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Claus Thomsen

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For the Danish Olympic diver, see Claus Thomsen (diver).

Claus Thomsen
Personal information
Date of birth (1970-05-31) 31 May 1970 (age 54)
Place of birth Aarhus, Denmark
Height 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)
Position(s) Defender
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1989–1994 AGF Aarhus 142 (21)
1994–1997 Ipswich Town 81 (7)
1997–1998 Everton 24 (1)
1998 AB 20 (2)
1998–2002 VfL Wolfsburg 54 (3)
Total 321 (34)
International career
1986–1988 Denmark U19 19 (0)
1989–1992 Denmark U21 18 (3)
1995–1999 Denmark 20 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Claus Thomsen (born 31 May 1970) is a Danish former professional footballer. He won the Danish Cup with AGF Aarhus and played in England for top level teams Ipswich Town and Everton, as well as Wolfsburg in Germany. He played 20 matches for the Danish national team, and represented Denmark at the 1992 Summer Olympics and 1996 European Championship.

Life and career

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Born in Aarhus, Thomsen started his career at local top-flight club AGF Aarhus,[1] where he initially played as a midfielder.[2] Thomsen made his debut for the Danish under-21 national team in May 1989, where under-21 national team coach Richard Møller Nielsen used the 6' 3" Thomsen as a central defender.[3] Thomsen was named under-21 national team captain in 1990. In December 1990, Thomsen signed a new contract with AGF, rejecting interest from Brøndby IF and B1903.[4]

In November 1991, Thomsen was scouted by Celtic FC manager Liam Brady,[5] but the deal fell through due to "too many intermediaries" according to Claus Thomsen himself.[6] He was injured in an under-21 national game against Poland in March 1992, but recovered in time to help AGF win the 1992 Danish Cup. He also captained Denmark at the 1992 Summer Olympics, where he played all three of Denmark's matches, and scored a goal against Mexico. In the fall of 1992, he lost his place in the central defence in AGF's starting line-up, and he was used in a number of different positions.[6] He went on trial at Werder Bremen in December 1992, but was not signed by Werder manager Otto Rehhagel.[6]

Ipswich Town

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In June 1994, he moved abroad to play for English club Ipswich Town,[7] in a transfer deal worth £250,000.[7] He was called up for his Danish national team début, by national coach Richard Møller Nielsen, in April 1995. Thomsen was also called up to the Danish national squad for the 1996 European Championship, and played in all of Denmark's three matches before elimination. He made a total 97 appearances and scored 8 goals for Ipswich, and was one of the stronger players in the weakest side in Ipswich Town's history. In his first season, he was relegated with Ipswich in 1994/95, and was a key player in the team that missed out on the First Division play-offs in 1995–96; however, as Ipswich were looking to improve their side, he was sold to Everton,[7] for £900,000, in January 1997.[7]

Everton

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At Everton, Thomsen notably scored an own goal in the Merseyside derby at Goodison Park on 16 April 1997, meaning that Everton were held to a 1–1 draw by Liverpool, although they still achieved Premier League survival in 15th place.[8] He scored once at the right end for Everton, his side's only goal in a 2–1 defeat to Derby County.[9]

Akademisk Boldklub

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After little more than a year at Everton, marred by poor performances, he moved back to Denmark for £500,000 in March 1998, to play for Akademisk Boldklub[1] (AB).[7] He stayed at AB for six months, before moving abroad once again.

VfL Wolfsburg

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Thomsen joined German club VfL Wolfsburg in September 1998. In April 1999, he ended his Danish national team career, citing a lacking energy surplus. Struggling with injuries, he remained at Wolfsburg for four years, but saw little playing time during this period,[10] retiring in April 2002.

Career statistics

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[11][12]

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National Cup League Cup Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
AGF Aarhus
1988 Danish 1st Division 5 1 0 0 — — 5 1
1989 Danish 1st Division 23 6 0 0 — 2[a] 0 25 6
1990 Danish 1st Division 25 5 0 0 — — 25 5
1991 Danish Superliga 18 1 0 0 — — 18 1
1991–92 Danish Superliga 22 0 0 0 — — 22 0
1992–93 Danish Superliga 29 5 0 0 — 2[a] 0 29 5
1993–94 Danish Superliga 20 3 0 0 — — 20 3
Total 142 21 0 0 0 0 4 0 146 21
Ipswich Town 1994–95 Premier League 33 5 1 0 2 0 — 36 5
1995–96 First Division 37 2 3 0 2 1 3[b] 0 45 3
1996–97 First Division 11 0 1 0 4 0 — 16 0
Total 81 7 5 0 8 1 3 0 97 8
Everton 1996–97 Premier League 16 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 16 0
1997–98 Premier League 8 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 9 1
Total 24 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 25 1
AB 1997–98 Danish Superliga 12 1 0 0 — 0 0 12 1
1998–99 Danish Superliga 8 1 0 0 — 0 0 8 1
Total 20 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 20 2
VfL Wolfsburg 1998–99 Bundesliga 26 2 4 0 — — 30 2
1999–00 Bundesliga 24 0 2 1 — 6[c] 0 26 1
2000–01 Bundesliga 4 1 2 0 — 4[d] 0 26 1
Total 54 3 8 1 0 0 10 0 72 4
Career total 321 34 14 1 8 1 17 0 360 36
  1. ^ a b Appearances in UEFA Cup Winners' Cup
  2. ^ Appearances in Anglo-Italian Cup
  3. ^ Appearances in UEFA Cup
  4. ^ Appearances in UEFA Intertoto Cup

International

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Source:[11]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team Year Apps Goals
Denmark
1995 3 0
1996 9 0
1997 4 0
1998 2 0
1999 2 0
Total 20 0

Honours

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AGF Aarhus

References

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  1. ^ a b Thomsen, Claus at National-Football-Teams.com
  2. ^ (in Danish) Flemming Kjellerup, "AGF på indkøbs-tur til DDR", Berlingske Tidende, 11 January 1990.
  3. ^ (in Danish) Birger Hilstrøm, "Forsigtig fynbo", Berlingske Tidende, 5 March 1990.
  4. ^ (in Danish) Ib Pilegaard, "Claus vælger AGF og mindre løn", B.T., 7 December 1990.
  5. ^ (in Danish) Jens-Carl Kristiansen & Harvy Hansen, "Frank og Risom i spansk søgelys", Berlingske Tidende, 18 November 1991.
  6. ^ a b c (in Danish) Bjarne Nielsen, "Nu håber Claus på et gyldent fodboldår", Ekstra Bladet, 2 January 1993.
  7. ^ a b c d e Claus Thomsen at SoccerBase.com
  8. ^ "LIVERWEB - Liverpool Results 1996-97". Archived from the original on 14 July 2011. Retrieved 12 September 2010.
  9. ^ "Ferguson compounds misery". The Independent. London. 16 February 1998. Retrieved 29 December 2010.
  10. ^ (in German) Claus Thomsen at FussballDaten.de
  11. ^ a b Claus Thomsen at National-Football-Teams.com
  12. ^ "Claus Thomsen profile". Soccerbase. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
  13. ^ "Danish Cup Winners 1955-2008" (in Danish). Danish Football Association. Archived from the original on 2 May 2009. Retrieved 30 April 2009.
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