Andreas Bjelland (born 11 July 1988) is a retired Danish-Norwegian 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

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

for a number of clubs in Denmark, the Netherlands and England. He is currently assistant head coach at

Lyngby Kongens Lyngby (, Danish language, Danish for "the King's Heather Town"; short form Lyngby) is the seat and commercial centre of Lyngby-Taarbæk Municipality in the northern suburbs of Copenhagen, Denmark. Lyngby Hovedgade is a busy shopping stre ...

. Bjelland began his professional career in his homeland with Lyngby and established himself in the top division of Danish football with

FC Nordsjælland Football Club Nordsjælland, commonly known as FC Nordsjælland, Nordsjælland () or FCN, is a professional Danish association football, football team from the North Zealand town of Farum. Founded as ''Farum Boldklub'' from the merger of the to ...

. He played in the Netherlands and England for

FC Twente Football Club Twente (), sometimes known internationally as FC Twente Enschede, is a Dutch professional Association football, football club from the city of Enschede. The club was formed in 1965 by the merger of 1926 Dutch champions Sportclub E ...

and

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...

between 2011 and 2018, Bjelland returned to Denmark to play for

F.C. Copenhagen Football Club Copenhagen (, ), commonly known as F.C. København, F.C. Copenhagen, Copenhagen, or simply FCK, is a Danish professional football club based in Copenhagen. FCK was founded in 1992 as a superstructure on top of Kjøbenhavns Boldklub ...

in 2018 and he ended his playing career with Lyngby in 2025. Bjelland represented

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 international level and was part of the Danes'

Euro 2012 The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2012 or simply Euro 2012, was the 14th European Championship for men's national football teams organised by UEFA. The final tournament, held between 8 June and 1 ...

squad. He was also adept as a full back or

defensive midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

Club career

Lyngby

centre back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

, Bjelland began his career in his

homeland A homeland is a place where a national or ethnic identity has formed. The definition can also mean simply one's country of birth. When used as a proper noun, the Homeland, as well as its equivalents in other languages, often has ethnic natio ...

with Fredensborg BI and BSV, before moving into the youth system at

Superliga Superliga (''super league'') may refer to: Sports Superliga can refer to different sports leagues: Association football *Albanian Superliga, the Albanian top-flight men's division * Argentine Superliga, the Argentine top-flight men's division *D ...

club

in 2001. Financial problems at the stricken club saw the Royal Blues relegated to the

Danmarksserien The Denmark Series () is the fifth tier in the Danish football league system. Teams are divided into four groups of ten. The top team in each following promotion group is promoted to the Danish 3rd Division. The bottom three teams in each group ...

, but by the time Bjelland made his senior debut in September 2006, they had risen back to the 1st Division. He made 9 appearances during the 2006–07 and after promotion to the Superliga, he made 11 appearances in 2007–08. After an immediate relegation back to the 1st Division, Bjelland finally broke into the team and during the 2008–09 season made 24 appearances and scored one goal. After five early- 2009–10 season appearances, Bjelland departed Lyngby on 31 August 2009. He made 47 appearances and scored one goal for the club.

FC Nordsjælland

Bjelland returned to the Superliga to sign for

on 31 August 2009. He quickly established himself in the team and made 26 appearances, scoring one goal. His season was capped by success in the DBU Pokalen, with Nordsjælland beating

Midtjylland The Central Denmark Region (), or more directly translated as the Central Jutland Region and sometimes simply Mid-Jutland, is an administrative region of Denmark established on 1 January 2007 as part of the 2007 Danish municipal reform. The refo ...

2–0 in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

after extra time Overtime (OT) or extra time (ET) is an additional period of play to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a Tie (draw), tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only if the game is ...

. Bjelland had another successful season in

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

, being named

vice-captain Vice-captain, alternate captain (ice hockey) or vice-skip (curling) may refer to a role in a number of sports immediately below the role of captain. The vice-captain may have a number of different roles, including substituting as captain when the re ...

and again winning the DBU Pokalen at the expense of Midtjylland. He made 29 appearances and scored one goal in a 2011–12 season which saw Nordsjælland win the Superliga title for the first time in the club's history. Bjelland departed the club in June 2012, after making 85 appearances and scoring three goals during three seasons at

Farum Park Right to Dream Park, historically known as Farum Park, is a football stadium in Farum, Denmark. It is the home ground of FC Nordsjælland and Hillerød Fodbold. The stadium has a capacity of 10,300 of which 9,800 are seated. Farum Park is the f ...

FC Twente

On 6 November 2011, it was announced that Bjelland had signed a four-year contract (with the option of a further year) with

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; "Honour Division" or "Premier Division") is a professional association football league in the Netherlands and the highest level of the Dutch football league system. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start o ...

club

, effective from the beginning of the

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

season. He had a debut season to forget at

De Grolsch Veste De Grolsch Veste (; ), previously known as Arke Stadion (), is the stadium of football club FC Twente. It is located in Enschede, Netherlands, at the Business & Science Park, near the University of Twente. The stadium has an all-seated capacity ...

