Stephan Andersen
Encyclopedia
Stephan Maigaard Andersen (born November 26, 1981) is a Danish
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

 professional football
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

 player, who plays as a goalkeeper for Évian in the Ligue 1
Ligue 1
Ligue 1 , is the French professional league for association football clubs. It is the country's primary football competition and serves as the top division of the French football league system. Ligue 1 is one of two divisions making up the Ligue de Football Professionnel, the other being Ligue 2....

. Andersen is also playing for the Denmark national football team
Denmark national football team
The Denmark national football team represents Denmark in association football and is controlled by the Danish Football Association , the governing body for the football clubs which are organized under DBU...

 and was chosen to represent his country at the 2004 European Championship
2004 UEFA European Football Championship
The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, better known as Euro 2004, was the 12th European Football Championship, a quadrennial football tournament for European national teams. It was hosted in Portugal, for the first time, between 12 June and 4 July 2004, following its selection by UEFA, in...

 and 2010 FIFA World Cup
2010 FIFA World Cup
The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national association football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010...

.

Early years

Starting his career at the youth teams of Hvidovre IF
Hvidovre IF
Hvidovre IF is a Danish football club, founded on 15 October 1925 in Hvidovre.- Current squad :As of 2011-03-21...

, he moved youth setup of multiple Danish champions Brøndby IF
Brøndby IF
Brøndby IF is a Danish professional football club based in Brøndbyvester, Brøndby, on the western outskirts of Copenhagen and is the biggest football club in Denmark with almost 2000 members. The club is also known as Brøndbyernes Idrætsforening, or Brøndby and BIF for short...

. When he wasn't seen as a long-term prospect for the Brøndby goalkeeping position, he left Brøndby in the winter 1999, to rejoin Hvidovre. Andersen made his senior debut for Hvidovre IF
Hvidovre IF
Hvidovre IF is a Danish football club, founded on 15 October 1925 in Hvidovre.- Current squad :As of 2011-03-21...

 in the lower league Danish 1st Division
Danish 1st Division
The 1st Division has been the name of the second highest football league in Denmark since 1991. From 1945 to 1991 the 1st Division was the name of the highest level of football in Denmark...

, and was recognized as a big talent.

AB

In March 2002, Hvidovre owner, and professional goalkeeper, Peter Schmeichel
Peter Schmeichel
Peter Bolesław Schmeichel MBE is a retired Danish professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper, and was voted the "World's Best Goalkeeper" in 1992 and 1993...

 chose to end his engagement in the club. Hvidovre actively sought to off-load Andersen, one of only two professional players in the squad. He was initially wanted by a number of clubs in English football
Football in England
Association football is a national sport in England, where the first modern set of rules for the code were established in 1863, which were a major influence on the development of the modern Laws of the Game...

, including Schmeichel's club Aston Villa FC and Sunderland AFC, the club of Danish international goalkeeper Thomas Sørensen
Thomas Sørensen
Thomas Løvendahl Sørensen is a Danish professional football goalkeeper, who plays for Premier League club Stoke City. He has previously represented Premiership teams Sunderland and Aston Villa....

. Sunderland opted to buy Norwegian international
Norway national football team
The Norway national football team represents Norway in association football and is controlled by the Football Association of Norway, the governing body for football in Norway. Norway's home ground is Ullevaal Stadion in Oslo and their head coach is Egil Olsen...

 goalkeeper Thomas Myhre
Thomas Myhre
Thomas Myhre is a Norwegian international football goalkeeper. He currently plays for Kongsvinger, having returned to Norwegian football in July 2007...

 instead, and no other foreign offers materialized. Andersen moved to Akademisk Boldklub
Akademisk Boldklub
Akademisk Boldklub or AB is a Danish professional football club from Copenhagen,currently playing at the second highest level in Danish domestic football, the 1st Division.-History:...

 (AB) in the top-flight Danish Superliga
Danish Superliga
The Danish Superliga is the current Danish football championship tournament, and administered by the Danish Football Association. It is the highest association football league in Denmark and is currently contested by 12 teams each year, with 2 teams to be relegated, which proves to be one of the...

 championship in August 2002.

Charlton Athletic

He moved abroad to join English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 club Charlton Athletic
Charlton Athletic F.C.
Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, in the London Borough of Greenwich. They compete in Football League One, the third tier of English football. The club was founded on 9 June 1905, when a number of youth clubs in the southeast London area,...

 in a DKK 8 million transfer deal in June 2004. In his first season with the London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 club, he only made two first team appearances. Due to an injury sustained by first choice goalkeeper Dean Kiely
Dean Kiely
Dean Laurence Kiely is a former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He is currently goalkeeping coach at West Bromwich Albion. He has won 11 caps for the Republic of Ireland, but has more often than not been on the bench as their substitute goalkeeper...

, Andersen started the 2005–06 season
FA Premier League 2005-06
The 2005–06 season of the FA Premier League began on 13 August 2005, and concluded on 7 May 2006. The season saw Chelsea F.C retain their title after defeating Manchester United 3–0 at Stamford Bridge towards the end of April...

 in the team. Charlton's poor mid-season form saw him dropped in favour of Kiely at first, then Thomas Myhre, who established himself as first choice as Charlton turned their season around. Andersen was reinstated into the lineup for the last two games of the season, when Myhre suffered an injury. In the 2006 summer transfer window
Transfer window
The transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club can transfer players from other countries into their playing staff. Such a transfer is completed by registering the player into the new club through FIFA...

