Rikke Læntver Sevecke (born 15 June 1996) is a Danish former professional

football player 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 ...

who last played as a defender for the

Portland Thorns Portland Thorns FC is an American professional soccer team based in Portland, Oregon, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). Established in 2012, the team began play in 2013 in the then-eight-team NWSL, which received supp ...

in the

National Women's Soccer League The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a women's professional Association football, soccer league and the highest level of the United States soccer league system#Women's leagues, United States soccer league system (alongside the USL Supe ...

(NWSL). In 2016, she won her first

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

for the senior Denmark national team. In January 2024 she ended her career due to a heart disease.

Club career

Nykøbing Falster Nykøbing Falster (; originally named Nykøbing) is a city on the island of Falster in southern Denmark. It has a population of 16,682 (1 January 2025). Including the satellite town Sundby (Lolland), Sundby on the Lolland side, with a populatio ...

-born Sevecke began playing football as a three-year-old. She moved away from home to join Ballerup-Skovlunde Fodbold when she was 16 years old. After establishing herself as one of the best young defenders in the

Elitedivisionen The Danish Women's League () is a professional top-flight league for women's football in Denmark. It is organised by the Danish Football Association (DBU) as part of the nation-wide Danmarksturneringen i kvindefodbold (Kvinde-DM) and is placed a ...

, she became Per Nielsen's first signing for

Brøndby IF Brøndbyernes Idrætsforening (, usually abbreviated to Brøndby IF (), is a Danish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Brøndbyvester. Brøndby IF denotes the professional football section of Brøndbyernes ...

in January 2015. In January 2018 Sevecke returned to Brøndby after a six-month spell playing

college soccer College soccer, called college football in some countries, is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. While it is most widespread in the United States, it is also prominent in Japan, South Kore ...

for the University of Northwestern Ohio. She would ultimately win three Danish league titles (2014–2015, 2016–2017, 2018–2019) and three Danish Cups (2014–2015, 2016–2017, 2017–2018) for the club. Sevecke played for FC Fleury 91 in France in the 2019-2020 season, before signing with Everton in the

Women's Super League The Women's Super League (WSL), also known as the Barclays Women's Super League for sponsorship reasons, and formerly the FA WSL, is a professional association football league and the highest level of women's football in England. Currently oper ...

in summer 2020. She appeared in 52 games (45 starts) for Everton across three WSL seasons, mostly at centerback, while notching two goals and one assist. In May 2023, the club announced she would leave at the end of her contract. In September 2023, Sevecke joined

Portland Thorns FC Portland Thorns FC is an American professional Association football, soccer team based in Portland, Oregon, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). Established in 2012, the team began play in 2013 in the then-eight-team NWSL ...

in the NWSL for the remainder of the 2023 season, with a club option for the 2024 season. She did not feature in any of the club's four remaining games that season. On November 20, 2023, Portland announced that Sevecke would not be returning for the 2024 season.

International career

Sevecke appeared 25 times for the Denmark women's national under-19 football team, including at the

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

and

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

editions of the

UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship The UEFA European Women's Under-19 Championship or simply UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship, is an annual competition in women's football for European national teams of players under 19 years of age. National under-19 teams whose countries belon ...

. She made her senior international debut for

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

at the 2016 Algarve Cup, in a 4–1 defeat by

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

International goals

:''Scores and results list Denmark's goal tally first.

Awards

Individual

* WHAC Newcomer of the Year: 2017 * NAIA First Team All-American: 2017 NAIA Archive
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References

External links

* *
Profile
at University of Northwestern Ohio 1996 births Living people Footballers from Nykøbing Falster Danish women's footballers Women's association football defenders Brøndby IF (women) players Danish Women's League players University of Northwestern Ohio alumni College women's soccer players in the United States Denmark women's international footballers Danish expatriate women's footballers Danish expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate women's soccer players in the United States Ballerup-Skovlunde Fodbold (women) players Women's Super League players Danish expatriate sportspeople in France Première Ligue players Expatriate women's footballers in France Everton F.C. (women) players Danish expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate women's footballers in England FC Fleury 91 (women) players UEFA Women's Euro 2022 players 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup players 21st-century Danish sportswomen {{Denmark-women-footy-bio-stub