Jesper Grønkjær (; born 12 August 1977) is a Danish former professional footballer. A pacey winger, Grønkjær played primarily on the right or left wing, or as a

second striker 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 ...

. He played a total 400 league games for a number of European clubs, most notably winning the 1999 Dutch Cup with Ajax Amsterdam and playing more than 100 games for English club

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

. Grønkjær ended his career with

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 ...

, winning four

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 ye ...

titles with the club. Grønkjær was

capped In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the ea ...

80 times for the Denmark national team from 1999 to 2010, scoring five goals. He played for his country at the World Cup in 2002 and 2010, as well as two European Championship tournaments. He was named 1995 Danish Under-19 Player of the Year.

Club career

AaB

Raised in

Thisted Thisted is a town in the municipality of Thisted in the North Denmark Region of Denmark. It has a population of 13,461 (1 January 2022)Thisted FC. Earlier in his career he was told that he could have been a sprinter. He moved on to defending

champions Aalborg Boldspilklub (AaB) in 1995. He played almost 100 matches for the club, including games in the European 1995–96 UEFA Champions League tournament. He attracted the attention of a string of European top clubs.

Ajax

AaB sold Grønkjær in a £3.5 million

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 on ...

with

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

club

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * ''Ajax'' (play), by the ancient Gree ...

in October 1997, with Grønkjær moving to Amsterdam in July 1998. At Ajax, he was coached by fellow Dane

Morten Olsen Morten Per Olsen (born 14 August 1949) is a Danish football manager and former player. He was the head coach of the Denmark national team for 15 years from 2000 until 2015, guiding Denmark to the 2002 FIFA World Cup, 2004 European Championshi ...

, and played alongside Danish international Ole Tobiasen. With Ajax, he won the

1998–99 KNVB Cup The 81st edition of the KNVB Cup (at the time called ''Amstel Cup'') started on August 11, 1998. The final was played on May 13, 1999: Ajax beat Fortuna Sittard 2–0 and won the cup for the fourteenth time. A total of 61 clubs participated. T ...

and he was named "Ajax Player of the Year" by the fans in 1999–2000 again finding himself pursued by a host of top teams.

Chelsea

In October 2000, Grønkjær joined

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 ...

club

for £7.8 million, which made him the then most expensive Danish football player. However, he was still sidelined with an injury until January 2001. His career at Chelsea lasted for four years although his form during that time was somewhat inconsistent. At his best he was a constant threat; creating and scoring some very important goals for the club. In Chelsea's fourth round

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 ...

match away to Gillingham on 28 January 2001, Grønkjær started his first match for the club and scored two goals and hit the post twice, as Chelsea won 4–2. His most notable Chelsea performance came against

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 ...

on the final day of the 2002–03 season, assisting with the first goal and scoring the second at Stamford Bridge to give Chelsea a 2–1 victory and fourth place in the league, which allowed the club to qualify for the upcoming

2003–04 UEFA Champions League The 2003–04 UEFA Champions League was the 12th season of UEFA's premier European club football tournament, the UEFA Champions League, since its rebranding from the European Cup in 1992, and the 49th tournament overall. The competition was won by ...

tournament. The importance of this result cannot be overstated, as qualification for the Champions League was considered essential to

Roman Abramovich Roman Arkadyevich Abramovich (, ; he, רומן ארקדיביץ' אברמוביץ'; born 24 October 1966) is a Russian oligarch and politician. He is the former owner of Chelsea, a Premier League football club in London, England, and is the ...

's impending takeover of the club, which was at the time in some financial difficulty. For this reason, it is often referred to as the "billion pound goal." Talking about the match in February 2011, Grønkjær said "I remember the goal very well. I was on the right wing when we got a throw-in, but instead of passing I cut in from the right and beat three or four defenders before sticking it in the other corner. It was a nice feeling, and a good reward for a great season." In the 2003–04 UEFA Champions League quarter-final second leg away at

Highbury Stadium Arsenal Stadium was a football stadium in Highbury, London, which was the home of Arsenal Football Club between 6 September 1913 and 7 May 2006. It was popularly known as "Highbury" due to its location and was given the affectionate nickname ...

, Grønkjær came on for

Scott Parker Scott Matthew Parker (born 13 October 1980) is an English professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. He is currently the head coach of Club Brugge in Belgium. Parker began his career at Charlton Athletic, and ...

in the second half, with Arsenal leading 1–0 on the night and 2–1 on aggregate. Within six minutes of the substitution, Chelsea equalized through a goal by

Frank Lampard Frank James Lampard (born 20 June 1978) is an English professional football manager and former player who is the manager of club Everton. He is widely regarded as one of Chelsea’s greatest ever players, and one of the greatest midfielder ...

