Thomas Gaardsøe Christensen (born 23 November 1979) is a

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 a ...

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 ...

. Gaardsøe most notably won the 1999

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 ...

with

Aalborg Boldspilklub Aalborg Boldspilklub is a Danish sports club based in the city of Aalborg. The club is also known as AaB for short (cf. logo) or Aalborg BK. Through time the club has had branches in cricket, tennis, ice hockey, handball, and basketball, but cur ...

, and played abroad for

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

clubs

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...

and

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...

. He played two matches and scored a single goal for the Danish national team.

Club career

Early career

Son of former

Randers Freja Randers Sportsklub Freja (often abbreviated Randers Freja) is a Danish sport club with teams in athletics, handball, table tennis and football. History Randers Freja was founded in 1898, and was accepted into the JBU in 1907. The football d ...

player Per Gaardsøe, Thomas Gaardsøe played his youth football at Freja. His name first caught the headlines when he was a part of the winning team in the 1994 and 1995 editions of the Danish nationwide school football tournament, scoring in both finals.

AaB

He moved to

(AaB) in the Danish Superliga championship, and made his senior debut in June 1997. Despite occasional good performances, he had a hard time forcing his way into the AaB starting line-up in his role as central midfielder. He made his AaB breakthrough in spring 2001, as a replacement for the injured central defender

Torben Boye Torben Boye (born 2 May 1966) is a Denmark, Danish former professional football (soccer) player, who played his List of one-club men in association football, entire career for Danish Superliga club AaB Fodbold, Aalborg Boldspilklub (AaB). Boye ha ...

. He impressed in his new role at AaB, as he was once more called up for the under-21 national team.

Ipswich Town

In the summer 2001, he was sold to

club

in the

FA Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

championship in a

transfer deal In professional football, a transfer is the action taken whenever a player under contract moves between clubs. It refers to the transferring of a player's registration from one association football club to another. In general, the players can onl ...

worth £1.3 million. He did not play much in his first season, but managed to score his first goal for Ipswich against

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

in December 2001. After his first season at the club, Ipswich suffered

relegation 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. ...

into the

English First Division The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...

. In the First Division, Gaardsøe became an important member for the squad, scoring six goals in all competitions of the 2002–2003 season.

West Bromwich Albion

He was sold in the summer of 2003, to First Division rivals

, and his first appearance came in a 4–0 thrashing of

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

in the

Football League Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

in August 2003. He scored his first goal for Albion in a 4–1 victory over his former club Ipswich, on 13 September 2003 and went on to be an ever-present in Albion's

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

winning team. He was named "Player of the Year" by the supporters who, in turn, dressed up as

Vikings Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

in his honour for the away match at Reading on 1 May 2004. Most of Gaardsøe's 2005–2006 season was hampered by a serious groin injury, which originated in a pre-match warm-up before an April 2005 game against

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

. He only played seven league games in a season which ended in Albion's relegation to the First Division. In the beginning of the 2006–2007 season, the continued injury problems made him consider a premature retirement from football. On 19 December 2006 Gaardsøe announced his retirement from the game, having been unable to regain full fitness from the groin operation in the summer.

Return to football

Two and a half year later he returned to football after having fully recovered from his injury. This time he signed for his childhood club

Aalborg BK Aalborg Boldspilklub is a Danish sports club based in the city of Aalborg. The club is also known as AaB for short (cf. logo) or Aalborg BK. Through time the club has had branches in cricket, tennis, ice hockey, handball, and basketball, but curre ...

. However, Gaardsøe has not succeeded in establishing himself in the AaB squad and in order to find regular first team football, he has signed a contract with Danish superliga rivals

Esbjerg Esbjerg (, ) is a seaport town and seat of Esbjerg Municipality on the west coast of the Jutland peninsula in southwest Denmark. By road, it is west of Kolding and southwest of Aarhus. With an urban population of 71,698 (1 January 2022)

from January 2010. After his contract ended with

Esbjerg fB Esbjerg forenede Boldklubber (; commonly known as Esbjerg fB or EfB in short) is a Danish professional football club based in Esbjerg, West Jutland, that plays in the 2nd division, the third-tier of the Danish football league system. Foun ...

in the summer of 2012, he searched for a new club. After two months, on 29 August 2012, Gaardsøe retired from football, being unable to find a new club.

International career

Gaardsøe gained his first international experience in 1998, playing two games for the Danish under-19 national team. He also won 10 caps for the Danish under-21 national team between 1998 and 2001, scoring once. He won his first international

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

in November 2003, coming on as a substitute in Denmark's 3–2 victory over

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. He scored his first national team goal in his second match, a 5–1 win against

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

in August 2004.

Career statistics

International

:Source:

International goals

''Denmark score listed first, score column indicates score after each Gaardsøe goal.''

Honours

AaB *

: 1998–99 West Bromwich Albion *

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...

runner-up: 2003–04 Individual *

Player of the Year: 2003–04

References

External links

Danish national team profile

AaB profile

Official Danish Superliga stats
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gaardsoe, Thomas 1979 births Living people Danish footballers Association football central defenders Denmark youth international footballers Denmark under-21 international footballers Denmark international footballers AaB Fodbold players Ipswich Town F.C. players West Bromwich Albion F.C. players Esbjerg fB players Danish Superliga players Premier League players English Football League players Danish expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in England Danish expatriate sportspeople in England