Allan Nielsen

Allan Nielsen (born 13 March 1971) is a Danish former professional football player whose most notable period of football was four years at English Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur with whom he won the 1999 League Cup, scoring the winning goal.

Not to be confused with Allan Nielsen (footballer, born 1976).

Allan Nielsen
Personal information
Full name Allan Nielsen
Date of birth (1971-03-13) 13 March 1971
Place of birth Esbjerg, Denmark
Height 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Position(s) Midfielder
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1989–1991 Bayern Munich 1 (0)
1991 FC Sion 0 (0)
1991–1993 Odense BK 55 (9)
1994–1995 FC Copenhagen 26 (3)
1995–1996 Brøndby IF 42 (11)
1996–2000 Tottenham Hotspur 97 (12)
2000 → Wolverhampton Wanderers (loan) 7 (2)
2000–2003 Watford 100 (19)
2003–2004 Herfølge BK 18 (3)
Total 346 (59)
National team
1995–2002 Denmark 44 (7)
Teams managed
2003–2005 Herfølge BK
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

He was also an integral part of the Denmark national football team from 1996 to 2001, playing a total of 44 matches and scoring seven goals. He competed for Denmark in the international 1996 European Championship (Euro 1996), 1998 FIFA World Cup and Euro 2000 tournaments.

Biography

Nielsen was born in Esbjerg, Denmark. Having never played a senior match, he moved abroad in 1989 to play for German Bundesliga team Bayern Munich at the age of 18. In his three years at the club, he played only six minutes in a single game in May 1991, as he came on as a substitute in a 7–3 win against Hertha Berlin. Failing to break through at Bayern Munich, he left the club in the summer 1991. Nielsen initially signed a three-year contract with FC Sion in June 1991, but he never played a game for the club. He swiftly moved back to Denmark, to play with Odense BK in the Danish Superliga championship, where he debuted in September 1991.

At Odense, he was a part of the team that won the 1993 Danish Cup and he was then brought to league rivals FC Copenhagen in 1994. He played a single season for the club, where he was team captain, before he moved to main rivals Brøndby IF in 1995. In his year at Brøndby, the club won the 1995–96 Danish Superliga championship, and Nielsen was named Brøndby IF 1995 Player of the Year. He was called up for the Danish national team under national manager Richard Møller Nielsen. Nielsen made his debut against Armenia on 16 August 1995. He came on as a substitute and following 45 seconds on the pitch, he scored the second goal in Denmark's 2–0 win. He was called up to represent Denmark at the Euro '96 tournament hosted by England, where he scored one goal in his only match, the 3–0 win against Turkey.

After Euro 1996, Brøndby received a transfer fee of £1.65 million, when Nielsen moved to England to play for FA Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur. He played nearly 100 league matches for Tottenham, and he was a pivotal player when the club won the 1999 League Cup. In the final minute, he scored a diving header to give Tottenham a 1–0 win against Leicester City, and Nielsen was subsequently honoured as "Man of the Match".[1] Following controversies with Tottenham manager George Graham, Nielsen moved down a league in March 2000, when he was loaned out to Wolverhampton Wanderers in the English First Division in a three-month deal. During his time at Tottenham, he represented the Danish national team in five games at the 1998 FIFA World Cup, scoring a single goal against South Africa, as well as in two games at the Euro 2000 tournament.

He permanently moved away from Tottenham after Euro 2000, in July 2000, to play for English First Division team Watford. He was signed by Watford manager Graham Taylor for £2.5million, which at the time was the highest fee the club had ever paid for a player.[2] After three seasons at the club, Nielsen returned to Denmark in 2003 for Superliga relegation battlers Herfølge Boldklub in a role as player/assistant coach. Following a bad first half of the 2003–04 season, head coach Johnny Petersen was fired and Nielsen was promoted to player/coach, in a coaching partnership with former national team player and Esbjerg native Michael Schjønberg. They managed to finish just above the relegation zone at the end of the season. For the subsequent 2004–05 season, Nielsen decided to focus exclusively on coaching, but to no avail as Herfølge was relegated, and he announced his coaching days were over.

Today he works as coach at Viborg Sports College.

Street Football

Nielsen has bought the rights for the Monta brand in Denmark and arranges Street Football events.

International goals
Scores and results list Denmark's goal tally first.
#DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
116 August 1995Yerevan, Armenia Armenia2–02–0Euro 1996 qualification
219 June 1996Sheffield, England Turkey2–03–0Euro 1996
31 September 1996Ljubljana, Slovenia Slovenia1–02–01998 World Cup qualification
430 April 1997Copenhagen, Denmark Slovenia1–04–01998 World Cup qualification
530 April 1997Copenhagen, Denmark Slovenia4–04–01998 World Cup qualification
618 June 1998Toulouse, France South Africa1–01–11998 World Cup
74 September 1999Copenhagen, Denmark  Switzerland1–02–1Euro 2000 qualification

Honours

Club
Odense
Brøndby
Tottenham

Individual

References
  1. "Sport: Football Nielsen nicks it for Spurs". BBC News. 22 March 1999. Retrieved 28 January 2019.
  2. "Watford 1–0 Barnsley". BBC Sport. 19 August 2000. Retrieved 4 September 2010.
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