Robert Skov (; born 20 May 1996) 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 ...

who plays for

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

club

1899 Hoffenheim Turn- und Sportgemeinschaft 1899 Hoffenheim e.V., or simply TSG 1899 Hoffenheim or just Hoffenheim () is a German professional football club based in Hoffenheim, a village of Sinsheim municipality, Baden-Württemberg. Originally founded in 189 ...

. Born in Spain, he represents the Denmark national team. With 29 goals in the 2018–19 season, he broke the record set by

Ebbe Sand Ebbe Sand (; born 19 July 1972) is a former professional footballer from Denmark who played as a forward for Brøndby IF in Denmark and FC Schalke 04 in Germany. He was the Bundesliga top scorer in 2001, and won the DFB-Pokal in 2001 and 2002 w ...

for most goals scored in a single

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 ye ...

campaign.

Club career

Silkeborg

Skov came up through the youth academy at

Silkeborg Silkeborg () is a Danish town with a population of 49,747 (1 January 2022).Midtjylland The Central Denmark Region ( da, Region Midtjylland), or more directly translated as the Central Jutland Region and sometimes simply Mid Jutland, is an administrative region of Denmark established on 1 January 2007 as part of the 2007 Danish muni ...

. He came on at 16 years old, as an 81st minute substitute for Jeppe Illum. He scored his first league goal for the club on 19 October 2014 in a 2–1 away defeat to FC Midtjylland. He scored in the 95th minute. Robert Skov played a key role in helping Silkeborg win the Danish 1st Division during the 2013/14 season, despite being only 17 years old. During the 2016–17 Danish Superliga season, Skov helped Silkeborg avoid relegation by becoming their leading scorer, by scoring 10 league goals from his position on the wing.

Copenhagen

In January 2018, Skov completed a move to

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 ...

. The deal cost FC Copenhagen around 7.5 million Danish Kroner. He made his league debut for the club on 10 February 2018 in a 5–1 home victory over

Randers Randers () is a city in Randers Municipality, Central Denmark Region on the Jutland peninsula. It is Denmark's sixth-largest city, with a population of 62,802 (as of 1 January 2022).Odense BK Odense Boldklub (; also known as Odense BK or the more commonly used OB) is a Danish professional football club based in the city Odense. The club has won three Danish championships and five Danish Cup trophies. OB play in the Danish Superliga ...

. He scored in the 61st minute. He scored his first club

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

on 2 December 2018 in a 6–1 away victory over

Horsens Horsens () is a city on the east coast of Jutland region of Denmark. It is the seat of the Horsens municipality. The city's population is 61,074 (1 January 2022) and the municipality's population is 94,443 (), making it the 8th largest city in De ...

. He scored in the 23rd, 66th, and 90th minutes. Not only did Robert Skov finish as top scorer in the 2018–19 season, but he broke the all time Danish Superliga record by scoring 29 league goals, that was 7 more goals than the second placed scorers in the league. The record was previously held by

who scored 28 league goals in the 1998 season. Skov was also named Danish Player of the Year for 2018. By March 2019, Skov was rumoured to

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The team has playe ...

and Arsenal after putting in outstanding performances in the Superliga.

Hoffenheim

In July 2019, Skov signed a contract with

for a transfer fee of €10 million. Skov scored his first goal for Hoffenheim in a 3–0

win over

SC Paderborn Sport-Club Paderborn 07 e.V., commonly known as simply SC Paderborn 07 () or SC Paderborn, is a German association football club based in Paderborn, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club has enjoyed its greatest successes since the turn of the mille ...

on 1 November 2019, opening the scoring with a fierce 25-yard free-kick inside two minutes.

International career

In July 2016, Skov was included in the Denmark squad for the 2016 Summer Olympics. He made substitute appearances in two group-stage matches, against

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

and

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, alongside a substitute appearance against

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

in the quarterfinals. During the group stage, he scored the winning goal in Denmark's 1–0 win over South Africa in the 69th minute. That goal scored by Skov, was ultimately the goal that secured Denmark's advance to the quarter finals. In May 2018 he was named in Denmark'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 Association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awa ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

. However, he did not make the final 23. In March 2019 Skov was selected for the Denmark squad for the

UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying The UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying tournament was a football competition that was played from March 2019 to November 2020 to determine the 24 UEFA member men's national teams that advanced to the UEFA Euro 2020 final tournament, played across Europ ...

tournament. He made his debut on 10 June 2019 in a Euro 2020 qualifier against Georgia, as a starter. In June 2020, he was included in the national team's bid for

2020 UEFA Euro 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 Anniversary#Latin-derived numerical names, quadrennial internat ...

, where the team unexpectedly reached the semi-finals. He was able to represent

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

because he was born in

Marbella Marbella ( , , ) is a city and municipality in southern Spain, belonging to the province of Málaga in the autonomous community of Andalusia. It is part of the Costa del Sol and is the headquarters of the Association of Municipalities of the reg ...

but he chose to represent

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

instead.

Player profile

Skov is two footed, although his left foot is his main scoring weapon. He is a skilled winger who is renowned for taking on defenders and dribbling past them. He is also well known for scoring many goals and creating numerous assists. He is especially making a name for himself as a free kick specialist, by blasting in goals on a regular basis. So much so that Danish international player Christian Eriksen suggested that Skov would overtake him as being the number one free kick taker for the Danish national team.

Personal life

Skov's parents moved from Denmark to Spain in 1994 when his father took a job with a bank in

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...

, and as a result, Skov was born in

. His family returned to Denmark when he was nine months old.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''As of match played 10 June 2022. Scores and results list Denmark's goal tally first.''

Honours

Silkeborg * Danish 1st Division: 2013–14 Copenhagen *

: 2018–19 Individual * Danish Superliga Player of the Year: 2018–19 * Danish Superliga Top Scorer: 2018–19 (29 goals) * ''

Tipsbladet ''Tipsbladet'' is a weekly Danish sports magazine focusing on football. It the oldest football magazine in Scandinavia and is headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark. History and profile ''Tipsbladet'' was founded by Elwin Hansen in 1948. The maga ...

'' Player of the Fall: 2018 * ''

'' Player of the Spring: 2019 * Copenhagen Player of the Year: 2018–19

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Skov, Robert 1996 births Living people People from Marbella Sportspeople from the Province of Málaga Men's association football forwards Danish men's footballers Denmark men's youth international footballers Denmark men's under-21 international footballers Olympic footballers for Denmark Denmark men's international footballers Silkeborg IF players F.C. Copenhagen players TSG 1899 Hoffenheim players Danish Superliga players Danish 1st Division players Bundesliga players Footballers at the 2016 Summer Olympics UEFA Euro 2020 players 2022 FIFA World Cup players Danish expatriate men's footballers Danish expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate footballers in Germany Sportspeople from Silkeborg Footballers from the Central Denmark Region