Per Billeskov Krøldrup (born 31 July 1979) 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 defender. He has played 33 games for the

Denmark national football team The Denmark men's national football team ( da, Danmarks herre-fodboldlandshold or ''herrelandsholdet'') represents Denmark in men's international football competitions. It is controlled by the Danish Football Association (DBU), the governing bo ...

, and was part of their squad for the 2004 European Championship.

Club career

Early career

Born in

Farsø Farsø is a town with a population of 3,349 (1 January 2022) in Region Nordjylland in Denmark in the Vesthimmerland Municipality. Farsø was the birthplace of Johannes Vilhelm Jensen, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1944. The village of ...

, Krøldrup started his footballing career at Danish lower league clubs Farsø/Ullits IK and

Aalborg Chang Aalborg Chang is a Danish association football club based in the city of Aalborg, that competes in the Jutland Series, one of the sixth tiers of the Danish football league system, and the top tier of the regional DBU Jutland football association ...

. He then went on to play for

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 ...

-based B.93 in the second-tier

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 ...

before transferring to

Udinese Udinese Calcio, commonly referred to as Udinese, is a professional Italian football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, that currently plays in Serie A. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a sports club, and on 5 July 1911 as a fo ...

in the Italian top-flight

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

championship in 2001. In his final season at the club, they finished fourth and qualified for the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

Everton

In June 2005, Krøldrup moved from Udinese to English club Everton on a four-year deal for a

transfer fee Transfer may refer to: Arts and media * ''Transfer'' (2010 film), a German science-fiction movie directed by Damir Lukacevic and starring Zana Marjanović * ''Transfer'' (1966 film), a short film * ''Transfer'' (journal), in management studies ...

of £5million.Per Krøldrup — Defender
ToffeeWeb.com Before having played a single game for the club, he suffered a groin injury and had to undergo surgery. He made his debut for Everton on 26 December 2005 in a 4-0 defeat to

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

, which was to be his only league game for the club. His Everton career was later described as one of the worst transfers in the history of the club and English football, and Krøldrup has stated his difficulties of adapting to the physical aspects of the English game.

Fiorentina

Krøldrup transferred back to Italy on 19 January 2006, when he joined

ACF Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional football club based in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while the actual club was refounded in August 2002 fo ...

, 31 days after his Everton debut. Following the

2006 Serie A scandal 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second small ...

, where several clubs were on trial for

match fixing In organized sports, match fixing is the act of playing or officiating a match with the intention of achieving a pre-determined result, violating the rules of the game and often the law. There are many reasons why match fixing might take place, ...

, Fiorentina were initially

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. ...

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie Balkrishna Industries, BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 ...

in July 2006. Krøldrup was amongst the players wanting to leave. However, as Fiorentina made an appeal to the

Italian Football Federation The Italian Football Federation ( it, Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio; FIGC), known colloquially as ''Federcalcio'', is the governing body of football in Italy. It is based in Rome and the technical department is in Coverciano, Florence. It ...

, the club remained in Serie A and most of their players, including Krøldrup, remained with the

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

club. He made his Champions League debut on 12 August 2008 against

Slavia Prague Sportovní klub Slavia Praha – fotbal (Sports Club Slavia Prague – Football, ), commonly known as Slavia Praha or Slavia Prague, is a Czech professional football club in Prague. Founded in 1892, they are the second most successful club in th ...

, a 2–0 win for ''La Viola''. Krøldrup's contract with Fiorentina was set to expire in June 2010, but on 17 May 2010 he signed a new deal that expired in 2012.

Pescara and Olhanense

On 8 March 2013, Krøldrup signed a short-term contract with Serie A club

Delfino Pescara 1936 Delfino Pescara 1936, commonly referred to as Pescara, is a professional Italian football club based in Pescara, Abruzzo. The club was formed in 1936 and currently plays in Serie C. Pescara has competed in seven seasons in Serie A, 1977–78, ...

for the rest of the 2012–13 season. After a Summer as a free agent, he signed for

Olhanense Sporting Clube Olhanense () is a Portuguese sports club from Olhão, Algarve. Its football team was founded on 27 April 1912 and currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal, the fourth tier of Portuguese football. It holds home matches at the ...

of the Portuguese

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal, ...

on 1 October 2013.

International career

At Udinese, Krøldrup played alongside Danish national team player

Martin Jørgensen Lars Martin Jørgensen (; born 6 October 1975) is a Danish former professional footballer played as a midfielder or defender. He works as talent manager for AGF. Jørgensen amassed 102 caps and scored 12 goals for the Denmark national team. ...

, who claimed that Krøldrup was ready for the Danish national team in March 2002. Kurt Lassen, "Thomas Helveg melder afbud til testkamp", ''

Berlingske Tidende ''Berlingske'', previously known as ''Berlingske Tidende'' (, ''Berling's Times''), is a Danish national daily newspaper based in Copenhagen. It is considered a newspaper of record for Denmark. First published on 3 January 1749, ''Berlingske'' ...

'', 19 March 2002 Krøldrup was not called up for the national team until February 2004, making his debut against

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

.Per Krøldrup – Alle hold (Alle kampe)
/ref> He was a part of the Danish squad for the 2004 European Championship, though he did not play any games at the tournament.

References

External links

ACF Fiorentina official site
English Viola
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kroldrup, Per 1979 births Living people People from Vesthimmerland Municipality Danish men's footballers Denmark men's international footballers Boldklubben af 1893 players Udinese Calcio players Everton F.C. players ACF Fiorentina players Delfino Pescara 1936 players S.C. Olhanense players Aalborg Chang players UEFA Euro 2004 players Serie A players Premier League players Primeira Liga players Danish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate footballers in Italy Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Portugal Danish expatriate sportspeople in Portugal 2010 FIFA World Cup players Men's association football defenders Footballers from the North Jutland Region