Poul Eyvind Petersen (11 April 1921 – 31 May 1997) was 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 ...

amateur

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player and manager. During his career he played for AB, and earned 34 caps 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 ...

from 1946 to 1952. He won a bronze medal in football at the 1948 Summer Olympics, and also participated four years later in the

1952 Olympics 1952 Olympics refers to both: *The 1952 Winter Olympics, which were held in Oslo, Norway *The 1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics ( fi, Kesäolympialaiset 1952; sv, Olympiska sommarspelen 1952), officially known as the Games of the X ...

. He was manager of the national team from 1962 to 1966.

Biography

Poul Petersen started his career as an attacker, and was one of legendary centre forward Carl "Skoma'r" Hansen's best students. Petersen was a quick player, with great technique and a fierce shot. He made his senior debut for

Akademisk Boldklub Akademisk Boldklub Gladsaxe (or AB) is a Danish professional football club from Gladsaxe north of Copenhagen, currently playing at the 3rd highest level of Danish domestic football in the Danish 2nd Division group 1. The club was established on F ...

(AB) in the inside forward position, but eventually settled in the defense as a full-back. He was expected to hoof the ball away whenever he had stripped an opposition player of the ball, but instead he did smart dribbles and passes, and received some criticism for his adventurous style. Poul Petersen made his debut for the Danish national team in June 1946, and quickly established himself in the starting line-up. In 1947, Petersen was selected for the

Europe XI The Europe XI is an association football scratch team mainly consisting of players from the UEFA region but, on occasion, players hailing from other continents playing for European teams are invited to play. The European XI play one-off games agai ...

team, which played an exhibition game against the Great Britain national football team, losing 1–6 at

Hampden Park Hampden Park (Scottish Gaelic: ''Pàirc Hampden''), often referred to as Hampden, is a football stadium in the Mount Florida area of Glasgow, Scotland. The -capacity venue serves as the national stadium of football in Scotland. It is the no ...

. This game earned him the nickname "Europa-Poul". In the run-up to the

1948 Summer Olympics The 1948 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and also known as London 1948) were an international multi-sport event held from 29 July to 14 August 1948 in London, England, United Kingdom. Following a twelve-year hiatus ca ...

, Petersen suffered an injury. He was a part of the Danish team at the tournament, but despite declaring himself fit to play, he was left out of the starting line-up for the entire competition. Denmark won bronze medals at the tournament, but while most of the Danish players went on to sign professional contracts with foreign teams, Poul Petersen stayed in Denmark. He was a part of the Danish team which competed at the

1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics ( fi, Kesäolympialaiset 1952; sv, Olympiska sommarspelen 1952), officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad ( fi, XV olympiadin kisat; sv, Den XV olympiadens spel) and commonly known as Helsinki 1952 ( sv, Helsin ...

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

. Denmark was eliminated in the quarter-finals by the

Yugoslavia national football team The Yugoslavia national football team; hr, Jugoslavenska nogometna reprezentacija; sl, Jugoslovanska nogometna reprezentanca; mk, Фудбалска репрезентација на Југославија, Fudbalska reprezentacija na Jugosl ...

, in what was Poul Petersen's last international game. He was appointed manager of the Danish national team in 1962, replacing Arne Sørensen, who had managed Denmark to silver medals at the

1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics ( it, Giochi Olimpici estivi del 1960), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad ( it, Giochi della XVII Olimpiade) and commonly known as Rome 1960 ( it, Roma 1960), were an international multi-sport event held ...

. Unfortunately for Petersen, most of the 1960 silver medalists were now banned from the amateur-only national team for having signed professional contracts, and Danish football didn't have the amateur players to follow up on the success. He managed Denmark to fourth place of four participants at the

1964 European Nations' Cup The 1964 European Nations' Cup was the second edition of the UEFA European Championship. The final tournament was held in Spain. It was won by the hosts 2–1 over the defending champions, the Soviet Union. The tournament was a knockout compet ...

, having beaten the

Malta national football team The Malta national football team ( mt, Tim nazzjonali tal-futbol ta' Malta) represents Malta in international football and is controlled by the Malta Football Association, the governing body for football in Malta. The first official game playe ...

, Albania national football team, and Luxembourg national football team in the qualification games. Poul Petersen was in charge of Denmark for 47 games until November 1966, winning 17 and losing 22 games.

References

External links

Player profile at DBU

Manager profile at DBU
{{DEFAULTSORT:Petersen, Poul 1921 births 1997 deaths Danish men's footballers Denmark men's under-21 international footballers Denmark men's international footballers Akademisk Boldklub players Olympic footballers for Denmark Footballers at the 1948 Summer Olympics Footballers at the 1952 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for Denmark Danish football managers Denmark national football team managers 1964 European Nations' Cup managers Olympic medalists in football Medalists at the 1948 Summer Olympics Men's association football defenders Hillerød Fodbold managers Footballers from Copenhagen