, spending six months out with a broken

metatarsal The metatarsal bones or metatarsus (: metatarsi) are a group of five long bones in the midfoot, located between the tarsal bones (which form the heel and the ankle) and the phalanges ( toes). Lacking individual names, the metatarsal bones are ...

and making only 14 appearances. He came back fit for the 2013–14 season and was a virtual ever-present as Twente managed a third-place finish in the Eredivisie. Bjelland was named as

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

for the 2014–15 season, but he was in and out of the team, due to injuries and

suspensions In chemistry, a suspension is a heterogeneous mixture of a fluid that contains solid particles sufficiently large for sedimentation. The particles may be visible to the naked eye, usually must be larger than one micrometer, and will eventually ...

. He left the club on 2 July 2015, after making 79 appearances and scoring three goals during his three seasons in

Enschede Enschede (; local ) is a list of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the province of Overijssel and the Twente region of the eastern Netherlands. The east of the urban area reaches ...

Brentford

On 2 July 2015, Bjelland moved to England to sign a three-year contract with

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

club

for a club-record €3 million fee. After recovering from a groin injury suffered in

pre-season In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of S ...

, Bjelland made his debut for the club with a start in a League Cup first round match versus

Oxford United Oxford United Football Club () is a professional association football, football club based in Oxford, England. The club compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football league system, English football. Founded as Headingto ...

on 11 August. He was at fault for Oxford's first goal of the 4–0 defeat and suffered a knee ligament injury on the stroke of half time. Bjelland returned to full-contact training in late April 2016 and despite missing part of the 2016–17 pre-season with an abductor strain, he entered the regular season fit. He broke into the starting lineup in an unfamiliar

left back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

role in mid-September 2016. After the team's formation was switched to 3–5–2 three months later, he reverted to his usual centre back position. Bjelland missed much of March and April 2017 through injury and finished the season with 29 appearances. Bjelland deputised for the absent

Harlee Dean Harlee James Dean (born 26 July 1991) is an English professional footballer who plays as a centre-back, most recently for club Reading. He began his career at Dagenham & Redbridge, and had a number of spells on loan at non-League clubs in the ...

early in the 2017–18 season scored his first Brentford goal in a 4–3 defeat to

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founde ...

12 August 2017. After Dean's departure at the end of the summer

transfer window In association football, a transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club, club can add players to their squad who were previously under contract with another club. Such a Transfer (association football), transfer is comp ...

, Bjelland continued as an automatic pick for the remainder of the 2017–18 season. Despite suffering from an

achilles In Greek mythology, Achilles ( ) or Achilleus () was a hero of the Trojan War who was known as being the greatest of all the Greek warriors. The central character in Homer's ''Iliad'', he was the son of the Nereids, Nereid Thetis and Peleus, ...

problem during the final two months of the season, Bjelland finished the campaign with 35 appearances and one goal. After failing to agree a new contract, he was released on 30 June 2018. During three seasons at

Griffin Park Griffin Park was a association football, football ground in Brentford in the London Borough of Hounslow, England. It was the home ground of Brentford F.C. from its opening in September 1904 to August 2020. The ground was in a predominantly resi ...

, Bjelland made 65 appearances and scored one goal.

F.C. Copenhagen

On 9 July 2018, Bjelland returned to Denmark to sign a four-year contract with Superliga club

on a free transfer. The deal made him one of the highest-paid players in Danish Superliga history. He made 41 appearances and scored one goal during the club's 2018–19 Superliga-winning season. During a 2019–20 season which featured a run to the quarter-finals of the

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

and a runners-up finish in the Superliga, Bjelland made 30 appearances. Bjelland made three appearances during the opening month of the

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

season, before suffering a "bad cocktail" of problems with injury and

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

. He did not appear again before the end of the season. Bjelland spent the

final year Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

of his contract away on

loan In finance, a loan is the tender of money by one party to another with an agreement to pay it back. The recipient, or borrower, incurs a debt and is usually required to pay interest for the use of the money. The document evidencing the deb ...

and was released when it expired.

Return to Lyngby

On 15 July 2021, Bjelland returned to Danish 1st Division club Lyngby on a season-long loan. He made 25 appearances and scored one goal during a 2021–22 season which culminated in promotion to the Danish Superliga. Taking a pay cut from his previous contract with F.C. Copenhagen, Bjelland signed a one-year contract with Lyngby in May 2022. On 28 August 2022, his sixth appearance of the

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

season, Bjelland suffered a broken and dislocated ankle during a 2–1 defeat to Viborg. He underwent surgery five days later and returned fit for the resumption of the season after the winter break. Bjelland signed a new two-year contract in May 2023 and made 18 appearances during a 2022–23 season in which Lyngby narrowly avoided relegation. A second-successive narrow miss with relegation in the 2023–24 season ended with 27 appearances and one goal. Bjelland appeared sparingly during the first half of the 2024–25 season and in November 2024, he stood in for assistant head coach

Mikkel Beckmann Mikkel Beckmann (born 24 October 1983) is a Danish retired professional footballer who played as a forward. He is the assistant coach of Lyngby BK. Beckmann began his career with Lyngby in 2004, eventually transferring to Randers FC, FC Nordsj� ...

