Lasse Schöne (; born 27 May 1986) 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 lea ...

who played as a

defensive midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

. A versatile player, Schöne has been deployed as a

box-to-box midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

holding midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

and winger in his career. He was known for his set piece abilities. Schöne spent his entire professional career in the Netherlands, with

Heerenveen Heerenveen (, ) is a town and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Friesland (Fryslân), in the Northern Netherlands. In 2021, the town had a population of 29,790 (1 January) while the m ...

De Graafschap Vereniging Betaald Voetbal De Graafschap, simply known as De Graafschap () is a professional association football club based in Doetinchem, Netherlands. The team competes in the , the second level of the Dutch football league system. Founded o ...

NEC is a Japanese multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered at the NEC Supertower in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It provides IT and network solutions, including cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), Inte ...

and

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), ''Ajax'' (play), by the an ...

, before moving to Genoa in Italy in 2019. During his time in the Netherlands, he scored 85 league goals. Schöne scored on his full international debut in 2009 and was part of the Danish squad at

UEFA Euro 2012 The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2012 or simply Euro 2012, was the 14th UEFA European Championship, European Championship for List of men's national association football teams#UEFA (Europe), men's ...

and the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded t ...

Club career

De Graafschap

Born in

Glostrup Glostrup is a Denmark, Danish town in Capital Region of Denmark, Region Hovedstaden, forming one of the Western suburbs (Copenhagen), western suburbs of Copenhagen. It is the administrative seat of Glostrup Municipality, with an estimated populati ...

, Schöne began playing youth football with Himmelev-Veddelev BK and moved on to Tåstrup B.70 and then

Lyngby Kongens Lyngby (, Danish language, Danish for "the King's Heather Town"; short form Lyngby) is the seat and commercial centre of Lyngby-Taarbæk Municipality in the northern suburbs of Copenhagen, Denmark. Lyngby Hovedgade is a busy shopping stre ...

. In 2002, he moved to the youth team of

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; "Honour Division" or "Premier Division") is a professional association football league in the Netherlands and the highest level of the Dutch football league system. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start o ...

club

. He spent four years with the team without playing any league matches then moved to

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (; ) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as the Keuken Kampioen Divisie due to sponsorship reasons, while ...

club

in 2006. In his first season, he helped De Graafschap win promotion to the Eredivisie. In his two seasons with De Graafschap, he scored 12 goals in 70 matches.

NEC

Schöne signed for

in summer 2008. He scored the winning goal for NEC away at

Spartak Moscow Spartak Moscow may refer to the following teams based or formerly based in Moscow, Russia: * FC Spartak Moscow, an association football club * HC Spartak Moscow, a professional ice hockey team * Spartak GM Moscow, a semi-professional rugby club * ...

in December 2008, which sent the team through to the next round of 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 ...

. The club and the fans picked him as NEC's player of the year, a title he also won at his previous club, De Graafschap.

Ajax

On 18 April 2012, Schöne joined

on a contract valid until 2015. A number of other Danish players had played for Ajax, including

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 ...

, who had been a role model for him throughout his career. The club and the fans picked him as the player of the year in 2014. On 2 March 2015, he signed a new contract lasting until summer 2017, and on 22 February 2017, he signed a new contract lasting until summer 2019. On 27 February 2019, he became the international player with the most games played for Ajax, by surpassing

Søren Lerby Søren Lerby (born 1 February 1958) is a Danish former football player, manager, and licensed agent. As a player, he spent most of his career in Dutch football, winning five Eredivisie championships with Ajax Amsterdam and two with PSV Eindho ...

's 269 games. On 5 March 2019, in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

, Schöne scored Ajax's final goal of the Round of 16-second leg against

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

, by converting a direct free kick that went past the Real Madrid goalkeeper

Thibaut Courtois Thibaut Nicolas Marc Courtois (; ; born 11 May 1992) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for La Liga club Real Madrid and the Belgium national team. Regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time, he is known ...

. The victory completed a surprise comeback, the Dutch side winning 4–1 at the

Santiago Bernabéu Stadium Santiago Bernabéu Stadium (, ) is a retractable roof association football, football stadium in Madrid, Spain. With a seating capacity of around 83,000 following its extensive renovation completed in late 2024, the stadium has the second-largest ...

and 5–3 on aggregate to knock the European Champions out of the Champions League.

