Birger Eyolf Kleven (27 February 1908 - 8 February 1989) was 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 ...

amateur

football (soccer) Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

player, who played 30 games and scored eight goals for the Denmark national football team from 1930 to 1942. Born in

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 ...

, Kleven played as a forward and

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 Copenhagen club AB from 1927 to 1945. Eyolf Kleven was a small

inside forward Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

, averse to the physical side of the game, but lightning quick, with good dribbling skills and fantastic long passing ability. He made his debut for the Danish national team in June 1930. Kleven formed a good partnership with centre forward

Pauli Jørgensen Etvin Carl Pauli Jørgensen (4 December 1905 – 30 October 1993), known simply as Pauli Jørgensen, was a Danish amateur football player and manager. In his position of centre forward, Jørgensen played 297 matches and scored 288 goals for Bol ...

, and scored a single goal in each of his first three international games. He was a part of the Danish team which lost the so-called Battle of Breslau game 0-8 to the

Germany national football team The Germany national football team (german: link=no, Deutsche Fußballnationalmannschaft) represents Germany in men's international football and played its first match in 1908. The team is governed by the German Football Association (''Deuts ...

in May 1937, but Kleven was one of only four players not dropped from the Danish team afterwards. Having played his 29th national team game, his international career went on a hiatus in June 1938. With AB, Kleven won the Danish championship in 1937. In his later AB career, Kleven moved back into the wing half-back position. He made a one-game comeback to the national team 1942, but the wing half-back pairing of Kleven and Walther Christensen were defensively weak, and Denmark lost 0-3 to the Sweden national football team. This was Kleven's 30th and last international game. With AB, Kleven won two further Danish championships in 1943 and 1945. He is the younger brother of Danish international and AB head coach Arne Kleven.

References

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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kleven, Eyolf 1908 births 1989 deaths Danish men's footballers Denmark men's international footballers Akademisk Boldklub players Men's association football inside forwards