Per Billeskov Krøldrup (; born 31 July 1979) is a Danish former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a defender. He has played 33 games for the Denmark national team, and was part of their squad for the 2004 European Championship.

Club career

Early career

Born in

Farsø Farsø is a town with a population of 3,352 (1 January 2025) in Region Nordjylland in Denmark in the Vesthimmerland Municipality. Farsø was the birthplace of Johannes Vilhelm Jensen, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1944. The village ...

, Krøldrup started his footballing career at Danish lower league clubs Farsø/Ullits IK and Aalborg Chang. He then went on to play for

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

-based B.93 in the second-tier

Danish 1st Division The 1st Division (''1. Division'') is the second-highest football league in Denmark, also known as NordicBet Liga for sponsorship reasons. From 1945 to 1991, the 1. Division was the name of the highest level of football in Denmark. With the for ...

before transferring to Udinese in the Italian top-flight

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

championship in 2001. In his final season at the club, they finished fourth and qualified for the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

Everton

In June 2005, Krøldrup moved from Udinese to English club Everton on a four-year deal for a

transfer fee In professional football, a transfer is the action taken whenever a player under contract moves between clubs. It refers to the transferring of a player's registration from one association football club to another. In general, the players can onl ...

of £5million.Per Krøldrup – Defender
ToffeeWeb.com Before having played a single game for the club, he suffered a groin injury and had to undergo surgery. He made his debut for Everton on 26 December 2005 in a 4-0 defeat to Aston Villa, which was to be his only league game for the club. His Everton career was later described as one of the worst transfers in the history of the club and English football, and Krøldrup has stated his difficulties of adapting to the physical aspects of the English game.

Fiorentina

Krøldrup transferred back to Italy on 19 January 2006, when he joined

ACF Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Florence, Tuscany. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while ...

, 31 days after his Everton debut. Following the 2006 Serie A scandal, where several clubs were on trial for

match fixing In organized sports, match fixing (also known as game fixing, race fixing, throwing, rigging, hippodroming, or more generally sports fixing) is the act of playing or officiating a contest with the intention of achieving a predetermined result, v ...

, Fiorentina were initially

relegated Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

Serie B The Serie B (), officially known as Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had b ...

in July 2006. Krøldrup was amongst the players wanting to leave. However, as Fiorentina made an appeal to the

Italian Football Federation The Italian Football Federation (, ; FIGC ), known colloquially as (), is the governing body of football in Italy. It is based in Rome and Centro Tecnico Federale di Coverciano, the technical department is in Coverciano, Florence. It manages a ...

, the club remained in Serie A and most of their players, including Krøldrup, remained with the

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

club. He made his Champions League debut on 12 August 2008 against Slavia Prague, a 2–0 win for ''La Viola''. Krøldrup's contract with Fiorentina was set to expire in June 2010, but on 17 May 2010 he signed a new deal that expired in 2012.

Pescara and Olhanense

On 8 March 2013, Krøldrup signed a short-term contract with Serie A club Delfino Pescara 1936 for the rest of the 2012–13 season. After a Summer as a free agent, he signed for Olhanense of the Portuguese

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (), also known as Liga Portugal Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Portugal and the highest level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga ...

on 1 October 2013.

International career

At Udinese, Krøldrup played alongside Danish national team player Martin Jørgensen, who claimed that Krøldrup was ready for the Danish national team in March 2002. Kurt Lassen, "Thomas Helveg melder afbud til testkamp", ''

Berlingske Tidende ''Berlingske'', previously known as ''Berlingske Tidende'' (, 'Berling's Times'), is a Danish national daily newspaper based in Copenhagen. It is considered a newspaper of record for Denmark. First published on 3 January 1749, ''Berlingske'' is ...

'', 19 March 2002 Krøldrup was not called up for the national team until February 2004, making his debut against

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

.Per Krøldrup – Alle hold (Alle kampe)
/ref> He was a part of the Danish squad for the 2004 European Championship, though he did not play any games at the tournament.

References

External links

ACF Fiorentina official site
English Viola
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kroldrup, Per 1979 births Living people People from Vesthimmerland Municipality Danish men's footballers Denmark men's international footballers Boldklubben af 1893 players Udinese Calcio players Everton F.C. players ACF Fiorentina players Delfino Pescara 1936 players S.C. Olhanense players Aalborg Chang players UEFA Euro 2004 players Serie A players Premier League players Primeira Liga players Danish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Danish expatriate sportspeople in Portugal 2010 FIFA World Cup players Men's association football defenders Footballers from the North Jutland Region Danish expatriate sportspeople in Italy Danish expatriate sportspeople in England