Jon Dahl Tomasson

Born in Copenhagen, son of Bjarne Tomasson and Leila Dahl Petersen, Tomasson first started playing football as a five-year-old in the youth team of Solrød BK near Køge. At nine years of age, he moved to the biggest club in the area, Køge BK. In November 1992, at 16, he made his senior debut for the club. During the next two years he helped the club to get promoted twice in a row: at the end of the 1993 season, when the club was promoted from the Denmark Series to the 2nd Division; and at the end of the 1994 season, when the club was promoted to the 1st Division.[2]

In December 1994, aged 18, he agreed on a transfer from Køge BK to the Dutch club SC Heerenveen, of Eredivisie. A first-team regular by the 1995–96 season, Tomasson was the club top scorer for the season as well, netting 14 goals in 30 league matches. He increased this tally in the 1996–97 season to 18, and was top-scorer for the club once again. On top of that, he also won the Best Dutch Football Talent of 1996, beating the likes of Boudewijn Zenden & Patrick Kluivert to the prize.

His success attracted the interest of other clubs, and he completed a high-profile move to FA Premier League club Newcastle United in July 1997, managed at the time by Kenny Dalglish. Dalglish saw Tomasson as the perfect link-up player to England national team striker Alan Shearer. The partnership initially worked well, with Tomasson impressing during a pre-season friendly tournament in the Republic of Ireland. However, a career threatening injury to Shearer, combined with the controversial transfer of popular striker Les Ferdinand to Tottenham Hotspur, meant that Tomasson was moved from his traditional attacking midfield position to that of striker. He struggled to adapt to his new position on the field, and to the English game, due to his lack of physical strength.[3][4] He scored only four goals in 35 appearances in all competitions, as Newcastle slumped to 13th place during the 1997–98 season after having finished second the previous year.

He returned to the Eredivisie in July 1998, where he joined Feyenoord, once again as an attacking midfielder.[4] The club won the Eredivisie championship for the 1998–99 season, and the Dutch Super Cup. Although Feyenoord did not manage to repeat as champions in the following years, they still performed well enough to capture third place in 1999–00, second place in 2000–01, and third place again in 2001–02. In each of these seasons, Tomasson managed to score a high number of goals, and had the honour of being top scorer of Feyenoord in 2000–01 with a tally of 15 Eredivisie goals. This was followed by 17 Eredivisie goals in 2001–02, when he formed a partnership with teammate Pierre van Hooijdonk, who managed to become top scorer of the Eredivisie with 24 goals.

In 2002, Tomasson was an integral player in the Feyenoord team, that won its first international trophy in 26 years, when the club triumphed in the 2001–02 UEFA Cup tournament. He scored a total of four goals in the tournament, and most importantly also had a great collaboration on the field with towering striker Pierre van Hooijdonk. During the tournament, they defeated SC Freiburg, Rangers F.C., PSV Eindhoven and Internazionale Milano before meeting German team Borussia Dortmund in the final. Tomasson scored the goal to 3–1, in a game that ended 3–2 to Feyenoord, and he was subsequently voted man of the match.[5] In summer 2002, Tomasson's contract with Feyenoord was expiring, and after their UEFA Cup victory, he agreed a move to Italy on a free transfer, to play for Serie A club A.C. Milan.

The 2002–03 season, Tomasson's first at Milan, saw them winning the Italian Cup. Tomasson was most often used as a late substitute, but did manage to score three goals in the UEFA Champions League; and thereby also held his share of the trophy, when Milan won the prestigious tournament in May 2003. During the 2003–04 season, Tomasson was given more playing time and managed to score 12 Serie A goals in a title-winning campaign. In August 2004, he was also a part of the Milan team that won the Italian Super Cup, with a 3–0 victory against the Coppa Italia champions Lazio.

For the next 2004–05 season, he struggled to secure a regular starting place in the line-up of Milan. He was once again in the role of substitute, and therefore also scored fewer goals compared to the previous season. At the 2005 UEFA Champions League Final against Liverpool, he was again used by Milan as a late substitute, and when the final had to be decided in penalty shootout, he was selected to kick. Tomasson scored on his attempt, but Milan lost as Serginho, Andrea Pirlo and Andriy Shevchenko missed their shots. When striker Christian Vieri joined the club in July 2005, Tomasson was deemed as potential surplus, and he therefore agreed with Milan to be placed at their transfer list.

