: :''Denmark score listed first, score column indicates score after each Krohn-Dehli goal.''

Honours

Sevilla *

: 2015–16

References

External links

Danish national team profile

Official Danish Superliga stats
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Krohn-Dehli, Michael 1983 births Living people Footballers from Copenhagen Danish footballers Denmark youth international footballers Denmark under-21 international footballers Denmark international footballers Association football midfielders Hvidovre IF players AFC Ajax players RKC Waalwijk players Sparta Rotterdam players Brøndby IF players RC Celta de Vigo players Sevilla FC players Deportivo de La Coruña players Eredivisie players Danish Superliga players La Liga players UEFA Euro 2012 players 2018 FIFA World Cup players Danish expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate footballers in Spain Danish expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Danish expatriate sportspeople in Spain