Søren Lerby (born 1 February 1958) is a Danish former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player, manager, and licensed agent. As a player, he spent most of his career in Dutch football, winning five

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 ...

championships with

Ajax Amsterdam Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax (), also known as AFC Ajax, Ajax Amsterdam, or commonly Ajax, is a Dutch professional Association football, football Football team, club based in Amsterdam, that plays in the , the top tier in Dutch football. ...

and two with

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional association football, football department, which has pla ...

. With the latter club, he also won the 1988

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by top-division European clubs. The competition begins with a round robi ...

. He won two

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

titles with Bayern Munich, and played one season for AS Monaco in France. He played 67 matches for the

Denmark national football team The Denmark national football team ( or ''herrelandsholdet'') represents Denmark and Greenland in men's international Association football, football competitions. It is controlled by the Danish Football Association (DBU), the governing body for ...

from 1978 to 1989, and represented Denmark at the

1986 FIFA World Cup The 1986 FIFA World Cup was the 13th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, 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-tea ...

and two European Championship tournaments. Currently, he is the agent of Galatasaray winger Dries Mertens.

Playing style

A left-footed

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 ...

with a powerful shot and great stamina, Lerby was a player who was always committed and a leader of the team. He once played two competitive matches in two countries on a single day on 13 November 1985: first in the afternoon a World Cup qualifier with Denmark against the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

, being substituted having helped to secure a solid lead, and later in the evening a

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal (), also known as the German Cup in English language, English, is a German knockout Association football, football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competiti ...

match with Bayern Munich against VfL Bochum, entering as a half-time replacement. Denmark qualified for the

, and Bayern went on to lift the cup. Lerby always played with his "socks down" – short socks or long socks rolled down but always without shin pads. This was quite uncommon and would be against the rules today.

Biography

Club career

Lerby was born in

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 ...

, the son of former Danish under-21 football international Kaj Lerby. Lerby played his youth football with local clubs B 1903, Taastrup IK and Fremad Amager. He got his senior debut with Fremad Amager, playing 13 games and scoring three goals in the top-flight 1975 1st Division season. He and Fremad Amager teammate Frank Arnesen moved abroad to become professional footballers in November 1975. They switched to the Dutch club

, when Lerby was only 17 years old. Lerby's first home game was a 4–1 against Go Ahead Eagles on 11 April 1976. He won three Dutch

league titles in his first six years at Ajax, in the 1976–77, 1978–79, and 1979–80 seasons. In the summer of 1981 he was named

team captain In team sport, captain is a title given to a member of the team. The title is frequently honorary, but in some cases the captain may have significant responsibility for strategy and teamwork while the game is in progress on the field. In eithe ...

, succeeding newly departed Frank Arnesen. In the two seasons Lerby was captain, Ajax won a further two Dutch championships with high goal differences. He moved to Germany in 1983, replacing midfielder Paul Breitner at Bayern Munich. He remained there for three years, winning two German

championships and two

cup trophies. His career continued for French team AS Monaco from 1986 to 1987. Lerby moved back to the Netherlands in 1987 and was reunited with Frank Arnesen at Ajax' rivals PSV Eindhoven. He was a part of the 1988 European Cup winning PSV squad, also including fellow Danes Jan Heintze and Ivan Nielsen, though Frank Arnesen missed the final against S.L. Benfica because of injury. Lerby ended his active career in 1990.

International career

While a youth player with Taastrup IK, Lerby was called up for the Danish under-17 national team in October 1973. He debuted for the Danish under-19 national team in April 1974, and represented the team at the 1974 and 1975 European Under-19 Football Championships. He also played three games for the Danish under-21 national team. While at Ajax, he made his senior Danish national team debut against the

in May 1978, scoring one goal in the 3–3 draw. Lerby was selected for the Danish national team at the 1984 European Championship, where he played in all four of Denmark's matches, and scored a goal in the semi-final against

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, which saw Denmark eliminated on

penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

. At the

he played in Denmark's four games, scoring in Denmark's 6–1 win against

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

. He was a part of the Danish squad for the 1988 European Championship.

Non-playing career

Between 9 October 1991 and 11 March 1992, he spent some time as coach with Bayern Munich, as successor of Jupp Heynckes. With a spell of undistinguished results, including a combined 6–3

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 ...

elimination by his former club B 1903, Lerby effectively ended his managerial career and became a

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

-licensed

sports agent A sports agent is a legal representative (hence agent (law), agent) for professional sports figures such as athletes and coaches. They procure and negotiate employment and Testimonial, endorsement contracts for the principal (commercial law), at ...

(Essel Sports Managements).

Managerial statistics

Honours

Ajax *

: 1976–77, 1978–79, 1979–80, 1981–82, 1982–83 *

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 ...

: 1978–79, 1982–83 Bayern Munich *

: 1984–85, 1985–86 *

: 1983–84, 1985–86 PSV * Eredivisie: 1987–88, 1988–89 * KNVB Cup: 1987–88 *

: 1987–88 Individual * European Cup top scorer: 1979–80

References

External links

*
Ajax ''Hall of Fame''
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lerby, Soren 1958 births Living people Danish men's footballers Danish football managers Taastrup FC players AFC Ajax players FC Bayern Munich footballers AS Monaco FC players PSV Eindhoven players Eredivisie players Bundesliga players Ligue 1 players Denmark men's international footballers Denmark men's under-21 international footballers Denmark men's youth international footballers UEFA Euro 1984 players 1986 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 1988 players FC Bayern Munich managers Bundesliga managers Danish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Danish expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in West Germany Danish expatriate sportspeople in West Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Monaco Danish expatriate sportspeople in Monaco Expatriate men's footballers in France Danish expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate football managers in Germany Men's association football midfielders Footballers from Copenhagen Danish Superliga players UEFA Champions League–winning players UEFA Champions League top scorers Fremad Amager players 20th-century Danish sportsmen