Brian Steen Nielsen (born 28 December 1968) is a Danish former 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

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. ...

. During his 16-year professional career, he had three stints at Odense Boldklub, and also played abroad for football clubs in Turkey, Japan and Sweden. Steen Nielsen also made 66 appearances for the Denmark national team between 1990 and 2002, scoring three goals. After his retirement from his active career, he worked as the director of football at former club AGF until 2014.

Biography

Born in

Vejle Vejle () is a city in Denmark, in the southeast of the Jutland Peninsula at the head of Vejle Fjord, where the Vejle River and Grejs River and their valleys converge. It is the site of the councils of Vejle Municipality (''Municipalities of De ...

, Steen Nielsen started his senior career at

Vejle Boldklub Vejle Boldklub is a Danish professional football club based in Vejle in Jutland. Formed in 1891, the club is one of the most successful clubs in Danish football history, having won the Danish championship five times and the Danish cup title six ...

(VB) in October 1988. He received the 1989 '' Danish U21 Player of the Year'' award, and on 14 February 1990 he debuted for the Denmark national team. He came on as a half-time substitute in a

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sport, sporting event whose prize money and impact on th ...

0–0 draw with

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

, but he did not become a constant part of the team, playing three further games until June 1991. He switched from Vejle to rival team Odense Boldklub (OB) in 1992, where he won the 1993

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

trophy. After a year at OB, he made the jump abroad to play in Turkey for Fenerbahçe. The move to Fenerbahçe saw him return to the Danish national team in 1993, and during the last years of coach

Richard Møller Nielsen Richard Møller Nielsen (19 August 1937 – 13 February 2014) was a Danish football player and manager. He coached the Denmark national football team that won the UEFA Euro 1992 tournament. In 1995, he was awarded a gold version of the Medal of ...

's reign, Brian Steen was a part of the defensive midfield, playing many games alongside John "Faxe" Jensen. He moved back to play for OB in 1995, who he represented when he competed for Denmark in the

UEFA Euro 1996 The 1996 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 96, was the 10th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament contested by European nations and organised by UEFA. It took place in ...

. After the championship, he moved to Japan to play for

Urawa Red Diamonds The or simply Urawa Reds (浦和レッズ, ''Urawa Rezzu''), also known as Mitsubishi Urawa Football Club from April 1992 to January 1996, are a professional association football, football club in the city of Saitama (city), Saitama, part of t ...

, and following Møller Nielsen's retirement as Denmark coach in June 1996, Brian Steen was eventually dropped by new coach Bo Johansson. He moved back to OB once more in 1997, before playing for

Akademisk Boldklub Akademisk Boldklub Gladsaxe (AB) is a Denmark, Danish professional football (soccer), football club from Gladsaxe north of Copenhagen, currently playing at the 3rd highest level of Danish domestic football in the Danish 2nd Division group 1. The ...

(AB), where his experience made him the natural

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 ...

. His time at AB culminated in the 1999 Danish Cup triumph, at which time he had returned to the national team where he played a number of games in a midfield pairing with hard-hitter Stig Tøfting. Following the emergence of the eight-year younger Thomas Gravesen on the national team, Brian Steen slowly took on the role of substitute following the

UEFA Euro 2000 The 2000 UEFA European Football Championship, also known as Euro 2000, was the 11th UEFA European Championship, a football tournament held every four years and organised by UEFA, the sport's governing body in Europe. The finals tournament was ...

. After 11 minutes of play in the

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea/Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

, under new coach

Morten Olsen Morten Per Olsen (; born 14 August 1949) is a Danish former Association football, football manager and former player. He was the head coach of the Denmark national football team, Denmark national team for 15 years from 2000 until 2015, guiding ...

, his national team career had come to an end. He ended his club career in Denmark with AGF, playing his last years alongside Stig Tøfting, though his stay at the club would be marked by him head-butting teammate Nikolaj Hust at the club training. He was not sued by Hust, but the press got hold of the news and Brian Steen was charged by the police and was convicted of mild violence, resulting in ten £50 fines. He stopped his career at Aarhus GF in the fall of 2004, but stayed around the club, both as a

caretaker manager In association footballing terms, a caretaker manager or interim manager is somebody who takes temporary charge of the management of a football team, usually when the regular manager is dismissed or leaves for a different club. However, a caret ...

and he is the current sports director. In April 2016, it was made public that his name was found amongst those in the

Panama Papers The Panama Papers () are 11.5 million leaked documents (or 2.6 terabytes of data) published beginning April 3, 2016. The papers detail financial and attorney–client information for more than 214,488 offshore entities. These document ...

. Allegedly, he set up a company in Panama with the intent of evading Danish tax.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

OB *

: 1993 AB * Danish Cup: 1999 Denmark *

FIFA Confederations Cup The FIFA Confederations Cup was an international association football tournament for men's national teams, held every four years by FIFA. It was contested by the holders of each of the six continental championships ( AFC, CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBO ...

: 1995

References

External links

*
Vejle Boldklub profile
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nielsen, Brian Steen 1968 births Living people 1995 King Fahd Cup players 2002 FIFA World Cup players FIFA Confederations Cup–winning players Expatriate men's footballers in Japan Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Danish men's footballers Danish expatriate sportspeople in Japan Denmark men's international footballers Fenerbahçe S.K. footballers Aarhus Gymnastikforening players Odense Boldklub players Akademisk Boldklub players Vejle Boldklub players Malmö FF players Urawa Red Diamonds players Danish Superliga players Danish 1st Division players Allsvenskan players Süper Lig players J1 League players Danish expatriate men's footballers Danish expatriate sportspeople in Turkey UEFA Euro 1996 players UEFA Euro 2000 players Sportspeople from Vejle Municipality People named in the Panama Papers Men's association football midfielders Footballers from the Region of Southern Denmark 20th-century Danish sportsmen