Erik Birger Dyreborg (né Poulsen, 20 January 1940 – 12 November 2013) was a Danish

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 striker. He scored eight goals in his six matches for the Danish national team, before he became professional with

Boston Beacons The Boston Beacons were an American soccer professional team that competed in the North American Soccer League (NASL) in 1968. The team was based in Boston and played their home games at Fenway Park. Originally intended to be a charter membe ...

. He is most noted for his five goals in an international match against

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 ...

Career

He started his career named Poulsen as an amateur in the Danish club

BK Frem Boldklubben Frem (also known as Frem, BK Frem or BK Frem Copenhagen) is a Danish sports club based in the Valby- Sydhavnen area of Copenhagen. It is best known for its semi-professional football team and its youth academy. Since its foundatio ...

, and won silver in the 1958 Danish 1st Division. In 1960, he was travelling with the Danish national B team to

Herning Herning () is a Denmark, Danish town in the Central Denmark Region of the Jutland peninsula. It is the main town and the administrative seat of Herning Municipality. Herning has a population of 51,782 (1 January 2025)

. Eight players lost their lives when the plane Dyreborg was supposed to travel with crashed, but Dyreborg had been put on a different plane to make room for a kit basket. In 1961, he transferred to

Næstved IF Næstved () is a town in the municipality of the same name, located in the southern part of the island of Zealand in Denmark. Næstved has several adult education centers, five elementary schools - and has at least one of each type of the four ...

. Dyreborg made his debut for the Danish national team in the 14–2 smashing against

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

, where he scored two goals and assisted eight. He was however criticized by the Danish media for not being able to score more goals. In his sixth match for the national team, against

on 24 September 1967, he had decided to shoot every time he had the ball, and not pass the ball to teammates with a better chance of scoring. The match ended 5–0, with Dyreborg scoring all the five goals. After scoring eight goals in six matches for the Danish national team, he turned professional with

in 1968, in the newly formed

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League (NASL) was the top-level major professional soccer league in the United States and Canada that operated from 1968 to 1984. It is considered the first soccer league to be successful on a national scale in the ...

, which, put an end to his national team career as professionals was not allowed to play for the national team. Dyreborg was one of many Danish footballers who turned professional in the United States in 1968, and

Henning Boel Henning Boel (born 15 August 1945) is a Danish former football player, who played professionally in the United States and Scotland. He most notably won the 1970 Scottish Cup with Aberdeen, and was inducted into the Aberdeen FC "Hall of Fame" a ...

, John Steen Olsen,

Jørgen Henriksen Jørgen Henriksen (born 16 July 1942) is a Danish former footballer who played as a goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a ...

, and John Petersen were all playing on Boston Beacons. The league soon became bankrupt and after one season with the Beacons, Dyreborg moved on to Dutch club

Holland Sport Scheveningse Voetbal Vereniging Scheveningen is an association football club from Scheveningen, a district of The Hague, Netherlands. The club was founded 1 July 1919. It is currently playing in the Tweede Divisie, the third tier of football in ...

, before ending his career with

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

club

Avesta AIK Avesta AIK is a Swedish football club located in Avesta, Sweden. Background The club was founded in February 1905 as Avesta Absolutisters Idrottsklubb. The name was changed to Avesta Allmänna Idrottsklubb in 1916. The club now only participate ...

. Dyreborg returned to Denmark after his professional career ended, and played veteran football for his youth club BK Frem. He died in Hornbaek at the age of 73 in 2013, following a brief undisclosed illness.

References

External links

* *
Boston Beacons stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dyreborg, Erik 1940 births 2013 deaths Danish men's footballers Denmark men's international footballers Boldklubben Frem players Næstved Boldklub players Boston Beacons players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players SVV Scheveningen players Men's association football forwards Danish expatriate men's footballers Danish expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Danish expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Danish expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden Footballers from Copenhagen 20th-century Danish sportsmen Avesta AIK players