. As

Wayne Bridge Wayne Michael Bridge (born 5 August 1980) is an English former footballer who played as a left back. A graduate of the Southampton Academy where he made his debut in 1998, Bridge also played for Chelsea, West Ham, Manchester City, Fulham and ...

scored three minutes before the final whistle, Chelsea went on to defeat Arsenal 3–2 on aggregate and book a place in the semi-finals. In the following semi-final against

AS Monaco Association Sportive de Monaco Football Club SA, commonly referred to as AS Monaco () or Monaco, is a professional football club based in Monaco that is member of French Football Federation (FFF) and competes in Ligue 1, the top tier of Frenc ...

, he scored from outside the

penalty area The penalty area or 18-yard box (also known less formally as the penalty box or simply box) is an area of an association football pitch. It is rectangular and extends 16.5m (18 yd) to each side of the goal and 16.5m (18 yd) in front of it. With ...

with a cross-come-shot, but it was not enough for Chelsea to reach the final, as the club was defeated 5–3 on aggregate by Monaco. Grønkjær also scored a strike in front of 67,000 fans at Old Trafford against Manchester United in the penultimate game of the 2003–04 season, the second of a three-game scoring streak. His final goal scored for Chelsea came the following week against

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...

, where he scored the winner with a header in the first half.

Three clubs in two years

Chelsea had fired manager

Claudio Ranieri Claudio Ranieri Grande Ufficiale OMRI (; born 20 October 1951) is an Italian football manager and former player. He will be the new head coach of club Cagliari from 1 January 2023. Ranieri began his managerial career in the lower leagues in ...

before

UEFA Euro 2004 The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football competition contested by the men's national teams of UEFA member associations. The ...

, and Grønkjær signed for

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Sin ...

for £2.2 million in July 2004. He had a poor start with Birmingham; manager Steve Bruce attributed this to difficulty adapting to playing in a struggling team, as "he is used to his team dominating the opposition and he is used to the ball more often". He scored only once, against Lincoln City in the Football League Cup. He was transferred to Atlético Madrid in December 2004, for a fee of around €2 million. Grønkjær struggled to settle in Spain and, following putting in a transfer request, made a reported €6 million move to

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 ...

club

VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V., commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's football team is currently part of Germany's first division, the Bundesliga. VfB S ...

in the summer of 2005, where the club was building a formidable squad under manager

Giovanni Trapattoni Giovanni Trapattoni (; born 17 March 1939), sometimes popularly known as "Trap" or "Il Trap", is an Italian football manager and former player, considered the most successful club coach of Italian football. A former defensive midfielder, as a p ...

and Grønkjær would play alongside fellow Dane Jon Dahl Tomasson. Despite the hype and expectations at the start of the season, the club struggled in mid-table. At the beginning of February 2006, Grønkjær and Tomasson openly criticised Trapattoni as "lacking the will to attack and win." The criticism came after 12 drawn games out of 20, and although Trapattoni wanted to assert his authority and benched both players in the next game, he himself was fired the very next day, on 9 February 2006. Rumours in the German and Danish media suggested that Grønkjær would leave Stuttgart in favour of Danish club F.C. Copenhagen.

F.C. Copenhagen

Grønkjær was presented as a new player for the defending

champions F.C. Copenhagen on 23 June 2006. Seen as an important player for F.C. Copenhagen's UEFA Champions League ambitions, Grønkjær helped the team qualify for the 2006–07 tournament, the first tournament participation in club history. He picked up a

groin In human anatomy, the groin (the adjective is ''inguinal'', as in inguinal canal) is the junctional area (also known as the inguinal region) between the abdomen and the thigh on either side of the pubic bone. This is also known as the medial comp ...

injury in a September 2006 Champions League match against Portuguese team

S.L. Benfica Sport Lisboa e Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football. Founded on 28 February 1904 as ''Sport Lisboa'', Be ...

. He was given a prognosis of an eight- to twelve-week recovery, and returned in a November game against

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. Found ...

in 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 6 December 2006, he scored the second Champions League goal of his career, against Scottish team Celtic in a match FCK won 3–1 at

Parken Stadium Parken Stadium, also known simply as Parken and as Telia Parken (2014–2020), is a football stadium in the Indre Østerbro (''Inner Østerbro'') district of Copenhagen, Denmark, built from 1990 to 1992. The stadium, which features a retractable ...

. By the end of the season, Grønkjær had played 21 of 33 games, as Copenhagen retained the 2006–07 Danish Superliga championship. In November 2007, Grønkjær was named both Superliga Profile of the Year and Superliga Player of the Year. During the closing games of the 2007–08 football season in May 2008, Grønkjær sustained a knee injury. The injury became infected by staphylococcus, and required three bouts of surgery. He did not recover until halfway through the 2008–09 football season, when he rejoined the Copenhagen team for a friendly match against Swedish team

Malmö FF Malmö Fotbollförening, commonly known as Malmö FF, Malmö, or MFF, is a professional football club and the most successful football club in Sweden in terms of trophies won. Formed in 1910 and affiliated with the Scania Football Association ...

