Nicolai Møller Boilesen (born 16 February 1992) 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

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 ...

for

FC Copenhagen Football Club Copenhagen ( da, Football Club København, ), commonly known as FC København, FC Copenhagen, Copenhagen or simply FCK, is a professional Danish football club in Copenhagen, Denmark. FCK was founded in 1992 as a superstructure on ...

in 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 the Denmark national team.

Club career

Ajax

Boilesen started playing football in local amateur clubs Lille Hema IF and

Skovlunde IF Ballerup-Skovlunde Fodbold, commonly known as BSF, is an association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel ...

Ballerup Ballerup is a Danish town, seat of the Ballerup Municipality, in the Region Hovedstaden. There are approximately 25 schools in Ballerup Municipality. Ballerup has its own educational institution specialized in the study, training and research of ...

and

Skovlunde From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigationJump to search Skovlunde is a small Danish town in Ballerup Municipality and is a suburb of Copenhagen (12 km west of downtown Copenhagen). Skovlunde has approximately 12.000 inhab ...

, before joining top-flight 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 ...

in 2004. As a left-footed central defender, Boilesen saw Danish senior international and former Brøndby player

Daniel Agger Daniel Munthe Agger (; born 12 December 1984) is a Danish professional football coach and former player who is the head coach of Danish 1st Division club HB Køge. As an active player, he played as a central defender for Brøndby and Liverpool a ...

as his role-model. Boilesen made his debut for the Denmark U17 national team in July 2007, and played a total 38 games for various Danish youth teams in his time at Brøndby. Having had various trial periods with clubs such as

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional football club based in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while the actual club was refounded in August 2002 fo ...

and

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 ...

, and with his Brøndby contract expiring in December 2009, Boilesen agreed a move to 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 ...

, with Ajax paying Brøndby 4 million DKK in compensation (roughly €500,000). Followed by a number of top European clubs, Boilesen chose Ajax on advice from fellow Danish youth international and Ajax player

Christian Eriksen Christian Dannemann Eriksen (born 14 February 1992) is a Danish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Premier League club Manchester United and the Denmark national team. He is renowned for his vision, technique, passing, and fr ...

. Signing a four-year contract, binding him to the club until the Summer of 2013, he initially joined the youth ranks where his first season with Ajax was stalled by injuries. Once recovered he solidified a starting position for Ajax A1, the clubs' under-19 team, and even made appearances for the reserves team

Jong Ajax Jong Ajax () (''English: Young Ajax''), also referred to as Ajax II or Ajax 2 is a Dutch association football team, the reserve team of Ajax. It is based in Amsterdam and competes in the Dutch Eerste Divisie. History Jong Ajax (''formerly more ...

. Boilesen joined the Ajax first team ahead of the 2010–11 season, where he was given the number 32 shirt. He made his professional debut on 3 April 2011, as he played the second half of Ajax' 3–0 victory against

Heracles Almelo Heracles Almelo is a Dutch professional football club based in Almelo, founded in 1903. The club has won the Dutch national title twice, in 1927 and 1941. Heracles won the Eerste Divisie title during the 2004–05 season, gaining promotion to th ...

being substituted on for

Daley Blind Daley Blind (; born 9 March 1990) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder, left-back or centre-back for Bundesliga club Bayern Munich and the Netherlands national team. He is the son of former Ajax defender and fo ...

. By the 2011–12 season, he was head coach

Frank de Boer Franciscus de Boer (; born 15 May 1970) is a Dutch football manager who was most recently the head coach of the Netherlands national team. A former defender, De Boer spent most of his professional playing career with Ajax, winning five Eredi ...

's first choice for the starting

position. However, in the match against rivals PSV in September 2011, Boilesen suffered a hamstring injury which would see him sidelined until February 2012, following a sprint duel with

Jeremain Lens Jeremain Marciano Lens (born 24 November 1987) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays for club Versailles. He is a versatile attacking player, known for his pace and stamina, primarily being used as a winger or a striker, but he can succ ...

