Søren Lerby (born 1 February 1958) is a Danish former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

player, manager, and licensed

agent Agent may refer to: Espionage, investigation, and law *, spies or intelligence officers * Law of agency, laws involving a person authorized to act on behalf of another ** Agent of record, a person with a contractual agreement with an insuranc ...

. As a player, he spent most of his career in

Dutch football Football is the most popular sport in the Netherlands. Football was introduced to the Netherlands by Pim Mulier in the 19th century when in 1879, at the age of 14, he founded Haarlemsche Football Club. Over the next 30 years, football gained ...

, winning five

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is ...

championships with

Ajax Amsterdam Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax (), also known as AFC Ajax, Ajax Amsterdam, or simply Ajax, is a Dutch professional football club based in Amsterdam, that plays in the , the top tier in Dutch football. Historically, Ajax (named after the l ...

and two with

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; en, Philips Sports Association ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional football department, w ...

. With the latter club, he also won the 1988

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

. He won two

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footb ...

titles with

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which pla ...

, and played one season for

AS Monaco Association Sportive de Monaco Football Club SA, commonly referred to as AS Monaco () or Monaco, is a professional football club based in Monaco that is member of French Football Federation (FFF) and competes in Ligue 1, the top tier of Frenc ...

in France. He played 67 matches for the

Denmark national football team The Denmark men's national football team ( da, Danmarks herre-fodboldlandshold or ''herrelandsholdet'') represents Denmark in men's international football competitions. It is controlled by the Danish Football Association (DBU), the governing ...

from 1978 to 1989, and represented Denmark at the

1986 FIFA World Cup The 1986 FIFA World Cup was the 13th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in Mexico from 31 May to 29 June 1986. The tournament was the second to feature a 24-team format. Colombia ha ...

and two European Championship tournaments. Currently, he is the agent of

Galatasaray Galatasaray Spor Kulübü (, ''Galatasaray Sports Club'') is a Turkish sports club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul in Turkey. Most notable for its association football department, the club also consists of various other de ...

winger Dries Mertens.

Playing style

A left-footed

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 ...

, Lerby was a player who was always committed and a leader of the team. He once played two competitive matches in two countries on a single day on 13 November 1985: first in the afternoon a World Cup qualifier with Denmark against the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. ...

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

, being substituted having helped to secure a solid lead, and later in the evening a

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considered ...

match with Bayern Munich against VfL Bochum, entering as a half-time replacement. Denmark qualified for the

, and Bayern went on to lift the cup. Lerby always played with his "socks down" – short socks or long socks rolled down but always without shin pads. This was quite uncommon and would be against the rules today.

Biography

Club career

Lerby was born in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan a ...

, the son of former Danish under-21 football international Kaj Lerby. Lerby played his youth football with local clubs

B 1903 Boldklubben 1903 or B 1903 is a football club founded on 2 June 1903, located in Copenhagen, Denmark. Seven times winner of the Danish championship (introduced 1913) in 1920, 1924, 1926, 1938, 1969, 1970 and 1976 and twice winner of the Danish ...

, Taastrup IK and

Fremad Amager Boldklubben Fremad Amager (meaning in English: The Ball Club Forward Amager ; abbreviated Fremad A) is a Danish professional football club based in the district of Amager Vest, Copenhagen. As of the 2020–21 season, the club's senior men's tea ...

. He got his senior debut with Fremad Amager, playing 13 games and scoring three goals in the top-flight 1975 1st Division season. He and Fremad Amager teammate

Frank Arnesen Frank Arnesen (born 30 September 1956) is a former Danish footballer and sporting director at Dutch football club Feyenoord. Arnesen was the Director of Football at English football clubs Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea, and was Sporting Director ...

moved abroad to become professional footballers in November 1975. They switched to the Dutch club

, when Lerby was only 17 years old. Lerby's first home game was a 4–1 against

Go Ahead Eagles Go Ahead Eagles () are a Dutch professional football club from the city of Deventer. They play in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football, having achieved promotion from the second tier Eerste Divisie in the 2020-21 season. The club's ho ...

on 11 April 1976. He won three Dutch

league titles in his first six years at Ajax, in the 1976–77, 1978–79, and 1979–80 seasons. In the summer of 1981 he was named

team captain In team sport, captain is a title given to a member of the team. The title is frequently honorary, but in some cases the captain may have significant responsibility for strategy and teamwork while the game is in progress on the field. In eithe ...

