Torben Piechnik (born 21 May 1963) 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 ...

who played as a

centre back 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 ...

. He made a total of 15 appearances for the Denmark national team, which he represented in the 1992 European Championship and 1996 European Championship.

Biography

Born in

Hellerup Hellerup () is a very affluent district of Gentofte Municipality in the suburbs of Copenhagen, Denmark. The most urban part of the district is centred on Strandvejen and is bordered by Østerbro to the south and the Øresund to the east. It compr ...

, Piechnik started his senior career with

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 ...

(KB) in the top-flight Danish 1st Division. He joined

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 ...

in 1988, and played two seasons for the club. In 1990, he joined

B 1903 Boldklubben 1903 or B 1903 is a football club founded on 2 June 1903, located in Copenhagen, Denmark. Seven times winner of the Danish championship (introduced 1913) in 1920, 1924, 1926, 1938, 1969, 1970 and 1976 and twice winner of the Dan ...

, and in November 1991 he won his first Danish senior cap. He was part of the Denmark national team which won the

UEFA Euro 1992 The 1992 UEFA European Football Championship was hosted by Sweden between 10 and 26 June 1992. It was the ninth UEFA European Championship, which is held every four years and supported by UEFA. Denmark won the 1992 championship, having qualifi ...

. He started the tournament as a substitute, but when Henrik Andersen suffered an injury in the semi-finals, (ultimately, Andersen would miss the final due to suspension in any event), Piechnik replaced him in the final, for which he earned praise. After the tournament, he followed the majority of the B 1903 players into the merging

FC 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 ...

(FCK) club. Having played just seven league games for FCK, he was signed for English

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

holders

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

by manager

Graeme Souness Graeme James Souness (; born 6 May 1953) is a Scottish former professional football player and manager, and current TV pundit. A midfielder, Souness was the captain of the successful Liverpool team of the early 1980s, player-manager of Ranger ...

in September 1992, just weeks after the inception of the new

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 Fo ...

. He joined a struggling Liverpool side, and had a hard time adapting to the English game. Piechnik made 16 first-team league appearances for Liverpool in the 1992–93 season, but only managed one in the whole of the 1993–94 season. When Graeme Souness was replaced by new manager Roy Evans in January 1994, Piechnik sensed that he was no longer part of the club's plans, and requested a transfer. His lack of success in Liverpool later earned him a selection in the

Liverpool Echo The ''Liverpool Echo'' is a newspaper published by Trinity Mirror North West & North Wales – a subsidiary company of Reach plc and is based in St Paul's Square, Liverpool, Merseyside, England. It is published Monday to Sunday, and is Liver ...

's ''Merseyside Lost 11'', a selection of players which the newspaper considered the biggest fiascos in the history of Liverpool and Everton. He transferred to AGF in Denmark at the end of the season. He won the

1995–96 Danish Cup The 1995–96 Danish Cup was the 42nd installment of the Danish Cup, the highest football competition in Denmark. Final References 1995-96 1995–96 domestic association football cups Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or ...

with AGF, and was called up to represent Denmark at the

UEFA Euro 1996 The 1996 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 96, was the 10th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by European nations and organised by UEFA. It took place in England from 8 to 30 ...

. He played the last of his 15 international matches at that tournament, before ending his national team career. He would play on for another three years at AGF, before retiring in 1999. He has worked as both a

real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...

agent and

masseur Massage is the manipulation of the body's soft tissues. Massage techniques are commonly applied with hands, fingers, elbows, knees, forearms, feet or a device. The purpose of massage is generally for the treatment of body stress or pain. In Eu ...

, while still playing "Old Boys" football in Denmark.

Honours

AGF *

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 ...

: 1995–96 Denmark *

UEFA European Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations ( UEFA). The competition is conte ...

: 1992

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Piechnik, Torben 1963 births Living people Danish footballers Association football defenders Denmark international footballers Danish expatriate footballers Kjøbenhavns Boldklub players F.C. Copenhagen players Liverpool F.C. players Ikast FS players Aarhus Gymnastikforening players Expatriate footballers in England Premier League players Danish Superliga players UEFA Euro 1992 players UEFA Euro 1996 players UEFA European Championship-winning players Danish people of Polish descent People from Gentofte Municipality Sportspeople from the Capital Region of Denmark