, who was suspended from the touchline. He retired as a player to take up the role full time in January 2025. Across his two spells at the Lyngby Stadium, Bjelland made 122 appearances and scored three goals.

International career

Youth

Despite being eligible to represent

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

, Bjelland represented

at U16, U18, U19 and U21 level, captaining the latter team and making three appearances at the 2011 European U21 Championship, hosted in Denmark.

Full

Bjelland made his full international debut in a 0–0 friendly draw with the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

on 17 November 2010 and played the full 90 minutes. He received his second call up 11 months later, when he was selected for a pair of

Euro 2012 qualifiers The qualifying competition for UEFA Euro 2012 was a series of parallel association football competitions held across Europe between 2010 and 2011 to decide the qualifiers for UEFA Euro 2012. The draw for the qualifying rounds was held on 7 Febru ...

against

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

and

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

, in which he started and helped the team to wins. Bjelland scored his first international goal with

penalty Penalty, The Penalty, Penalization, Penalisation, Penalize or Penalise may refer to: Sports * Foul (sports) ** Penalty (golf) ** Penalty (gridiron football) ** Penalty (ice hockey) ** Penalty (rugby) ** Penalty (rugby union) ** Penalty kick (assoc ...

to seal a 2–0 friendly win over

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

on 2 June 2012. He was called into Denmark's squad for

, but failed to make an appearance before the team crashed out in the group stage. Following Euro 2012, a metatarsal injury suffered on club duty with Twente saw Bjelland miss a year of international football and he made his return in a 2–1 friendly win over

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

on 5 June 2013. He scored his second international goal in a 6–0 2014 World Cup qualifying win over

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

on 15 October 2013. Bjelland made regular appearances through 2014, but a knee ligament injury meant that failed to appear for Denmark between June 2015 and 11 November 2016, when he made his comeback playing the full 90 minutes of a 4–0

2018 World Cup qualifying The 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification process was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations to decide 31 of the 32 teams which would play in the 2018 FIFA World Cup, with Russia qualifying automatically as hosts. All 210 ...

win over

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

. Bjelland was included in Denmark’s preliminary squad for the

2018 World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded the hosting rights in l ...

, but was not named in the final selection, due to injury. Bjelland's final international cap came in a

UEFA Nations League The UEFA Nations League is an international European football competition played by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body. The competition was devised to minimise friendlies a ...

match versus the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

in November 2018 and he ended his senior international career with 29 caps and two goals.

Coaching career

On 7 January 2025, it was announced that Bjelland had been appointed as assistant to head coach Morten Karlsen at Lyngby.

Personal life

Bjelland was born to a Norwegian father and a Danish mother. His younger brother Thomas was a footballer for BSV and

Hellerup Hellerup () is a very affluent district of Gentofte Municipality in the suburbs of Copenhagen, Denmark. The most urban part of the district is centred on Strandvejen and is bordered by Østerbro to the south and the Øresund to the east. It compr ...

. Bjelland has two daughters. In 2018, Bjelland invested a reported amount of DKK 200,000 (approximately £25,000) in his former club Lyngby and consequently became a minority owner of the club.

Career statistics

Honours

FC Nordsjælland *

Danish Superliga The Danish Superliga (, ) is a professional association football league in Denmark and the highest level of the Danish football league system. The league is currently contested by 12 teams each year, with 2 teams relegated. It is the current ...

: 2011–12 * DBU Pokalen: 2009–10,

FC Copenhagen * Danish Superliga: 2018–19 Lyngby *

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 ...

second-place promotion: 2021–22

References

External links

Andreas Bjelland
at vi.nl * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bjelland, Andreas 1988 births Living people Danish men's footballers Danish expatriate men's footballers Denmark men's youth international footballers Denmark men's under-21 international footballers FC Rudersdal players Fredensborg BI players Lyngby Boldklub players FC Nordsjælland players FC Twente players Brentford F.C. players F.C. Copenhagen players Danish Superliga players Danish 1st Division players Eredivisie players English Football League players Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands UEFA Euro 2012 players Men's association football defenders Denmark men's international footballers Danish expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate men's footballers in England Danish people of Norwegian descent People from Fredensborg Municipality Footballers from the Capital Region of Denmark Danish expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands 21st-century Danish sportsmen