Ruben Bagger (born 16 January 1972) is a former

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 ...

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, who spent his entire professional career for

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 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 played more than 300 matches for the club. He won five

championships and three

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 ...

trophies with Brøndby. Bagger played in the position of

left winger A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

Biography

Bagger started playing amateur football with Danish clubs Svogerslev Boldklub and Jyllinge GIF,Ruben Bagger
at

and made his senior debut with

Roskilde Boldklub 1906 Football Club Roskilde is a Danish professional association football club based in Roskilde, Region Zealand. They will compete in the Danish 2nd Division in the 2022–23 season following their promotion. They play at Roskilde Idrætspark (also k ...

. He was spotted by Brøndby coach

Tom Køhlert Tom Køhlert (; born 30 April 1947) is a Danish football manager and former player who managed Brøndby IF from 1979 to 1985 and several times later as a caretaker. He led the club to its first ever Danish championship in 1985. He has also funct ...

,Janus Flachs Madsen, "Interview: Fra fodboldspiller til familiefar",

Politiken ''Politiken'' is a leading Danish daily broadsheet newspaper, published by JP/Politikens Hus in Copenhagen, Denmark. It was founded in 1884 and played a role in the formation of the Danish Social Liberal Party. Since 1970 it has been independe ...

, November 26, 2007 and moved to Brøndby IF in the summer 1993. He became a part of the senior team under Brøndby manager

Ebbe Skovdahl Ebbe Skovdahl Hansen (5 July 1945 – 23 October 2020) was a Danish football manager. He most prominently was a successful manager at Brøndby IF, for whom he had also played in his active years. He helped turn the side into the most dominant D ...

, and made his debut on 13 November 1993, when he came on as a substitute in the 1-0 win against

Ikast fS Ikast FC is an association football club based in the town of Ikast, Denmark, that competes in the Series 1, the sixth tier of the Danish football league system and the second tier of the regional DBU Jutland. Founded in 2018 as a superstructur ...

.Ruben Bagger
at Danskfodbold.com Bagger signed a fully professional two-year contract with Brøndby from July 1994, and went on to compete with a host of

Danish international 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 ...

forwards for a place in the Brøndby team. He initially competed with

Bo Hansen Bo Jannik Nyby Hansen (born June 16, 1972) is a Danish former football player in the striker position. He scored 52 goals in 143 games for Danish club Brøndby IF and 16 goals in 119 games for English club Bolton Wanderers. Hansen played one ...

, for a place in the starting line-up alongside

Mark Strudal Mark Agner Boecking Strudal (born 29 April 1968) is a Danish football coach and former player who played as a striker. Playing career Strudal was born in Glostrup. He got his national breakthrough while playing for Næstved IF in the Danis ...

. When Strudal left the club in July 1995, Bagger saw renewed competition from forwards

Peter Møller Peter Møller Nielsen (born 23 March 1972) is a Danish former professional football player who became a sports journalist after ending his football career in December 2005. In 2018 he became sporting director of Dansk Boldspil Union. He won fo ...

and

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 wi ...

. From 1996 to 1998, Bagger was a part of a Brøndby team which won three Danish Superliga championships in a row, as well as the 1998

. In the European competitions, Bagger first made his mark, when he scored twice in the games against

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

team

Karlsruher SC Karlsruher SC is a German association football club, based in Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg that currently plays in the 2. Bundesliga, the second tier of German football. Domestically, the club was crowned German champion in 1909, and won the D ...

in the 1996-97 UEFA Cup. Brøndby were trailing 0-3 in the first game against Karlsruher SC, when Bagger reduced to 1-3 in the dying moments of the game. When the two teams met two weeks later, Bagger opened the score in a game which Brøndby won 5-0, beating Karlsruher SC 6-3 on aggregate.Europa Cup-kampe
at

He also took part in Brøndby's 1998-99 UEFA Champions League campaign. Bagger set a Brøndby scoring record of 12 goals in 51 European games. His best season came, when he scored 13 goals to help Brøndby win the 2001-02 Superliga championship. Under new manager

Michael Laudrup Michael Laudrup (, born 15 June 1964) is a Danish professional football coach and former player. He is considered to be one of the greatest players of all time. He is the older brother of fellow retired footballer Brian Laudrup. During his pl ...

, Bagger saw less playing time. From 2003, he was plagued by lesser or larger injuries, though he emerged to score in the 2003 Danish Cup final against

FC Midtjylland FC Midtjylland (, "Central Jutland") is a Danish professional football club based in Herning and Ikast in the western part of Jutland. The club is the result of a merger between Ikast FS and Herning Fremad. Midtjylland competes in the Danish Su ...

as Brøndby won 3-0. He also played the 2005 Danish Cup final, and scored the winning goal as Brøndby beat FC Midtjylland 3-2 in

extra time Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played onl ...

.Brøndby IF - FC Midtjylland - Kampdag: 05-05-2005
at

Bagger retired in December 2007. He played a combined total of 338 games and scored 88 goals for Brøndby, including 243 games and 64 goals in the Superliga championship, making him the second most scoring Brøndby player in the Superliga following Ebbe Sand.

Honours

(5): 1995-96, 1996-97, 1997-98, 2001-02, 2004-05 *

: 1998, 2003 and 2005

References

External links

Brøndby IF profile

Official Superliga statistics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bagger, Ruben 1972 births Living people Danish men's footballers Brøndby IF players Men's association football forwards Men's association football midfielders