. He was not the only Ajax player to suffer an injury in this fixture as

Vurnon Anita Vurnon San Benito Anita (born 4 April 1989) is a Curaçaoan professional association football, footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder or full-back (association football), full-back for Eredivisie club RKC Waalwijk. Born in Curaçao and ra ...

was forced off the pitch as well due to a sprained ankle. Anita's injury was less severe, and the remained of the year saw both Anita and

Dico Koppers Dico Koppers (born 31 January 1992) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a left back for Ajax Amateurs in the Derde Klasse. Club career Ajax Koppers began his footballing career in Utrecht, playing for the local amateur side SCH'4 ...

playing in the starting left back position for the duration of Boilesen's injury. He made his return playing in the

Beloften Eredivisie The Beloften Eredivisie (; ''"Promised Honor Division"'') was the highest football league in for reserve teams in the Netherlands organized by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB). The league was founded in 1992 as ''Reserve Teams Eredivisi ...

in a match against Jong ADO Den Haag, which saw Jong Ajax win 7–0 with Boilesen playing 60 minutes and scoring a goal as well. He was then added to the first team selection 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. It ...

match against Manchester United. Coming on as a substitute for Koppers he would injure his hamstring once more. Sidelined he suffered another injury during practice which would cost him the entire 2012–13 season. On 27 July 2013, Boilesen made his return to the first team in the 2013 Johan Cruijff Schaal match against AZ, coming on for Daley Blind in the 106th minute of the 3–2 win (a.e.t.). On 8 August 2013, Boilesen played the entire match for Jong Ajax in 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 ...

against

FC Oss TOP Oss (), is a professional association football club based in the town of Oss, North Brabant, Netherlands, that competes in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of the Dutch football league system. Founded in 1928 as T.O.P., a Dutch abbreviatio ...

which resulted in a 2–0 loss. On 18 September 2013, Frank de Boer surprisingly put Boilesen on the

left wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

match against

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Founded ...

Camp Nou Camp Nou (, meaning ''new field'', often referred to in English as the Nou Camp), officially branded as Spotify Camp Nou for sponsorship and financial reasons, is a football stadium in Barcelona, Spain. It has been the home stadium of FC Barcelo ...

. Boilesen played the entire match which ended in a 4–0 loss. On 10 November 2013, he scored his first official goal for Ajax in the 2–0 win over N.E.C., scoring in the 28th minute, having given an assist to Siem de Jong for the 1–0 just minutes prior. Helping Ajax to a 2–1 win over FC Barcelona on the return leg of the series at the

Amsterdam Arena The Johan Cruyff Arena ( nl, Johan Cruijff Arena ; officially stylised as Johan Cruijff ArenA) is the main stadium of the Dutch capital city of Amsterdam and the home stadium of football club AFC Ajax since its opening. Built from 1993 to 1996 ...

, Boilesen was selected for the UEFA Champions League Team of the Week for matchday 5. In June 2015 he refused to extend his contract with Ajax, as a result he did not play a single match for the team in the 2015–16 campaign. After this ended his contract expired.

FC Copenhagen

On 25 August 2016, Boilesen signed a four-year contract with

, arch rivals of his childhood club

International career

In May 2018 he was named in the Denmark national team's preliminary 35-man squad for the

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

in Russia but did not make the final 23. He was named in Denmark's 26-man squad for the

UEFA Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2020) or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe ...

competition, that took place in 2021 because of 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 ...

. Denmark played all three group matches in

Parken Stadium Parken Stadium, also known simply as Parken and as Telia Parken (2014–2020), is a football stadium in the Indre Østerbro (''Inner Østerbro'') district of Copenhagen, Denmark, built from 1990 to 1992. The stadium, which features a retractable ...

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 ...

Career statistics

Club

International

:''As of match played 26 June 2021. Scores and results list Denmark's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Boilesen goal''.

Honours

Ajax *

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 ...

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 ...

, 2011–12,

2012–13 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 ...

, 2013–14 *

Johan Cruijff Shield The Johan Cruyff Shield (, ) is a football trophy in the Netherlands named after Dutch footballer Johan Cruyff, also often referred to as the Dutch Super Cup. The winner is decided in one match only, played by the winner of the national footbal ...

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

Copenhagen *

: 2016–17, 2018–19, 2021–22 *

Danish Cup 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 ...

: 2016–17 Individual * Danish U21 Player of the Year: 2011

References

External links

* *
Voetbal International profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boilesen, Nicolai 1992 births Living people People from Ballerup Danish men's footballers Association football fullbacks Denmark international footballers Denmark youth international footballers Denmark under-21 international footballers UEFA Euro 2020 players Ballerup-Skovlunde Fodbold players Brøndby IF players AFC Ajax players Jong Ajax players F.C. Copenhagen players Danish Superliga players Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players Danish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Danish expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Sportspeople from the Capital Region of Denmark