Jákup Nolsøe Mikkelsen (born 14 August 1970) is a Faroese former

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 ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

. He made 522 league appearances in representing six clubs in a career spanning 25 years, also representing his country at international level. A regular member of the Faroe Islands national team between 1995 and 2013, Mikkelsen won 73 caps, and in playing against

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

on 16 August 2012 aged 42 years and one day, became the oldest goalkeeper ever to play an international match, the record that has since been surpassed by Colombian Faryd Mondragon. Mikkelsen is a schoolteacher and goalkeeping coach for the Faroe Islands national team. He also sat in the city council of this native town of

Klaksvík Klaksvík is the second largest town of the Faroe Islands behind Tórshavn. The town is located on Borðoy, which is one of the northernmost islands (the Norðoyar). It is the administrative centre of Klaksvík municipality. History The first ...

for one election period. In his youth, he worked as a postman in Klaksvík.

Club career

Born in

, Mikkelsen started at KÍ Klaksvík, where he sometimes was used as an outfield player, before moving abroad to play for several years in Denmark and Norway. In the 1999–2000 season, he only missed 2 games in

Herfølge BK Herfølge is a suburb of the town of Køge, Denmark, located about 5 kilometers south of Køge, and is a part of Køge Municipality. The suburb is connected to Køge and Næstved by the Lille Syd railway line. Residential areas Holmebækhus ...

's title winning season, hence becoming the first ever Faroese to win a league championship in any other country than Faroes and he played both games against Rangers in their 2000–01 Champions League qualifying round and four more games in the UEFA Cup that season. He played 136 matches for

. After playing for Herfølge for five years Mikkelsen and his team won the Danish Championship. After a short spell at Scottish side Partick Thistle he returned to the Faroe Islands. In early 2010 Mikkelsen signed a deal with Faroese football club ÍF Fuglafjørður. Having made 118 league appearances for the club, Mikkelsen retired from playing football in November 2014 aged 44, stating that his advanced age had made it impossible for him to continue. In 2016, Mikkelsen made a brief return to playing with ÍF, keeping a clean sheet in a 2–0 win at

B68 Toftir B68 Toftir is a Faroese football club, playing in the village of Toftir in Betri deildin. History After being promoted to the 1. deild (now called Effodeildin) in 1980, they won the league 3 times: in 1984, 1985, and 1992. In 2004 they were ...

on 18 September, and appeared on the substitutes' bench on a further five occasions.

International career

He was a part of the squad as a reserve goalkeeper already as 18 years old in the summer of 1988, when

Faroes The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway betw ...

played their very first international game after becoming full members of FIFA, losing 1–0 to

Akranes Akranes () is a port town and municipality on the west coast of Iceland, around north of the capital Reykjavík. The area where Akranes is located was settled in the 9th century; however, it did not receive a municipal charter until 1942. His ...

. However, Mikkelsen only made his debut for the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway bet ...

in July 1995 friendly match against

and has since earned 72 caps. He was on the bench as early as in August 1988, when the Faroes played their first match since becoming a member of FIFA, in a friendly against Iceland in Akranes. Although having retired after the

2010 World Cup qualification Qualifying for the 2010 FIFA World Cup was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations. Each confederation — the AFC (Asia), CAF (Africa), CONCACAF (North, Central America and Caribbean), CONMEBOL (South America), OFC (Ocea ...

, he was called up out of retirement for the Euro 2012 qualifying matches against

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

and

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

in October 2010, because of an injury to Gunnar Nielsen.Sportal.fo
Jákup Mikkelsen verjir føroyska málið! (''in Faroese'')

Honours

Individual * Effodeildin Best Goalkeeper: 2012 * Effodeildin Team of the Season: 2012

References

External links

*
Jákup Mikkelsen
at Footballdatabase {{DEFAULTSORT:Mikkelsen, Jakup 1970 births Living people Association football goalkeepers Faroese footballers Faroe Islands international footballers Herfølge Boldklub players Molde FK players Partick Thistle F.C. players Faroese expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Norway Expatriate footballers in Scotland Danish Superliga players Eliteserien players Scottish Premier League players KÍ Klaksvík players B36 Tórshavn players Faroese expatriate sportspeople in Norway Faroese expatriate sportspeople in Scotland ÍF Fuglafjørður players People from Klaksvík