Theresa Eslund (; born 20 July 1986) 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 defender 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

Elitedivisionen The Danish Women's League ( da, Danmarksturneringens Kvindeliga, Kvinde-DM Liga or Kvindeligaen) is a semi-professional top-flight league for women's football in Denmark. It is organised by the Danish Football Association (DBU) as part of the ...

and the Danish national team. Eslund previously played for Reign FC of the American

National Women's Soccer League The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a professional women's soccer league at the top of the United States league system. It is owned by the teams and, until 2020, was under a management contract with the United States Soccer Federatio ...

, Melbourne City of the Australian W-League, and

Vålerenga Vålerenga () is a neighbourhood in the city of Oslo, Norway, belonging to the borough of Gamle Oslo. Vålerenga is located between the neighbourhoods of Gamlebyen, Jordal, Ensjø, Etterstad and Lodalen. Vålerenga is in particular known for it ...

in Norway's

Toppserien The Toppserien is the top level of women's association football in Norway. It was founded in 1984. History Women's league football was introduced on a county basis in 1977. These leagues acted as qualification for the regional (South) league in 1 ...

. She was named Danish Women's Footballer of the Year in 2012.

Early life

Raised in Valby, Eslund began playing football at age six on a team known as Rikken.

Club career

Brøndby IF, 2009–2016

In 2012, Eslund was named Danish Women's Footballer of the Year after helping

to a league and cup

double A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * Th ...

Vålerenga, 2017

In January 2017, Eslund signed with Norwegian club,

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

, marking her first time playing for a foreign club. Eslund made 22 appearances for Vålerenga and scored two goals during the 2017 season. She scored her first goal for Vålerenga in the 47th minute of a match against Kolbotn resulting in a 2–0 win. The club finished in seventh place with a record. Eslund was named one of the top 200 players in the world for 2017 by The Offside Rule, a podcast by

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

Reign FC, 2018–2019

Eslund signed with American side Reign FC ahead of the

2018 National Women's Soccer League season The 2018 National Women's Soccer League season was the sixth season of the National Women's Soccer League, the top division of women's soccer in the United States. Including the NWSL's two professional predecessors, Women's Professional Soccer (20 ...

in January 2018. She made her debut for Seattle as a starting defender during the home opener — a 2–1 win over the Washington Spirit on 24 March.

Return to Brøndby IF

Eslund returned to

on a two-year contract in 2020, were the team ended up at second place in the league.

International career

At age 17, Eslund competed with the Denmark's under-17 national team at the

2003 European Youth Summer Olympic Festival The 2003 European Youth Summer Olympic Festival (french: Festival olympique de la jeunesse européenne 2003) was the seventh edition of multi-sport event for European youths between the ages of 12 and 18. It was held in Paris, France, from 27 July ...

. She scored in the final as Denmark beat Switzerland on

penalties Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) * Penalty ...

after a 1–1 draw at Stade Sébastien Charléty in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. Eslund made her senior international debut for

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 = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

in March 2008, during the team's 1–0 win over

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

at the

2008 Algarve Cup The 2008 Algarve Cup was the fifteenth edition of the Algarve Cup, an invitational women's football tournament held annually in Portugal. It took place between 5 and 12 March 2008 with the reigning champions the United States winning the event fo ...

. She was named to

Kenneth Heiner-Møller Kenneth Heiner-Møller (born Kenneth Heiner Christiansen; 17 January 1971) is a Danish football manager and former player. He is the former manager of the Canadian women's national team. In 1994–1995 he played for Ferencvárosi TC in Hungary, ...

's squad for UEFA Women's Euro 2013 and she was also part of Danish squad, who received silver at the UEFA Women's Euro 2017 in Netherlands.

Honours

;Brøndby IF *

: Winner 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2017 *

Danish Women's Cup The Danish Women's Cup, or Sydbank Kvindepokalen (previously 3F Cup) for sponsorship reasons, is the national women's football cup competition in Denmark and was first held in 1993. List of finals The list of finals: By titles See also * ...

: Winner 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017 ;Denmark * UEFA Women's Euro 2017 runners-up ;Individual * UEFA Women's Euro 2017 Best XI *

Defender of the Year: 2017

Personal

Formerly known as Theresa Nielsen, Eslund began using her married name in 2020.

References

External links

*
Profile
at

Danish Football Association The Danish Football Union ( da, Dansk Boldspil-Union; DBU) is the governing body of football in Denmark. It is the organization of the Danish football clubs and runs the professional Danish football leagues and the men's and women's national t ...

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Eslund, Theresa 1986 births Living people Danish women's footballers Denmark women's international footballers Brøndby IF (women) players Women's association football defenders Vålerenga Fotball Damer players OL Reign players National Women's Soccer League players FIFA Women's Century Club Danish expatriate sportspeople in the United States Footballers from Copenhagen UEFA Women's Euro 2017 players