, succeeding newly departed Frank Arnesen. In the two seasons Lerby was captain, Ajax won a further two Dutch championships with high goal differences. He moved to Germany in 1983, replacing midfielder

Paul Breitner Paul Breitner (born 5 September 1951) is a German former professional footballer who played as a midfielder and left-back. Considered one of the best players of his era, Breitner was named in the FIFA World Cup All-Time Team, and was named by Pel ...

. He remained there for three years, winning two German

championships and two

cup trophies. His career continued for French team

from 1986 to 1987. Lerby moved back to the Netherlands in 1987 and was reunited with Frank Arnesen at Ajax' rivals PSV Eindhoven. He was a part of the 1988 European Cup winning PSV squad, also including fellow Danes

Jan Heintze Jan Heintze (born 17 August 1963) is a Danish former professional footballer who played as a left-sided defensive midfielder and defender. He ended his career in the Netherlands with PSV Eindhoven, where he was a part of the PSV team which won ...

and

Ivan Nielsen Ivan Nielsen (born 9 October 1956) is a Danish former professional football player, who most prominently played professionally for Dutch clubs Feyenoord Rotterdam and PSV Eindhoven, winning the European Cup with PSV. A central defender, he was ca ...

, though Frank Arnesen missed the final against S.L. Benfica because of injury. Lerby ended his active career in 1990.

International career

While a youth player with Taastrup IK, Lerby was called up for the Danish under-17 national team in October 1973. He debuted for the Danish under-19 national team in April 1974, and represented the team at the 1974 and 1975 European Under-19 Football Championships. He also played three games for the Danish under-21 national team. While at Ajax, he made his senior Danish national team debut against the

in May 1978, scoring one goal in the 3–3 draw. Lerby was selected for the Danish national team at the 1984 European Championship, where he played in all four of Denmark's matches, and scored a goal in the semi-final against

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

, which saw Denmark eliminated on

penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

. At the

he played in Denmark's four games, scoring in Denmark's 6–1 win against

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

. He was a part of the Danish squad for the 1988 European Championship.

Non-playing career

Between 9 October 1991 and 11 March 1992, he spent some time as coach with

, as successor of

Jupp Heynckes Josef "Jupp" Heynckes (; born 9 May 1945) is a German retired professional footballer and manager. The majority of his player career was as a striker for Borussia Mönchengladbach in its golden era of the 1960s and '70s, when they won many nati ...

. With a spell of undistinguished results, including a combined 6–3

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

elimination by his former club B 1903, Lerby effectively ended his managerial career and became a

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

-licensed sports agent (Essel Sports Managements).

Personal life

Lerby was married to Dutch singer and actress

Willeke Alberti Willeke Alberti (born 3 February 1945) (real name: Willy Albertina Verbrugge) is a Dutch singer and actress, the daughter of entertainer and singer Willy Alberti (1926–1985) and Hendrika Geertruida Kuiper (1921–2011). Biography Willeke Albe ...

from 1981 to 1996. He was later married for a second time, with Arlette van der Meulen. He now lives in Laren, Netherlands.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Ajax *

: 1976–77, 1978–79, 1979–80, 1981–82, 1982–83 *

KNVB Cup The KNVB Beker (; en, KNVB Cup), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organized by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. Ou ...

: 1978–79, 1982–83 Bayern Munich *

: 1984–85, 1985–86 *

: 1983–84, 1985–86 PSV * Eredivisie: 1987–88, 1988–89 * KNVB Cup: 1987–88 *

: 1987–88 Individual * European Cup top scorer: 1979–80

References

External links

Danish national team profile

Ajax ''Hall of Fame''
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lerby, Soren 1958 births Living people Danish men's footballers Danish football managers Taastrup FC players AFC Ajax players FC Bayern Munich footballers AS Monaco FC players PSV Eindhoven players Eredivisie players Bundesliga players Ligue 1 players Denmark international footballers Denmark under-21 international footballers Denmark youth international footballers UEFA Euro 1984 players 1986 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 1988 players FC Bayern Munich managers Bundesliga managers Danish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Danish expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate footballers in Germany Danish expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate footballers in Monaco Danish expatriate sportspeople in Monaco Expatriate footballers in France Danish expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate football managers in Germany Association football midfielders Footballers from Copenhagen Danish Superliga players UEFA Champions League winning players UEFA Champions League top scorers Fremad Amager players