Genoa

On 9 August 2019, Schöne joined

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

club

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

on a two-year contract. The reported fee was €1.5 million. He scored his first goal giving the lead in an eventual 2–1 loss against

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

. In the same match, he also missed a 90th-minute penalty kick. In October 2020, the former Ajax star discovered he was effectively frozen out of the first Genoa team, as he cannot be selected for Serie A football without being named on their list of eligible players. He and his agent were not happy with this and planned to take legal action, saying that cases similar to this have already been analyzed by FIFA and the CAS. He was not part of new coach Rolando Maran’s plans and was told he could terminate his contract early by mutual consent to leave as a free agent. Schone was one of the 17 Genoa players who was diagnosed with COVID-19 and a transfer seemed far away in the final days of the window due to his COVID status, as well as the fact that both he and his agent did not know that he was left off the list of eligible players for the Genoa first team. On 7 January 2021, his contract was terminated.

Heerenveen

On 11 February 2021, it was announced that Schöne had signed with

on a six-month contract, returning to the club where he played between 2002 and 2006. Schöne had hoped for a return to the Denmark national team to compete in

UEFA Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the Anniversary#Latin-derived numerical names, quadrennial international men's association footb ...

, but ultimately, he did not receive a call-up. He made his return debut for the club on 14 February 2021, scoring Heerenveen's only goal in a 3–1 away loss to AZ. In fourteen total appearances for the club, he scored the one goal as the club finished in a disappointing twelfth place in the league table.

Return to NEC

On 9 June 2021, it was announced that Schöne had returned to recently promoted NEC, signing a two-year contract, until the summer of 2023. He made his return debut for NEC on 14 August, starting in a 5–0 opening matchday loss to his fellow former club,

. His first goal back came on 23 January 2022, opening the score in a 4–1 home loss to

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Netherlands, Dutch professional association football, football club based in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football league system, Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the ...

. On 15 December 2023, Schöne made his 433rd Eredivisie appearance, making him the highest-appearing non-Dutchman in the league's history. On 22 May 2025, Schöne announced his retirement from professional football.

International career

Youth

Schöne began his international career with the Denmark national under-16 team, scoring a goal on his debut in August 2001. He played a total of ten matches and scored one goal for the under-17 and under-18 teams from July 2002 to March 2004. After joining De Graafschap, Schöne made his debut for the under-21 team in March 2007. He played a total of nine matches and scored one goal for the under-21s until October 2008.

Senior

On 12 August 2009, on his debut for the Denmark senior team in a friendly against

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

, Schöne scored less than a minute after being put into action in the second half. The goal was the equalizer in an eventual 1–2 loss at the

Brøndby Stadium Brøndby Stadium (, ) is a football stadium in Brøndbyvester, Denmark. It is the home ground of the Danish Superliga club Brøndby IF. The venue is the second-largest stadium in Denmark. Built in 1965 and inaugurated on 31 July 1966 where it ha ...

. He was unable to play in the

2010 FIFA World Cup The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010. ...

in South Africa because of a knee injury, but did appear for Denmark at

Euro 2012 The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2012 or simply Euro 2012, was the 14th European Championship for men's national football teams organised by UEFA. The final tournament, held between 8 June and 1 ...

. In 2018 he was named in Denmark's squad for the

in Russia. He played in three matches, starting in one, but did not score.

Career statistics

Club

International

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

Honours

De Graafschap *

: 2006–07 Ajax *

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

, 2013–14, 2018–19 *

KNVB Cup The KNVB Beker (; ), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organised by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. Outside the N ...

: 2018–19 *

Johan Cruyff Shield The Johan Cruyff Shield (, ) is a football trophy in the Netherlands named after Dutch footballer Johan Cruyff, also often referred to as the Dutch Super Cup. The winner is decided in one match only, played by the winner of the national footbal ...

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

runner-up: 2016–17 Individual * De Graafschap Player of the Year: 2007–08 * NEC Player of the Year: 2008–09 * Ajax Player of the Year (Rinus Michels Award): 2013–14 * Ajax Goal of the Decade: 2020 * Eredivisie Team of the Year: 2013–14, 2017–18, 2018–19

References

External links

* * *
Lasse Schöne
at ''

Voetbal International ''Voetbal International'' (VI) is a Dutch football magazine. It is the oldest Dutch football magazine that is still running. History and profile ''Voetbal International'' was established in 1965. VI was one of the founding members of ESM. It l ...

'' * {{DEFAULTSORT:Schone, Lasse 1986 births Living people Sportspeople from Glostrup Municipality Danish men's footballers Denmark men's youth international footballers Denmark men's under-21 international footballers Denmark men's international footballers Men's association football midfielders FC Roskilde players Taastrup FC players Lyngby Boldklub players SC Heerenveen players De Graafschap players NEC Nijmegen players AFC Ajax players Jong Ajax players Genoa CFC players Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players Serie A players Danish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Danish expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Danish expatriate sportspeople in Italy UEFA Euro 2012 players Danish people of German descent 2018 FIFA World Cup players Footballers from the Capital Region of Denmark 21st-century Danish sportsmen