Years later, prior to the 2010–11 UEFA Champions League round of 16 match between Chelsea FC and FC Copenhagen former Milan manager Carlo Ancelotti, now manager of Chelsea, was asked about his view on Danish footballers: "Above all the Danish work ethic surprised me, their special ability to give everything in training. These were very professional and skilled players. The one who performed best and showed the most continuity, was Jon Dahl Tomasson, who always had to fight for playing time against world class strikers. He never had an easy time, but he never gave up and tried to take every chance he got".[6]

In July 2005, the German Bundesliga club Stuttgart paid a transfer fee to Milan at 7.5 million euro, in order to sign a new four-year contract with Tomasson.[7] At Stuttgart, Tomasson joined fellow Danish national team player Jesper Grønkjær, but the upcoming 2005–06 season was not successful for either of them. Even though Tomasson managed to become the top scorer of Stuttgart with a tally of eight Bundesliga goals, the team struggled throughout the season to create enough chances and goals,[8] and as a consequence Stuttgart only finished in ninth position of the Bundesliga. After the season, Grønkjær left the club, while Tomasson was linked with a switch to English club Birmingham City. By the end of the transfer window in August 2006, he however decided to stay at Stuttgart, as he believed in a better 2006–07 season for the club. Indeed, the upcoming year would reveal Stuttgart as new champions of the Bundesliga. But unfortunately for Tomasson, an injuries kept him out for several games in the first half of the season.

On 24 January 2007, Tomasson was loaned to Villarreal in the Spanish Primera División championship, to cover the place of the injured striker Nihat Kahveci, for the remaining part of the 2006–07 season.[9] When he made his Villarreal debut, in a game against Real Madrid,[10] Tomasson became only the fifth player to have played in the Premier League, Serie A, Bundesliga and Primera División. This rare achievement had previously only been made by the four players: Florin Răducioiu, Gheorghe Popescu, Abel Xavier and Pierre Womé.[11]

His loan contract expired on 1 July 2007, but also featured a buy option for Villarreal. The club had been satisfied with the performance of Tomasson in the past six months, so they decided within just a few days to pay Stuttgart the second half of a total transfer fee at 1.0 million euro in order to sign a new two-year contract with Tomasson.[12] In the first match of the 2007–08 La Liga season, Tomasson scored in Villareal's 3–0 victory against Valencia. However Tomasson mostly played the club's UEFA cup games in 2007–08, where he managed to prove his value as an efficient striker, by scoring a total of five goals in eight games. The season ended as the best ever for Villarreal, as the club managed to achieve a runner up position in La Liga. But on a personal level, Tomasson of course had a disappointing season, due to the lack of playing time and few goals scored.

As a result of his disappointing season at Villarreal, he agreed with the club in June 2008, to search the market for a possible transfer. The Spanish sportspaper Marca immediately linked him together with Dutch side Feyenoord. This was at first denied by Tomasson as pure speculation.[13] The speculations, however soon turned out to be true. In July 2008, he left Villarreal on a free transfer, and returned to Feyenoord on a new three-year contract.[14] Here he got off to a great start with four goals in three games. But unfortunately this was followed by a long time injury from the end of September until the end of January. And because of that, he could only play a total of 14 games for Feyenoord in 2008–09.

