Ole Kjær (born 16 August 1954) is a Danish former

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 won the 1978 Danish ''Player of the Year'' award. He played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

, and most prominently represented Danish club

Esbjerg fB Esbjerg forenede Boldklubber (; commonly known as Esbjerg fB or EfB in short) is a Danish professional football club based in Esbjerg, West Jutland, that plays in the 2nd division, the third-tier of the Danish football league system. Found ...

, with whom he won the 1979 Danish Championship. He played 26 games for the Danish national team from 1977 to 1984, and represented Denmark at the 1984 European Championship.

Club career

Kjær began his professional career in 1974 with

. Two years after, he was able to win the

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 ...

with Esbjerg. This was their first victory in the tournament since 1964 and only the second in the club's history. The team won 2–1 against

Holbæk B&I Holbæk Bold- & Idrætsforening is a Danish football club currently playing in 2. Division East. They play at Holbæk Stadion in Holbæk on Zealand, which has a capacity of 10,500. From 2008 to 2014 their first team played under the name Nordv ...

. In the 1978 season, Kjær and his team finished runners-up, four points behind title winners

Vejle Boldklub Vejle Boldklub is a Danish professional football club based in Vejle in Jutland. Formed in 1891, the club is one of the most successful clubs in Danish football history, having won the Danish championship five times and the Danish cup title six t ...

. They reached the final of the cup again, but had to admit defeat after three 1–1 draws and a penalty shoot-out against Frem. In the same year he was voted

Danish Football Player of the Year The Danish Player of the Year award is an annual prize, which has been given to the best male Danish football player by the Danish Football Association since 1963. The winner is decided in a vote among the professional Danish footballers. Since 20 ...

, succeeding OB's

Allan Hansen Allan Hansen (born 21 April 1956) is a Danish former football player who most notably played professionally for German team Hamburger SV, with whom he won the 1983 Bundesliga and European Cup trophies. He played 16 matches and scored three goal ...

. In the following season, the team managed to win the league title. With only two defeats and thirty goals conceded, Kjær's team recorded the best defence and finished six points ahead at first place in the league. As the defending champions, however, the club only came in a disappointing tenth place the following year. The sporting situation at Esbjerg did not improve in the coming years either. As the club relegated at the end of the 1986 season, Kjær decided to move to first division rivals Danish 1st Division rivals Næstved Boldklub. In 1990, however, he returned to Esbjerg fB, and retired two years later in 1992. With a total of 474 competitive matches for Esbjerg, Kjær holds the club record. On 11 April 1992, he replaced Jens Peter Hansen (465 games between 1943 and 1966) as the record holder.

International career

Ole Kjær was a part of Danish national team manager

Sepp Piontek Josef Emanuel Hubertus "Sepp" Piontek (born 5 March 1940) is a German former Association football, footballer and manager. Playing career Born in Breslau, now Wrocław. Piontek started his playing career with VfL Germania Leer. Between 1963 and ...

's successful "Danish Dynamite" team in the early 1980s, where he competed for the starting goalkeeper spot with Ole Qvist and Troels Rasmussen. He played an important part as Denmark qualified for the 1984 European Championship. Especially the game against

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 ...

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 2002 to 2003. The stadium ...

on 21 September 1983 saw Kjær make a number of saves, as Denmark beat England 1–0. After a 6–0 pre-tournament loss 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 ...

, Kjær was replaced in the Danish goal by Ole Qvist, and he did not play any games at the 1984 European Championship main tournament.

Outside football

Kjær is educated as a carpenter. He has worked six years in the sports business, sold holiday homes at for , been a salesman for ten years for Naturgas Syd, been director of Esbjerg Elite (1994–96) and been employed by TDC and DanReklame. Kjær still lives in

Esbjerg Esbjerg (, ) is a seaport town and seat of Esbjerg Municipality on the west coast of the Jutland peninsula in southwest Denmark. By road, it is west of Kolding and southwest of Aarhus. With an urban population of 71,698 (1 January 2022)

and has coached Esbjerg fB's U14 goalkeepers.

Honours

Esbjerg fB * Danish Championship:

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the '' International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the '' Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the so ...

: 1976 Individual *

: 1978

References

External links

*
Esbjerg fB profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kjaer, Ole 1954 births Living people People from Kolding Association football goalkeepers Danish men's footballers Denmark under-21 international footballers Denmark international footballers Esbjerg fB players Næstved Boldklub players UEFA Euro 1984 players Sportspeople from the Region of Southern Denmark