Rasmus Thelander (born 9 July 1991) 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

centre-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

Aalborg BK Aalborg Boldspilklub is a Danish sports club based in the city of Aalborg. The club is also known as AaB for short (cf. logo) or Aalborg BK. Through time the club has had branches in cricket, tennis, ice hockey, handball, and basketball, but curre ...

Club career

AB

Thelander began his career as a senior

in 2010 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

Danish 1st Division The 1st Division (''1. Division'') is the second-highest football league in Denmark, also known as NordicBet Liga for sponsorship reasons. From 1945 to 1991 the 1. Division was the name of the highest level of football in Denmark. With the forma ...

, the second-tier league in

Danish football Association football is the most popular sport in Denmark, with 331,693 players and 1,647 clubs registered () under the Danish FA. The game was introduced into Denmark by British sailors. Kjøbenhavns Boldklub is the oldest club outside of the U ...

AaB

In the summer of 2012, Thelander signed a two-year contract with 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 ...

club AaB. Thelander played his first season in AaB primarily as a substitute. In the 2013–14 season he made his Superliga breakthrough, as defender Lasse Nielsen left for the Dutch team

NEC Nijmegen NEC Nijmegen (''Nijmegen Eendracht Combinatie''), commonly known as NEC (), is a professional Dutch association football club based in Nijmegen. The club currently competes in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football, following promotion fr ...

, thus leaving a spot open in the centre of defense. Afterwards, Thelander would play each league game through the rest of the season and help his club win the first Danish ''double''. Thelander scored two goals in the 4–2 victory over

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 ...

in 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 ...

final and won the Danish Cup Fighter of the Year ''(årets pokalfighter)''.

Panathinaikos

Thelander signed a deal with the Greek team

Panathinaikos Panathinaikos Athlitikos Omilos ( el, Παναθηναϊκός Αθλητικός Όμιλος, literally in English: "Panathenaic Athletic Club" or Panathinaikos A.C.), also known simply as Panathinaikós , is a major Greek multi-sport club ba ...

on 2 July 2015. According to several Greek press sources he was offered a four-year contract having been recommended to Panathinaikos by

René Henriksen René Henriksen (born 27 August 1969) is a Danish former professional footballer who played as a defender for Danish club Akademisk Boldklub and Panathinaikos in Greece. Henriksen was capped 66 times for the Danish national team, and he represe ...

, a former player with the club. Thelander had been courted in the previous season when he helped lead AaB win the double. Αfter a pre-season injury, he made his debut against

Levadiakos Levadiakos Football Club ( el, ΠΑΕ Λεβαδειακός) is a Greek professional football club that plays in the Super League Greece. Based in Livadeia, Greece, the club was promoted to the Alpha Ethniki, forerunner of the Super League, afte ...

on 23 September 2015. On 3 October 2015, during his third appearance with the club he scored his first goal in a 1–0 away win against

Skoda Xanthi Xanthi Football Club ( el, Α.Ο. Ξάνθη Π.Α.Ε.) is a Greek professional football club based in Xanthi, Western Thrace and plays at Xanthi FC Arena. The club resigned from the Super League 2 due to financial issues. Founded in 1967, Xan ...

, with a header after a corner kick. On 26 July 2017, Thelander was the fifth footballer (after

Michael Essien Michael Kojo Essien (born 3 December 1982) is a Ghanaian former professional Association football, footballer who played as a midfielder and is currently a member of Danish Superliga club FC Nordsjælland, Nordsjælland's coaching staff. He was ...

Stathis Tavlaridis Stathis Tavlaridis ( el, Στάθης Ταυλαρίδης; born 25 January 1980) is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a centre-back. Tavlaridis has earned the nickname ''"Taureau"'' in France which means ''"The Bull"'' due t ...

Jens Wemmer Jens Wemmer (born 31 October 1985) is a German former professional footballer who played as a right-back. He played for seven consecutive years for SC Paderborn. He is the brother of Jörn Wemmer. Career After being released by SC Paderborn We ...

and

Niklas Hult Bo Niklas Hult (born 13 February 1990) is a Swedish professional footballer who plays as a left back for IF Elfsborg. Club career Nice In May 2014 Niklas Hult was signed by OGC Nice for a fee around €1 million, the French Ligue 1 club as they ...

) in eight months to file an appeal against Panathinaikos for payments' delay. In his appeal, he claimed an amount of €510,000 that covered the following year's contract as well. On 14 August 2017, the committee of the Greek Football Federation's financial disputes gave him the amount of €450,000.

FC Zürich

On 15 August 2017, Thelander signed a two-year contract with Swiss club

FC Zürich Fussballclub Zürich, commonly abbreviated to FC Zürich or simply FCZ, is a Swiss football club based in Zürich. The club was founded in 1896 and has won the Swiss Super League 13 times and the Swiss Cup 10 times. The most recent titles a ...

. He won the

2017–18 Swiss Cup The 2017–18 Swiss Cup is the 93rd season of Switzerland's annual football cup competition. The competition started on 12 August 2017 with the first games of Round 1 and ended on 27 May 2018 with the final. FC Basel were the defending champions, ...

with Zürich.

Vitesse

On 17 May 2018, it was announced that Thelander would join Dutch side Vitesse on a three-year deal in July 2018. On 26 July, he made his first appearance for Vitesse, starting in the first leg of their

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 ...

qualification round against Viitorul Constanța. On 23 August, news broke that Thelander had broken his ankle, keeping him off the field for some months. However, due to a quick recovery, he made his comeback in the first team on 3 November in a 1–0 loss against

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; en, Philips Sports Association ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional football department, whi ...

. He made just 13 appearances in his sole season in Arnhem.

Return to AaB

On 22 August 2019, Thelander moved back to AaB on a three-year contract.

Ferencváros

On 23 May 2022, Thelander joined Hungarian club

Ferencvárosi TC Ferencvárosi Torna Club, known as Ferencváros (), Fradi, or simply FTC, is a professional football club based in Ferencváros, Budapest, Hungary, that competes in the Nemzeti Bajnokság I, the top flight of Hungarian football. Ferencváros wa ...

. On 18 November 2022, Ferencváros terminated Thelander's contract due to family reasons.

Third spell with AaB

On the same day, Thelander signed with AaB on a four-year deal.

Career statistics

Honours

AaB *

: 2013–14 *

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 ...

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

FC Zürich *

Swiss Cup The Swiss Cup (; ; ; ) is a football cup tournament that has been organised annually since 1925–26 by the Swiss Football Association. Since 1999 the winner earns the chance to qualify for the UEFA Europa League or the UEFA Europa Conference L ...

: 2017–18 Individual *

Danish Cup Fighter of the year ''(årets pokalfighter)''

References

External links

* *
nordjyske.dk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thelander, Rasmus 1991 births Living people Danish men's footballers Danish expatriate men's footballers Denmark men's youth international footballers Footballers from Copenhagen Men's association football defenders Danish Superliga players Super League Greece players Swiss Super League players Eredivisie players Danish 1st Division players AaB Fodbold players Panathinaikos F.C. players FC Zürich players SBV Vitesse players Ferencvárosi TC footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in Hungary Danish expatriate sportspeople in Greece Danish expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Danish expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Danish expatriate sportspeople in Hungary