Tomasson training with Feyenoord, August 2008

In the next 2009–10 season, he again had to battle with a couple of injuries. But during the season he was still able to play another 28 games for Feyenoord, where he scored a total of 12 goals, and thereby qualified to become the top scorer of Feyenoord. With his good performance on the field, he helped Feyenoord to achieve a fourth place in the Eredivisie, and qualify the club to play the final in the Dutch cup. The final was played as a double match, and clearly lost with a total score of 6–1 to Ajax, but Tomasson left a mark of his name in the history books, by scoring the one and only goal for Feyenoord. During the World Championships 2010, he was unfortunately hit by another serious injury, that spoiled his first half of the 2010–11 season for Feyenoord.[15] According to the medical staff at Feyenoord, the injury was a lot worse than original thought. When they tried to get him ready for a game at 15 August, the injury had not entirely healed; and after a too hard training session, it therefore reappeared at its previous strength. Based upon further examination of the injury, the coach now feared that Tomasson only would be ready to play his first game of the season in January 2011.[16]

Complete statistic of all games played in the senior career.[23][24][25][26][27]

As of 18 October 2010

Other important games (not included in the box above):
1999 – Dutch Super Cup (with Feyenoord): 1 game, 1 goal
2003 – Intercontinental Cup (with AC Milan): 1 game, 1 goal.
2004 – Italian Super Cup (with AC Milan): 1 game, 0 goal.
2009 – Playoffs in Eredivisie for Europa League (with Feyenoord): 2 games, 1 goal.

Complete statistic of all games played for the Denmark National Football Team. From the first game at 29 March 1997 until the last game at 24 June 2010.[28]

Appearances by competition

National Football Team	EURO		World Cup		EURO qual.		WC qual.		Friendlies		Total
	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Denmark	7	3	6	5	24	19	31	10	44	15	112	52

Appearances by year

With 52 goals scored during his 112 A-level games for the Denmark national team, Tomasson now shares the all-time scoring record with Poul Nielsen.

All his scored goals are shown in the box below, with the Score and Result column listing Denmark's goal tally first.[28]

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	9 June 1999	Liverpool, England	Wales	1–0	2–0	UEFA Euro 2000 qualification
2	4 September 1999	Copenhagen, Denmark	Switzerland	2–1	2–1
3	8 September 1999	Napoli, Italy	Italy	3–2	3–2
4	13 November 1999	Tel Aviv, Israel	Israel	1–0	5–0
5				2–0
6	17 November 1999	Copenhagen, Denmark	Israel	3–0	3–0
7	29 March 2000	Leiria, Portugal	Portugal	1–0	1–2	Exhibition game
8	3 June 2000	Copenhagen, Denmark	Belgium	1–0	2–2	Exhibition game
9	2 September 2000	Reykjavík, Iceland	Iceland	1–1	2–1	2002 FIFA World Cup qualification
10	25 May 2001	Copenhagen, Denmark	Slovenia	2–0	3–0	Exhibition game
11	2 June 2001	Copenhagen, Denmark	Czech Republic	2–1	2–1	2002 FIFA World Cup qualification
12	5 September 2001	Sofia, Bulgaria	Bulgaria	1–0	2–0
13				2–0
14	17 April 2002	Copenhagen, Denmark	Israel	2–0	3–1	Exhibition game
15	17 May 2002	Copenhagen, Denmark	Cameroon	2–0	2–1	Exhibition game
16	1 June 2002	Ulsan, South Korea	Uruguay	1–0	2–1	2002 FIFA World Cup
17				2–1
18	6 June 2002	Daegu, South Korea	Senegal	1–0	1–1
19	11 June 2002	Incheon, South Korea	France	2–0	2–0
20	7 September 2002	Oslo, Norway	Norway	1–0	2–2	UEFA Euro 2004 qualification
21				2–1
22	12 October 2002	Copenhagen, Denmark	Luxembourg	1–0	2–0
23	20 November 2002	Copenhagen, Denmark	Poland	1–0	2–0	Exhibition game
24	12 February 2003	Cairo, Egypt	Egypt	2–1	4–1	Exhibition game
25	29 March 2003	Bucharest, Romania	Romania	3–2	5–2	UEFA Euro 2004 qualification
26	10 September 2003	Copenhagen, Denmark	Romania	1–0	2–2
27	16 November 2003	Manchester, England	England	3–2	3–2	Exhibition game
28	30 May 2004	Tallinn, Estonia	Estonia	1–0	2–2	Exhibition game
29	18 June 2004	Braga, Portugal	Bulgaria	1–0	2–0	UEFA Euro 2004
30	22 June 2004	Porto, Portugal	Sweden	1–0	2–2
31				2–1
32	9 October 2004	Tirana, Albania	Albania	2–0	2–0	2006 FIFA World Cup qualification
33	13 October 2004	Copenhagen, Denmark	Turkey	1–0	1–1
34	17 November 2004	Tbilisi, Georgia	Georgia	1–0	2–2
35				2–1
36	17 August 2005	Copenhagen, Denmark	England	2–0	4–1	Exhibition game
37	7 September 2005	Copenhagen, Denmark	Georgia	4–1	6–1	2006 FIFA World Cup qualification
38	12 October 2005	Almaty, Kazakhstan	Kazakhstan	2–0	2–1
39	27 May 2006	Aarhus, Denmark	Paraguay	1–1	1–1	Exhibition game
40	1 September 2006	Brøndby, Denmark	Portugal	1–0	4–2	Exhibition game
41	6 September 2006	Reykjavík, Iceland	Iceland	2–0	2–0	UEFA Euro 2008 qualification
42	11 October 2006	Vaduz, Liechtenstein	Liechtenstein	3–0	4–0
43				4–0
44	6 February 2007	London, England	Australia	1–0	3–1	Exhibition game
45				3–0
46	2 June 2007	Copenhagen, Denmark	Sweden	2–3	0–3 (a)	UEFA Euro 2008 qualification
47	12 September 2007	Aarhus, Denmark	Liechtenstein	3–0	4–0
48	13 October 2007	Aarhus, Denmark	Spain	1–2	1–3
49	17 October 2007	Copenhagen, Denmark	Latvia	1–0	3–1
50	21 November 2007	Copenhagen, Denmark	Iceland	2–0	3–0
51	6 February 2008	Celje, Slovenia	Slovenia	1–0	2–1	Exhibition game
52	24 June 2010	Rustenburg, South Africa	Japan	1–2	1–3	2010 FIFA World Cup

