Asbjørn Sennels (17 January 1979 – 9 July 2023) was a Danish 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 lea ...

who played as a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

. He made two appearances for the Denmark national team.

Club career

Born in Brabrand,

Aarhus Municipality Aarhus Municipality (), known as Århus Municipality () until 2011, is a ''Municipalities of Denmark, kommune'' in the Central Denmark Region, on the east coast of the Jutland peninsula in central Denmark. The municipality covers an area of , and ...

, Denmark, Sennels started his football career playing for local lower-league clubs Brabrand IF and Skovbakken. "As a boy, I was a bit too small and too slow. I wasn't always good enough for the first team, but I believe that adversity has benefited me in the long run," he told in an interview with ''

Jyllands-Posten (; English: ''The Morning Newspaper "The Jutland Post"''), commonly shortened to or ''JP'', is a Danish daily broadsheet newspaper. It is based in Aarhus C, Jutland, and with a weekday circulation of approximately 120,000 copies. He made his breakthrough with

Danish Superliga The Danish Superliga (, ) is a professional association football league in Denmark and the highest level of the Danish football league system. The league is currently contested by 12 teams each year, with 2 teams relegated. It is the current ...

club Viborg in the 1999–2000 Superliga season, making his professional debut on 21 May 2000 as a starter in a convincing 7–2 victory against AaB. He made 108 league appearances for Viborg during his five years at the club. In February 2004, Sennels was signed by league rivals Brøndby. Their manager,

Michael Laudrup Michael Laudrup (, born 15 June 1964) is a Danish professional Association football, football coach and former player. Renowned for his composure, passing, vision, technical skills, ball control, and dribbling ability, Laudrup is widely regarded ...

, brought in Sennels to fill the

position previously held by Aurelijus Skarbalius. Sennels made his debut for Brøndby in the

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

matches against

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in 2004. Initially, he struggled to perform well in his first appearances for Brøndby, partly because he was replacing fan-favourite Skarbalius. However, he gradually found his rhythm and went on to appear in all 33 matches for Brøndby in the 2004–05 season, during which the club secured both the league title and the

Danish Cup The Danish Cup (; often referred to as Pokalen) is the official "single-elimination tournament, knockout" cup competition in Danish football, run by the Danish Football Association. The cup has been contested annually since 1955. The winner will ...

. Laudrup later brought in

Joseph Elanga Joseph Elanga Fils (born 2 May 1979) is a Cameroonian former professional footballer who played as a defender. Starting off his career in Cameroon in the late 1990s, he went on to play professionally in Greece, Sweden, and Denmark before retir ...

to compete with Sennels for the left-back position, resulting in Sennels playing in 19 out of 33 matches in the subsequent season. When René Meulensteen took over as manager of Brøndby, Sennels faced even tougher competition for his position due to the arrival of on-loan left-back Adam Eckersley from

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

. With Meulensteen's departure halfway through the 2006–07 season, Sennels was informed by the caretaker manager, Tom Køhlert, that he had no future at the club. Consequently, he returned to Viborg in the summer of 2007, before leaving as his contract expired in 2010.

International career

Sennels was called up for the Denmark under-21 national team after making his breakthrough for Viborg, and made his international debut for the U21 team in a friendly against Germany U21 on 14 November 2000, starting in a 2–2 draw. He would gain ten caps for the under-21 side. Sennels was called up to the Denmark senior squad for the first time on 11 August 2003 by national team manager

Morten Olsen Morten Per Olsen (; born 14 August 1949) is a Danish former Association football, football manager and former player. He was the head coach of the Denmark national football team, Denmark national team for 15 years from 2000 until 2015, guiding ...

. At that point, he had already made two appearances for the Denmark League XI team. He made his Denmark international debut in a friendly against

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

Parken Parken, currently known as Parken - Connected by 3 for sponsorship reasons, and as Telia Parken (2014–2020), is a Soccer-specific stadium, football stadium in the Indre Østerbro (''Inner Østerbro'') district of Copenhagen, Denmark, built from ...

on 20 August, replacing René Henriksen after 64 minutes of a 1–1 draw. He would go on to make one more appearance for the national team.

Later life

Sennels retired from professional football in the summer 2012, as his job as a high school teacher did not harmonise with his football career. However, he still played for

Viborg FF Viborg Fodsports Forening (), also known as Viborg FF or VFF for short, is a Danish professional association football, football club based in the Central Denmark Region, Central Jutland city of Viborg, Denmark, Viborg. They compete in the Danish ...

's reserve team in the

Denmark Series The Denmark Series () is the fifth tier in the Danish football league system. Teams are divided into four groups of ten. The top team in each following promotion group is promoted to the Danish 3rd Division. The bottom three teams in each group ...

and as of the summer 2017, he functioned as a player-assistant coach for the team. In the summer 2018, Sennels returned to Danish seventh division club Tjele Vest Sport as a player-assistant coach. In January 2020, he was promoted to player-head coach.

Death

Sennels died on 9 July 2023, after having been diagnosed with

small cell carcinoma Small-cell carcinoma, also known as oat cell carcinoma, is a type of highly malignant cancer that most commonly arises within the lung, although it can occasionally arise in other body sites, such as the cervix, prostate, and gastrointestinal tr ...

in the spring of the same year. He was 44. "Asbjørn Sennels"

Honours

Brøndby *

: 2004–05 *

: 2004–05

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sennels, Asbjorn 1979 births 2023 deaths Danish men's footballers Footballers from Aarhus Men's association football fullbacks Denmark men's international footballers Denmark men's under-21 international footballers VSK Aarhus players Viborg FF players Brøndby IF players Deaths from cancer in Denmark Viborg FF non-playing staff