, Andersen looked ready to join Leeds United
Leeds United A.F.C.
Leeds United Association Football Club are an English professional association football club based in Beeston, Leeds, West Yorkshire, who play in the Football League Championship, the second tier of the English football league system...

 on a season-long loan deal
Loan (football)
In sports, a loan involves a particular player being allowed to temporarily play for a club other than the one he is currently contracted to. Loan deals may last from a few weeks to all season-long....

, but as Charlton insisted on a clause to allow the club to recall Andersen at any time during the season, the transfer fell through at the last moment. In the first half of the 2006–07 season
FA Premier League 2006-07
The 2006–07 FA Premier League was the fifteenth season of the FA Premier League since its establishment in 1992. The season started on 19 August 2006 and concluded on 13 May 2007....

, he saw the loaned-in Scott Carson
Scott Carson
Scott Paul Carson is an English footballer who plays for Bursaspor as a goalkeeper.He joined the Leeds United football academy in 2002, making his full first team debut for Leeds against Manchester United in February 2004...

 become Charlton's starting goalkeeper.

Brøndby IF

In November 2006, Andersen signed a transfer deal to move back to Denmark to play for Superliga side Brøndby IF
Brøndby IF
Brøndby IF is a Danish professional football club based in Brøndbyvester, Brøndby, on the western outskirts of Copenhagen and is the biggest football club in Denmark with almost 2000 members. The club is also known as Brøndbyernes Idrætsforening, or Brøndby and BIF for short...

 at the start of the January 2007 transfer window
Transfer window
The transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club can transfer players from other countries into their playing staff. Such a transfer is completed by registering the player into the new club through FIFA...

. He made some errors in his first time at the club, dropping against Odense Boldklub and Viborg FF
Viborg FF
Viborg FF is a Danish professional football club located in Viborg. The full name of the club is Viborg Fodsports Forening , but the name is frequently abbreviated as Viborg FF or VFF. The club was founded in 1896, but would have to wait more than a century before winning its only countrywide...

, but was kept in the starting line-up and eventually upped his game. He helped Brøndby win the 2008 Danish Cup
Danish Cup
The Danish Cup is the official "knockout" cup competition in Danish football, run by the Danish Football Association. The cup has been contested annually since 1955...

, and was named 2008 Danish Goalkeeper of the Year
Det Gyldne Bur
Det Gyldne Bur is an award given to the best goalkeeper in Danish football each year. The winner is found by votes among the goalkeepers in the two top divisions of Danish football; the Danish Superliga and Danish 1st Division. The award has been handed out by Danish sports paper TIPS-Bladet since...

.

Èvian

In August 2011 he joined former teammate Daniel Wass
Daniel Wass
Daniel Wass is a Danish football player who plays for French side Evian Thonon Gaillard F.C. on loan from Benfica. His natural role is as right defender, but Wass has also been used as right winger.-Youth career:...

 in Évian for a fee of DKK 2 million.

International career

He was called up for the Danish under-21 national team
Denmark national under-21 football team
The Denmark national under-21 football team has played since 1976 and is controlled by the Danish Football Association. Before 1976, the age limit was 23 years.-U-21 European Championship:*1978 – Quarterfinals*1980 to 1984 – Did not qualify...

 in June 2001, where he immediately displaced the two years older Rune Pedersen
Rune Pedersen (footballer)
Rune Pedersen is a Danish professional footballer who plays as goalkeeper for Lyngby Boldklub. He won two Danish Superliga championships with his first club F.C. Copenhagen, and has since played for Danish clubs Aarhus GF, Lyngby, and OB, as well as Italian club Modena F.C. and Nottingham Forest...

. While at AB, he reached 21 games for the Danish under-21 national team, and was the first goalkeeper to win a Danish talent award, when he was named 2003 Danish under-21 Talent of the Year.

Following strong displays for AB, Andersen made his Danish national team debut against Spain
Spain national football team
The Spain national football team represents Spain in international association football and is controlled by the Royal Spanish Football Federation, the governing body for football in Spain. The current head coach is Vicente del Bosque...

 in a March 2004 friendly match. It would be four-and-a-half years before he got his second cap. He was selected as a backup goalkeeper for the Danish national team squad at the 2004 European Championship, where Thomas Sørensen was preferred as the starting goalkeeper in every game. While playing for Brøndby, Andersen got his second cap in September 2008, and replaced the injured Thomas Sørensen for three games in the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification
2010 FIFA World Cup qualification
The qualification competition for the 2010 FIFA World Cup was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations. Each confederation — the AFC , CAF , CONCACAF , CONMEBOL , OFC , and UEFA — was allocated a certain number of the 32 places at the tournament...

. He was included in the Danish squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup
2010 FIFA World Cup
The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national association football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010...

 tournament.

Honours

  • Danish under-21 Talent of the Year: 2003
  • Danish Goalkeeper of the Year
    Det Gyldne Bur
    Det Gyldne Bur is an award given to the best goalkeeper in Danish football each year. The winner is found by votes among the goalkeepers in the two top divisions of Danish football; the Danish Superliga and Danish 1st Division. The award has been handed out by Danish sports paper TIPS-Bladet since...

    : 2008

External links

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