in January 2009. By the end of that season he had again earned a place in the starting line up, as Grønkjær helped Copenhagen win the Double of both 2008–09 Danish Superliga championship and the 2008–09 Danish Cup trophy. Grønkjær played the highest number of games in his Copenhagen career during the 2009–10 football season, as he helped the club win the 2009–10 Danish Superliga championship. With two goals in 12 games, Grønkjær helped Copenhagen advance to the 2010–11 Champions League Round of 16, as the first Danish team to advance that far into the tournament. Copenhagen was eventually eliminated by Grønkjær's former team Chelsea FC. On 26 May 2011, with Copenhagen having already secured the

2010–11 Danish Superliga The 2010–11 Danish Superliga season was the 21st season of the Danish Superliga championship, which decides the Danish football championship. It began on 17 July 2010 with the previous season's silver medalists from Odense facing Esbjerg and end ...

championship, Grønkjær announced that he would retire from professional football after the last league match of that Superliga season. "I'd like to be able to go jogging when I have played my last football game," he said. "I want a life without aches." He played his last game against his first professional club AaB, and scored the final goal in a 2–0 victory for F.C. Copenhagen.

Return to football

On 1 February 2016, it was confirmed that Grønkjær had signed with lower amateur-side FC Græsrødderne.

International career

While at Thisted FC, Grønkjær made his debut for the Danish youth national teams in October 1992. With three goals in six matches, as the Danish national youth team won silver medals at the 1994 UEFA European Under-16 Football Championship, Grønkjær showed himself one of the brightest talents in Danish football. He was named 1995 Danish Under-19 Player of the Year. In total, he scored 26 goals in 64 Danish youth team international games. In his first year at Ajax, Grønkjær made his full international debut for the Denmark national team in the 2000 European Championship (Euro 2000) qualification game against

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

on 27 March 1999. In the very first minute of the game, he famously echoed

Jesper Olsen Jesper Olsen (born 20 March 1961) is a Danish former professional footballer who played as a left winger. He is best remembered for representing Ajax of the Netherlands and Manchester United of England. He was a regular player for the Danish na ...

1986 World Cup The 1986 FIFA World Cup was the 13th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in Mexico from 31 May to 29 June 1986. The tournament was the second to feature a 24-team format. Colombia had ...

mistimed backpass to Spanish forward

Emilio Butragueño Emilio Butragueño Santos (; born 22 July 1963) is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a striker. He was best known for his spell with Real Madrid. Nicknamed ''El Buitre'' (The Vulture), he was a member of the '' La Quinta del Buitre'' ...

, as Grønkjær passed the ball to Italian forward Filippo Inzaghi who promptly scored the first goal in Italy's 2–1 victory. Despite the disappointing debut game, Grønkjær became an important part of the national team under coach

Bo Johansson Bo "Bosse" Johansson (born 28 November 1942) is a Swedish former football player and current football coach. Biography Johansson was a player for fourteen years with Kalmar FF and Lindsdals IF, though he did not win any trophies as a player. In ...

and he played full-time in Denmark's three games at the Euro 2000 main tournament. While at Chelsea, Grønkjær became a mainstay in the Denmark national team under new national team coach Morten Olsen, and he played in all of Denmark's four games at the 2002 World Cup. In the qualification games for

Euro 2004 The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football competition contested by the men's national teams of UEFA member associations. The ...

, he scored the game-winning goal in a 1–0 victory over closest rivals

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

, helping Denmark qualify for the final tournament in Portugal. He missed the opening game of Euro 2004 due to the death of his mother, but went to Portugal to join the Danish squad and scored the second goal of the 2–0 win against

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

. He was included in Olsen's squad for the

2010 FIFA World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

in South Africa. After Denmark's elimination from the 2010 World Cup, Grønkjær announced his retirement from international football.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Denmark's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Grønkjær goal.''

Honours

Ajax * KNVB Cup: 1998–99 Copenhagen *

: 2006–07, 2008–09, 2009–10,

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

Individual * Danish Under-19 Player of the Year: 1995 * TIPS-bladet's Player of the Year: 2006–07 * TIPS-bladet's Autumn Profile: 2007 * Team of the Year: 2007 *

Profile of the Year: 2007 *

Player of the Year: 2007

References

External links

Danish national team statistics

Danish Superliga statistics

F.C. Copenhagen profile
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gronkjaer, Jesper 1977 births Living people People from Nuuk People from Thisted Greenlandic sportspeople Greenlandic footballers Greenlandic people of Danish descent Danish footballers Association football wingers Thisted FC players AaB Fodbold players AFC Ajax players Chelsea F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players Atlético Madrid footballers VfB Stuttgart players F.C. Copenhagen players Danish Superliga players Eredivisie players Premier League players La Liga players Bundesliga players FA Cup Final players UEFA Euro 2000 players UEFA Euro 2004 players 2002 FIFA World Cup players 2010 FIFA World Cup players Denmark international footballers Denmark under-21 international footballers Denmark youth international footballers Danish expatriate footballers Danish expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Danish expatriate sportspeople in England Danish expatriate sportspeople in Germany Danish expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in Germany Danish association football commentators Sportspeople from the North Jutland Region