Thomas Schultz Rasmussen (born 16 April 1977) is a Danish former 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 played as a

left wingback 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 ...

. He played eight games for the Denmark national team, both as wingback and

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, 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 #Cent ...

Career

Born in

Frederiksberg Frederiksberg () is a part of the Capital Region of Denmark. It is formally an independent municipality, Frederiksberg Municipality, separate from Copenhagen Municipality, but both are a part of the City of Copenhagen. It occupies an area of ...

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 ...

, Rasmussen started his career in minor Danish club

Glostrup IF 32 Glostrup FK is a Danish football club which plays in the Danish 2nd Division East. They play at Glostrup Stadion in Glostrup on Zealand, which has a capacity of 4,000. The club was formed in 2003 as a merger between Glostrup IF 32, Glostrup IC ...

. He debuted on the Danish under-19 national team in July 1996, and moved abroad to play for

K. Sint-Truidense V.V. Koninklijke Sint-Truidense Voetbalvereniging (), commonly known as Sint-Truiden or STVV () or by their nickname De Kanaries (, is a Belgian professional football club located in the city of Sint-Truiden in Limburg. Sint-Truiden plays in the Be ...

in Belgium. He returned to Denmark to play for an amateur club in

Birkerød Birkerød () is a town in Rudersdal Municipality in the northern outskirts of Copenhagen, Denmark. It is surrounded by several lakes and small woodlands. Birkerød station is located on the Hillerød radial of the S-train suburban network. Hist ...

. When he got married in 1998, Rasmussen took his wife's last name, naming himself Thomas Schultz. In 2000, Schultz made his debut for Farum B.K. in the

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 ...

. He helped Farum win promotion for the top-flight Danish Superliga in 2002. During the

2002–03 Danish Superliga The 2002–03 Danish Superliga season was the 13th season of the Danish Superliga league championship, governed by the Danish Football Association. It took place from the first match on July 27, 2002 to final match on June 22, 2003. The Danish ch ...

season, Schultz played 31 of 33 league games, scoring five league goals. He made his debut for the Danish national team in April 2003. In the summer 2003, Schultz moved to Germany, to play for

Hansa Rostock FC Hansa Rostock () is a German association football club based in the city of Rostock, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The club is also called as "the cog" because of its club crest. They have emerged as one of the most successful clubs from the forme ...

in the top-flight

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 ...

. At Rostock, he joined fellow Dane Kim Madsen. In August 2003, Schultz changed his name back to Rasmussen, at the initiative of Hansa Rostock. He had never legally changed his last name, and Rostock wanted him to use the name on his

birth certificate A birth certificate is a vital record that documents the birth of a person. The term "birth certificate" can refer to either the original document certifying the circumstances of the birth or to a certified copy of or representation of the ensuin ...

; Thomas Rasmussen. In his first season at Rostock, Rasmussen played 28 of 34 league games and scored three goals, helping Rostock finish in ninth place. He was called up for the Danish national team once more, and played his second national team game in April 2004. In the

2004–05 Bundesliga The 2004–05 Bundesliga was the 42nd season of the Bundesliga, Germany's premier football league. It began on 6 August 2004 and concluded on 21 May 2005. Teams Eighteen teams competed in the league – the top fifteen teams from the prev ...

season, Rasmussen played 31 league games and scored four goals, but Rostock finished in 17th place, and was

relegated In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...

to the

2. Bundesliga The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...

. Having played two 2. Bundesliga games for Rostock, Rasmussen returned to Denmark in August 2005, to play for defending Danish Superliga champions Brøndby IF.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rasmussen, Thomas 1977 births Living people Sportspeople from Frederiksberg Danish men's footballers Association football defenders Denmark international footballers Denmark youth international footballers Danish Superliga players Belgian Pro League players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Sint-Truidense V.V. players IF Skjold Birkerød players BK Skjold players FC Nordsjælland players FC Hansa Rostock players Brøndby IF players Lyngby Boldklub players Danish expatriate men's footballers Danish expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate footballers in Belgium Danish expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate footballers in Germany