Thomas Joseph Delaney (born 3 September 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

defensive midfielder 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 ...

for German club 1899 Hoffenheim, on loan from the

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

club

Sevilla Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Gua ...

, and the Denmark national team. Delaney began his career at

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 ...

, making 249 total appearances and scoring 24 goals, while winning 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 ...

five times and 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 ...

on four occasions. He then played in Germany for

Werder Bremen Sportverein Werder Bremen von 1899 e. V. (), commonly known as Werder Bremen (), Werder or simply Bremen, is a German professional sports club based in Bremen, Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. Founded on 4 February 1899, they are be ...

and

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, commonly known as Borussia Dortmund (), BVB (), or simply Dortmund (), is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its men's professional footb ...

, making 107 total

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 ...

appearances before a move to Sevilla in 2021. Delaney made his 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 2013. He was part of their squads at the

2018 FIFA 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 ...

UEFA Euro 2020 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 quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe ...

and the

2022 World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup is an international football tournament contested by the men's national teams of FIFA's member associations. The 22nd FIFA World Cup is taking place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022; it is the first Wo ...

, reaching the semi-finals of the 2020 tournament.

Club career

Copenhagen

upleft, Delaney with Copenhagen in 2014 Delaney started playing youth football at

Kjøbenhavns Boldklub Kjøbenhavns Boldklub or KB is a Danish sports club based in Copenhagen. The club was founded 26 April 1876 on the grassy fields in outer Copenhagen which later became Fælledparken. Tennis has been played since 1883. The club hosted, in 1921, on ...

, the reserve team of Danish club

F.C. Copenhagen Football Club Copenhagen ( da, Football Club København, ), commonly known as FC København, FC Copenhagen, Copenhagen or simply FCK, is a professional Danish football club in Copenhagen, Denmark. FCK was founded in 1992 as a superstructure on ...

. Delaney made his debut for Copenhagen in an unofficial friendly in August 2008. After playing the first half of the 2008–09 season in the KB youth team, he was a part of the FCK squad in the

that campaign. He made his official debut in the first leg of the semi-finals against Nordvest FC in April, where he substituted Hjalte Nørregaard in the middle of second half. In the return leg two weeks later Delaney was among the starting eleven playing the first 60 minutes before he was substituted with

Şaban Özdoğan Şaban Özdoğan (born 14 March 1990) is a Danish footballer who plays for Ishøj IF as a playing assistant manager. He previously played for Danish Superliga club F.C. Copenhagen. Club career Özdoğan started playing youth football at Avarta. ...

. In the summer break 2009, he was promoted to the first team squad together with Özdoğan. He scored on his continental debut on 22 July 2009, playing the full second leg in Copenhagen's Champions League second qualifying round victory over

FK Mogren FK Mogren was a football club based in Budva, Montenegro. Founded in 1920, it was two times champion of Montenegrin First League and once winner of Montenegrin Cup. In 2015, following the bankruptcy and debts, FK Mogren was relegated to the lowes ...

. His first Superliga match was on 9 August 2009 against

SønderjyskE SønderjyskE is a Danish sport corporation. They have a football team (SønderjyskE Fodbold, based in Haderslev), two handball teams (SønderjyskE Håndbold, one male based in Sønderborg, one female based in Aabenraa) and an ice hockey team (S ...

replacing

Atiba Hutchinson Atiba Hutchinson (born 8 February 1983) is a Canadian professional soccer player who plays as a midfielder and captains both Süper Lig club Beşiktaş and the Canada national team. While playing in Denmark he won the Danish Super Liga Player o ...

near the end of the match. On 29 December 2011, signed a contract extension keeping him at Copenhagen until the end of 2014. At the time, Delaney had the distinction of being the longest serving current player at the club, despite being only 20. On 6 July 2013, Delaney extended his contract with the club to 2015. At the same time, he got jersey number 8. In the following season, he became a regular starter in his favorite position, including

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

matches against

Juventus F.C. )''I Bianconeri'' (The White and Blacks)''Le Zebre'' (The Zebras)''La Signora Omicidi'' (The Killer Lady)''La Gheuba'' (: The Hunchback) , founded = as Sport-Club Juventus , ground = Juventus Stadium , capacity = 41,507 , owner = Agnelli ...

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

and

Galatasaray Galatasaray Spor Kulübü (, ''Galatasaray Sports Club'') is a Turkish sports club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul in Turkey. Most notable for its association football department, the club also consists of various other de ...

. On 23 January 2014, he again extended his contract, until 2017. At the same time, he was officially named vice-captain of the team. Half a year later, Delaney was promoted to club captain. On 14 May 2015 he was named Man of the Match as his side won the

final 3–2 after extra-time against fellow Superliga side

FC Vestsjælland FC Vestsjælland, also known as FCV Vikings, was a professional Danish association football club that played in the Danish 1st Division until its closure in 2015. They played their home matches at Harboe Arena Slagelse in Slagelse, which has a cap ...

. On 27 September 2016, Delaney contributed to a comfortable 4–0 victory for his side with a left-footed half-volley from 30 yards against Belgian side

Club Brugge KV (), known simply as Club Brugge (in English also: ''Club Bruges''), is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges, Belgium. It was founded in 1891 and its home ground is the Jan Breydel Stadium, which has a capacity of 29,062.

in the

. The goal came third in the vote for goal of the season in the UEFA Champions League.

