Thomas Augustinussen (born March 20, 1981) is a retired

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

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 ...

. He began his career as a striker, but moved gradually into the

holding midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

position. He made his senior debut with AaB, with whom he played 420 games and won the 2008 and 2014

Danish Superliga The Danish Superliga ( da, Superligaen, ) is the current Danish football championship tournament, and administered by the Danish Football Association. It is the highest football league in Denmark and is currently contested by 12 teams each ye ...

championship. He retired in the Summer of 2016 and became assistant coach in AaB. He has been capped twice for the Denmark national football team.

Club career

Augustinussen started his career with AaB. Due to his height of 192 cm and good speed, Augustinussen played his first years as a striker. He made his

debut for AaB in April 2000. He was a successful striker in his youth years, but had difficulty finding his goalscoring form as a senior. As he only managed to score 11 goals in his first three-and-a-half years as a senior, Augustinussen was stamped by a media pundit as being "not the fastest moped on the dockside" ("''ikke den hurtigste knallert på havnen''") in August 2003, and did not look like cutting it at the highest sporting level of

Danish football Association football is the most popular sport in Denmark, with 331,693 players and 1,647 clubs registered () under the Danish FA. The game was introduced into Denmark by British sailors. Kjøbenhavns Boldklub is the oldest club outside of the U ...

. However, Augustinussen was moved back to the centre midfield by new AaB coach Erik Hamren, where he established himself as a consistent part of the starting line-up.Bjarne Nielsen, "Der er knald på Augu",

Ekstra Bladet ''Ekstra Bladet'' is a Danish tabloid newspaper, published by JP/Politikens Hus in Copenhagen.About
(in Danish) ''E ...

, March 19, 2005 He suffered a knee injury in October 2006, but returned to the AaB side in August 2007, and helped the team win the 2007–08 Superliga championship. He was named team captain from the beginning of the 2008–09 season, and led AaB in the 2008-09 UEFA Champions League tournament. In total, he played 283 games and scored 36 goals for AaB, including 223 games and 29 goals in the Superliga until May 2009. In April 2009, he signed a three-year contract with

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n club FC Red Bull Salzburg, effective from July 2009. After one-and-a-half year in Salzburg, Augustinussen was released from Salzburg of his own will. On 30 January 2011 AaB announced that they had signed Augustinussen on a three-year contract. Three years later in the 2013-14 Danish Superliga season, Augustinussen and AaB won "The Double". It was the first time ever, that the club won the league and captured the

Danish Cup The Danish Cup ( da, Landspokalturneringen; often referred to as Pokalen) is the official "knockout" cup competition in Danish football, run by the Danish Football Association. The cup has been contested annually since 1955. The winner will quali ...

as well. Augustinussen was captain in the historical season.

Coaching career

AaB

On March 17, 2016, it was announced, that Augustinussen would retire in the summer of 2016. He would continue in AaB as assistant coach.

International career

Augustinussen started his international career with the Under-19 national selection. He was capped 20 times for the Danish under-21 national team, with five goals the result. In June 2008, he made his debut for the senior Denmark national football team in a

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

1–1 draw with

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

, coming on as a substitute to replace

Christian Poulsen Christian Bjørnshøj Poulsen (born 28 February 1980) is a Danish former footballer. After starting his career with Holbæk, he played for a number of European clubs as a defensive midfielder, winning the Danish Superliga championship with F. ...

in the 77th minute. He played his second national team game in June 2009, replacing Christian Poulsen in the 71st minute of 1–0 win against Sweden in the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification tournament.

Honours

Playing career

;AaB *

(2) 2007–08, 2013–14 *

(1) 2013–14 ;Red Bull Salzburg * Austrian Football Bundesliga (1) 2009–10

Individual

* Danish Cup Fighter of the year ''(årets pokalfighter)'' (1) 2009

References

External links

Danish national team profileAaB profileDanish Superliga statisticsGuardian Football Teams
{{DEFAULTSORT:Augustinussen, Thomas 1981 births Living people Danish men's footballers Denmark international footballers Denmark under-21 international footballers Denmark youth international footballers Danish expatriate men's footballers AaB Fodbold players FC Red Bull Salzburg players Danish Superliga players Austrian Football Bundesliga players Expatriate footballers in Austria Association football midfielders People from Svendborg Sportspeople from the Region of Southern Denmark