Thomas Gaardsøe

Thomas Gaardsøe Christensen (born 23 November 1979) is a Danish former professional footballer.

Thomas Gaardsøe
Personal information
Full name Thomas Gaardsøe Christensen
Date of birth (1979-11-23) 23 November 1979
Place of birth Gassum, Denmark
Height 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)[1]
Position(s) Centre back
Youth career
Purhus IF
Randers Freja
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1997–2001 AaB 92 (6)
2001–2003 Ipswich Town 41 (5)
2003–2006 West Bromwich Albion 81 (4)
2009 AaB 6 (0)
2010–2012 Esbjerg 22 (0)
Total 242 (15)
National team
1998 Denmark U19 2 (0)
1998–2001 Denmark U21 10 (1)
2003–2004 Denmark 2 (1)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Gaardsøe most notably won the 1999 Danish Superliga with Aalborg Boldspilklub, and played abroad for English clubs Ipswich Town and West Bromwich Albion. He played two matches and scored a single goal for the Danish national team.

Club career

Early career

Son of former Randers Freja player Per Gaardsøe, Thomas Gaardsøe played his youth football at Freja. His name first caught the headlines when he was a part of the winning team in the 1994 and 1995 editions of the Danish nationwide school football tournament, scoring in both finals.

AaB

He moved to Aalborg Boldspilklub (AaB) in the Danish Superliga championship, and made his senior debut in June 1997. Despite occasional good performances, he had a hard time forcing his way into the AaB starting line-up in his role as central midfielder. He made his AaB breakthrough in spring 2001, as a replacement for the injured central defender Torben Boye. He impressed in his new role at AaB, as he was once more called up for the under-21 national team.

Ipswich Town

In the summer 2001, he was sold to English club Ipswich Town in the FA Premier League championship in a transfer deal worth £1.3 million. He did not play much in his first season, but managed to score his first goal for Ipswich against Sunderland in December 2001. After his first season at the club, Ipswich suffered relegation into the English First Division. In the First Division, Gaardsøe became an important member for the squad, scoring six goals in all competitions of the 2002–2003 season.

West Bromwich Albion

He was sold in the summer of 2003, to First Division rivals West Bromwich Albion, and his first appearance came in a 4–0 thrashing of Brentford in the Football League Cup in August 2003. He scored his first goal for Albion in a 4–1 victory over his former club Ipswich, on 13 September 2003 and went on to be an ever-present in Albion's promotion winning team. He was named "Player of the Year" by the supporters who, in turn, dressed up as Vikings in his honour for the away match at Reading on 1 May 2004.[2]

Most of Gaardsøe's 2005–2006 season was hampered by a serious groin injury, which originated in a pre-match warm-up before an April 2005 game against Manchester United. He only played seven league games in a season which ended in Albion's relegation to the First Division. In the beginning of the 2006–2007 season, the continued injury problems made him consider a premature retirement from football. On 19 December 2006 Gaardsøe announced his retirement from the game, having been unable to regain full fitness from the groin operation in the summer.[3]

Return to football

Two and a half year later he returned to football after having fully recovered from his injury. This time he signed for his childhood club Aalborg BK.[4] However, Gaardsøe has not succeeded in establishing himself in the AaB squad and in order to find regular first team football, he has signed a contract with Danish superliga rivals Esbjerg from January 2010.

After his contract ended with Esbjerg fB in the summer of 2012, he searched for a new club. After two months, on 29 August 2012, Gaardsøe retired from football, being unable to find a new club.

International career

Gaardsøe gained his first international experience in 1998, playing two games for the Danish under-19 national team. He also won 10 caps for the Danish under-21 national team between 1998 and 2001, scoring once.

He won his first international cap in November 2003, coming on as a substitute in Denmark's 3–2 victory over England. He scored his first national team goal in his second match, a 5–1 win against Poland in August 2004.[5]

Career statistics
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National Cup League Cup Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
AaB 1996–97 Danish Superliga 1000—0010
1997–98 Danish Superliga 6100—0061
1998–99 Danish Superliga 17200——172
1999–00 Danish Superliga 18200—00182
2000–01 Danish Superliga 20000—00200
2001–02 Danish Superliga 4000—0040
Total 665000000665
Ipswich Town 2001–02[6] Premier League 4100101[lower-alpha 1]061
2002–03[7] First Division 37411213[lower-alpha 1]0436
Total 415113140497
West Bromwich Albion 2003–04[8] First Division 4541050—514
2004–05[9] Premier League 2901010—310
2005–06[10] Premier League 700020—90
Total 814208000914
AaB 2009–10 Danish Superliga 6000—0060
Esbjerg 2009–10 Danish Superliga 12000—00120
2010–11 Danish Superliga 10000—00100
Total 220000000220
Career total 21614311114023416
  1. Appearance(s) in UEFA Cup

International
Source:[5]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National teamYearAppsGoals
Denmark200310
200411
Total21

International goals

Denmark score listed first, score column indicates score after each Gaardsøe goal.

International goals by date, venue, cap, opponent, score, result and competition
No. Date Venue Cap Opponent Score Result Competition Ref
1 18 August 2004Stadion Miejski, Poznań, Poland2 Poland3–05–1Friendly [5]

Honours

AaB

West Bromwich Albion

Individual

References
  1. "Thomas Gaardsøe at Soccerbase". Soccerbase. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
  2. "Gaardsoe hails fans". West Bromwich Albion F.C. 2004-05-11. Archived from the original on 2009-01-13. Retrieved 2007-11-12.
  3. "Baggies defender Gaardsoe retires". BBC Sport. 2006-12-19. Retrieved 2007-11-12.
  4. "Gaardsøe klar til sensationelt comeback". Bold.dk. 2009-05-29. Retrieved 2009-06-20.
  5. Thomas Gaardsøe at National-Football-Teams.com
  6. "Games played by Thomas Gaardsøe in 2001/2002". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
  7. "Games played by Thomas Gaardsøe in 2002/2003". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
  8. "Games played by Thomas Gaardsøe in 2003/2004". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
  9. "Games played by Thomas Gaardsøe in 2004/2005". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
  10. "Games played by Thomas Gaardsøe in 2005/2006". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
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