Werder Bremen

On 17 August 2016,

announced Delaney would be joining the club in January 2017. On 18 February 2017, he scored his first goal for the club, a free kick, in Werder Bremen's 2–0 win away to

Mainz 05 1. Fußball- und Sportverein Mainz 05 e. V., usually shortened to 1. FSV Mainz 05, Mainz 05 () or simply Mainz (), is a German sports club, founded in 1905 and based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. 1. FSV Mainz 05 play in the Bundesliga, the top ...

before being stretchered off the pitch with a suspected concussion. It was the club's first win of the new year following four straight defeats. On 1 April 2017, Delaney scored a

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 ...

, the first of his career, in Werder Bremen's 5–2 win away against

SC Freiburg Sport-Club Freiburg e.V., commonly known as SC Freiburg () or just Freiburg, is a German football club, based in the city of Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg. It plays in the Bundesliga, having been promoted as champions from the 2. Bund ...

Borussia Dortmund

On 7 June 2018, Delaney signed for

on a four-year contract. The transfer fee paid to Werder Bremen was reported as €20 million. On 13 May 2021, Delaney was a second-half substitute for Dortmund in their 4–1 victory over

RB Leipzig RasenBallsport Leipzig e.V. (), commonly known as RB Leipzig, and colloquially referred to as Red Bull Leipzig, is a German professional football club based in Leipzig, Saxony. The club was founded in 2009 by the initiative of the company Red Bu ...

in the

2021 DFB-Pokal Final The 2021 DFB-Pokal Final decided the winner of the 2020–21 DFB-Pokal, the 78th season of the annual German football cup competition. The match was played on Thursday, 13 May 2021 (on the Feast of the Ascension, a German public holiday) at the ...

Sevilla

On 25 August 2021, Delaney moved to Spain to join

side

on a four-year deal for a fee reported by ''

Diario de Sevilla ''Diario de Sevilla'' is a Spanish newspaper founded in 1999 in Seville. It is part of the communications group Grupo Joly. Its circulation as of 2013 was 23,172. The current ''Diario'' is not to be confused with a previous periodical of the sam ...

'' as €7 million.

Loan to Hoffenheim

On 30 January 2023, Delaney returned to Germany and joined 1899 Hoffenheim on loan until the end of the 2022–23 season.

International career

Delaney made his debut for the Denmark under-18 team in October 2008, and went on to play three matches in total. He played 11 games for the Denmark U-19 team. On 11 August 2010, he made his debut for the Denmark U-21 team in a friendly against the Italy U-21 team. Delaney made his debut for the senior national team on 15 October 2013 in a

2014 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA#Structure, FIFA confederations. The 2014 FIFA World Cup featured 32 teams, with one place reserved for the host nation, Brazil national football team, Bra ...

match against

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

. He played the full 90 minutes of the 6–0 home win. His second cap did not come until 25 March 2015, as a half-time substitute in a 3–2 friendly win over the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Aarhus Aarhus (, , ; officially spelled Århus from 1948 until 1 January 2011) is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and approximately northwest ...

. Delaney scored his first international goal on 1 September 2017 to open a 4–0 home win over Poland in

qualification Qualification is either the process of qualifying for an achievement, or a credential attesting to that achievement, and may refer to: * Professional qualification, attributes developed by obtaining academic degrees or through professional exper ...

. Three days later, he scored a hat-trick as the team came from behind to win 4–1 away to

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...

. In June 2018, he was named in Denmark's squad for the World Cup in Russia. He was also named in the 26-man squad for

. He scored the first goal in the 2–1 quarter-final game against the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

Personal life

Delaney was born in Denmark and spent his youth there. His father was also born in Denmark but has American citizenship due to his own father (Thomas Delaney's paternal grandfather) being born in the United States. Delaney also has Irish roots through his paternal great-grandfather who moved from Ireland to the United States in the 19th century during the Great Famine. Delaney is red–green

colour blind Color blindness or color vision deficiency (CVD) is the decreased ability to see color or differences in color. It can impair tasks such as selecting ripe fruit, choosing clothing, and reading traffic lights. Color blindness may make some aca ...

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Denmark's goal tally first.''

Honours

Copenhagen *

: 2009–10, 2010–11, 2012–13, 2015–16, 2016–17 *

: 2011–12, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17 Borussia Dortmund *

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considere ...

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

* DFL-Supercup:

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

Individual * Arla's Talent Award: 2009 * Danish Cup Fighter: 2015 * F.C. Copenhagen Player of the Year: 2015, 2016

References

External links

Danish national team profile

F.C. Copenhagen profile
*
Profile
a
Football-Lineups.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Delaney, Thomas 1991 births Living people Sportspeople from Frederiksberg Association football forwards Danish men's footballers Danish people of Irish descent Danish people of American descent F.C. Copenhagen players SV Werder Bremen players Borussia Dortmund players Sevilla FC players TSG 1899 Hoffenheim players Danish Superliga players Bundesliga players La Liga players Denmark youth international footballers Denmark under-21 international footballers Denmark international footballers 2018 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2020 players 2022 FIFA World Cup players Danish expatriate men's footballers Danish expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate footballers in Germany Danish expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate footballers in Spain