Erik Veje Rasmussen (born 9 April 1959) is a former Danish

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of thr ...

player and handball coach who competed in the

1982 World Men's Handball Championship The 1982 World Men's Handball Championship was the 10th team handball World Championship. It was held in West Germany between 23 February-7 March 1982. Soviet Union won the championship. Teams Preliminary round Group A Group B Group C ...

and

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and commonly known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the ...

. In addition to Handball he is also an author and inventor of sports clothing.

Playing career

Veje Rasmussen started playing handball at Vallekilde-Hørve, his local club. From there he moved to Danish top club Helsingør IF, and was the top goalscorer of the 1983

Danish Handball League The Herreligaen (men's league), formerly known as Herrehåndboldligaen (men's handball league), is the men's top Danish professional handball league. The winners of the Herreligaen are recognised as the Danish men's handball champions. The curr ...

season. After 2 seasons he moved abroad playing in both Germany, Switzerland and Spain. At St. Otmar he acted as

player-coach A player–coach (also playing coach, captain–coach, or player–manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. Player–coaches may be head coaches or assistant coaches, and they may make chang ...

in multiple instances. During the 1980s he was one of the central players at the Danish National Team. In 1984 he finished fourth with the

Denmark men's national handball team The Denmark men's national handball team () is controlled by the Danish Handball Association and represents Denmark in international matches. They are the team with the second most gold medals won in the World Cup his ...

in the Olympic tournament. He played all six matches and scored 25 goals. Rasmussen played a total 233 games for the national team scoring 1015 goals. This makes him both the third most capped player and the thirds most scoring player for the Danish national team ever.

Coaching career

Veje Rasmussen ended his playing career at the age of 39 to coach full time.He went on to coach the german club

SG Flensburg-Handewitt SG Flensburg-Handewitt is a professional handball club from Flensburg and Handewitt in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Currently, they compete in the Handball-Bundesliga and EHF European League. They play home matches at Flens-Arena. Since formin ...

from 1998 to 2003 before moving to Danish club Aarhus GF Håndbold. He led Århus to silver medals in the Danish League in 2005. In periods with many injuries, he did take the field himself. In 2009 he stopped at AGF due to health concerns, but his successor,

René Hamann-Boerith René (''born again'' or ''reborn'' in French) is a common first name in French-speaking, Spanish-speaking, and German-speaking countries. It derives from the Latin name Renatus. René is the masculine form of the name (Renée being the feminine ...

, did not have success and was fired for bad results, and thus Veje Rasmussen returned to Aarhus Handball. Despite the club having economic problems and had to release many key players, Veje Rasmussen managed a top half finish and reached the Cup final in the 10/11 season. He continued at Aarhus GF for 10 years, but after the club declared bankruptcy and fusioned with

Skanderborg Håndbold Skanderborg Håndbold, previously known as Vrold-Skanderborg Håndboldklub is a women's handball club based in Skanderborg in Jutland, Denmark. The club has over 650 members, which makes it one of the biggest handball clubs in Denmark and the ...

, Veje Rasmussen decided not to continue. In 2023 he began as a sports consulent for the Danish league club Randers HH.

Politics

Rasmussen ran for election in the

2022 Danish general election General elections were held in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark on 1 November 2022, except in the Faroe Islands, where they were held on 31 October as 1 November was a national day of mourning for victims at sea. Of the 179 members of the Fo ...

in Favrskov on behalf of the centre-right party Venstre. He received 2,447 personal votes, which made him the second substitute for Venstre.

Private life

Veje Rasmussen is educated as a teacher in 1986 and later in law in 1991. At the end of his playing career he worked as lawyer. He has also worked as an inventor of sports clothing. He is married and has four children. One of his children, Nikolaj Veje Rasmussen, is also a professional handball player.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rasmussen, Erik Veje 1959 births Living people Danish male handball players Olympic handball players for Denmark Handball players at the 1984 Summer Olympics Danish handball coaches Danish expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Danish expatriate handball players in Germany Expatriate handball coaches Danish expatriate handball players in Spain Expatriate handball players in Switzerland 20th-century Danish sportsmen Danish sportsperson-politicians Venstre (Denmark) politicians

Playing career

Coaching career

Politics

Private life

See also

References