• (a): Match abandoned

Tomasson retired on 6 June 2011, and announced that he would be assistant coach at the Dutch club Excelsior.[29] Tomasson became the club's head coach at the beginning of the 2013–14 season, where he signed a contract for two seasons.[30] Roda fired their head coach Ruud Brood on 15 December,[31] and announced on 26 December 2013 that Tomasson had been signed as the new head coach.[32][33] He signed for three and a half years, starting on 3 January 2014.[32] In half of the season, which resulted in relegation for Roda JC Kerkrade, was sacked on 26 May 2014, being employed with the club only five months.[34]

On 19 June 2015, Tomasson was appointed as the new assistant manager of Vitesse Arnhem.[35]

On 7 March 2016, Tomasson was appointed as an assistant coach of Denmark. [36]

On 5 January 2020 Tomasson was appointed as the new manager of Swedish Allsvenskan side Malmö FF.[37] He led the team to the 2020 Allsvenskan title in his first season with the club, winning Malmö its 21st Swedish Championship.[38]

As of 6 December 2020

Feyenoord

• Eredivisie: 1998–99
• Johan Cruijff Shield: 1999
• UEFA Cup: 2001–02

A.C. Milan

• Serie A: 2003–04
• Coppa Italia: 2002–03
• Supercoppa Italiana: 2004
• UEFA Champions League: 2002–03

• 1994 Danish U19 Player of the Year
• 1996 Dutch Football Talent of the Year
• 2002 World Cup Bronze shoe (4 goals)
• 2002 Danish Player of the Year
• 2004 UEFA Euro All-Star Team
• 2004 Danish Player of the Year

Top-scorer titles

• 1994 top-scorer of the Danish 2nd Division (23 goals) and Køge BK (27 goals)
• 1995–96 top-scorer of SC Heerenveen (14 goals)
• 1996–97 top-scorer of SC Heerenveen (24 goals)
• 2000–01 top-scorer of Feyenoord (17 goals)
• 2005–06 top-scorer of VfB Stuttgart (11 goals)
• 2009–10 top-scorer of Feyenoord (12 goals)

Malmö FF

• Allsvenskan: 2020
• Allsvenskan Manager of the Year: 2020