Eigil Nielsen (6 December 1948 – 26 December 2019) was a Danish

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

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

during the late 1960s, 70s and into the 80s.

Career

Club

Nielsen began his youth football by the local club Hjørring IF and with them his professional career in 1966, before moving to KB in 1970. In 1971, he signed for Switzerland's

Winterthur Winterthur (; ) is a city in the canton of Zurich in northern Switzerland. With over 120,000 residents, it is the country's List of cities in Switzerland, sixth-largest city by population, as well as its ninth-largest agglomeration with about 14 ...

and he played there under head coach Willy Sommer until 1974. He soon became an strategist within the team with his brilliant ideas. However, despite reaching the

Swiss League Cup The Swiss League Cup was a football tournament which took place as a summer pre-season tournament in 1972 and 1973, and during the Swiss football season from 1974–75 to 1981–82. The tournament was a knockout competition contested by clubs fro ...

final twice, he was still denied success in the form of a title. Due to financial reasons Winterthur sold Nielsen to

FC Basel Fussball Club Basel 1893, widely known as FC Basel, FCB, or just Basel, is a Swiss professional Association football, football club based in Basel, in the Basel-Stadt, Canton of Basel-Stadt. Formed in 1893, the club has been List of Swiss footba ...

during the summer break. Nielsen joined Basel's first team for their 1974–75 season under head coach

Helmut Benthaus Helmut Benthaus (born 5 June 1935) is a German former association football, football player and coach. He spent his best playing days at Westfalia Herne and his best coaching days at FC Basel. Early career Born in Herne, Germany, Herne, Benthau ...

. He played his debut for his new club in the Cup of the Alps, an away game in

Nîmes Nîmes ( , ; ; Latin: ''Nemausus'') is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Gard Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region of Southern France. Located between the Med ...

, on 20 July 1974. He not only scored his first goal for his new team in same game but Basel won 4–2 thanks to a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

from Nielsen and a goal from

Ottmar Hitzfeld Ottmar Hitzfeld (; born 12 January 1949) is a German former professional football player and a former manager. He accumulated a total of 18 major titles, mostly in his tenures with Grasshopper Club Zürich, Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich. ...

. After playing in two further games in the pre-season Cup of the Alps and two games in the

, in which he scored two further goals, Nielsen played his domestic league debut for the club in the home game in the

St. Jakob Stadium The St. Jakob Stadium was a football (soccer), football stadium in Basel, Switzerland and the former home of Swiss club FC Basel. It was built in view of the 1954 FIFA World Cup, and as well as serving as a club stadium, it hosted several import ...

on 17 August as Basel played a 2–2 with Xamax. He scored his first league goal for his new team in the away game in the

Stadion Wankdorf Wankdorf Stadium () is a football stadium in Bern, Switzerland. The second largest all-seater football stadium in Switzerland, it is the home ground of BSC Young Boys. It was also one of the venues for UEFA Euro 2008. History The present-da ...

on 12 October. In fact he scored twice as Basel played a 4–4 draw with the Young Boys. At the end of his first season with the club, Nielsen celebrated a Basel win in the

Swiss Cup The Swiss Cup (; ; ; ) is a football cup competition that has been organised annually since 1925–26 season by the Swiss Football Association. The Swiss Cup final is usually the most important game of the year with a high attendance. The co ...

final as they defeated

to win the trophy. Then at the end of the

1976–77 Nationalliga A The following is the summary of the Swiss National League in the 1976–77 football season, both Nationalliga A and Nationalliga B. This was the 80th season of top-tier and the 79th season of second-tier football in Switzerland. Overview The ...

season Basel won the Swiss Championship, winning the play-off match against Servette 2–1, after the two teams had ended the regular season level on points. Nielsen stayed with Basel for four seasons. Between the years 1974 und 1978 Nielsen played a total of 164 games for FC Basel scoring a total of 30 goals. 99 of these games and 18 goals were in the Swiss domestic league. 21 games were in the

, 23 were international cup games and 30 were test games. Nielsen scored his only European goal on 29 September 1976 in the second leg of the first round of the

1976–77 UEFA Cup The 1976–77 UEFA Cup was the sixth season of the UEFA Cup, the third-tier club football competition organised by UEFA. The final was played over two legs at Stadio Comunale, Turin, Italy, and at San Mamés, Bilbao, Spain. It was won by Juvent ...

. Basel played at home in

and won 3–0 against Glentoran F.C. In 1978 he signed for

Luzern Lucerne ( ) or Luzern ()Other languages: ; ; ; . is a city in central Switzerland, in the Languages of Switzerland, German-speaking portion of the country. Lucerne is the capital of the canton of Lucerne and part of the Lucerne (district), di ...

who played in the second highest tier at that time and that season Luzern won promotion.

International

Nielsen was capped ten times by the Denmark national team, making his international debut in Denmark's 3-2 win over

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

on 28 July 1971 in

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 ...

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

. His last match for the national team was in a 6-1 defeat to

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

on 23 August 1975 in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

Private life

Nielsen retired from his football career at the end of the 1981–82 season due to an injury caused by a serious foul in December 1981. He had suffered a fractured fibula with torn ankle ligaments in a game against St. Gallen. Together with his family, he then returned to his Danish homeland. The trained banker Eigil Nielsen then moved to live on the island of

Fuerteventura Fuerteventura () is one of the Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean, geographically part of Macaronesia, and politically part of Spain. It is located away from the coast of North Africa. The island was declared a biosphere reserve by UNESCO i ...

for around ten years. He then returned to his hometown of

Hjørring Hjørring () is a town on the island of Vendsyssel-Thy at the top of the Jutland peninsula in northern Denmark. It is the main town and the administrative seat of Hjørring Municipality in the North Jutland Region. The population is 25,908 (acco ...

in northern

Jutland Jutland (; , ''Jyske Halvø'' or ''Cimbriske Halvø''; , ''Kimbrische Halbinsel'' or ''Jütische Halbinsel'') is a peninsula of Northern Europe that forms the continental portion of Denmark and part of northern Germany (Schleswig-Holstein). It ...

, where he opened a sporting goods store, which he sold when he fully retired. Now the last part of his life began, which increasingly faded into the fog as

Alzheimer's Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems wit ...

developed. On 22 December 2019 he suffered a stroke, from which he never recovered and he died on

Saint Stephen's Day Saint Stephen's Day, also called the Feast of Saint Stephen, is a Christian saint's day to commemorate Saint Stephen, the first Christian martyr or protomartyr, celebrated on 26 December in Western Christianity and 27 December in Eastern Ch ...

, shortly after his 71st birthday. Nielsen was married and the couple had two sons. Their youngest son died in 1989 and his wife died in 2009.

Honours

Basel *

Swiss League The Swiss League, also known as the Sky Swiss League for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of the main professional ice hockey league in Switzerland, behind the National League (ice hockey), National League. The winners of the league each ...

: 1976–77 *

: 1974–75

References

Sources

*
Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv" Homepage

External links

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nielsen, Eigil 1948 births 2019 deaths People from Hjørring Municipality Danish men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Denmark men's international footballers Kjøbenhavns Boldklub players FC Basel players FC Luzern players FC Winterthur players Danish expatriate men's footballers Danish expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland Footballers from the North Jutland Region 20th-century Danish sportsmen