Ivan Nielsen (born 9 October 1956) is a Danish former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player, who most prominently played professionally for Dutch clubs Feyenoord Rotterdam and

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional association football, football department, which has pla ...

, winning the

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by top-division European clubs. The competition begins with a round robi ...

with PSV. A

central defender 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 ...

, he was capped 51 times for the Danish national team, and represented his country at 1986 World Cup and two

European Championship A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

tournaments.

Biography

Born on

Frederiksberg Frederiksberg () is a part of the Capital Region of Denmark. It is an independent municipality, Frederiksberg Municipality, separate from Copenhagen Municipality, but both are a part of the region of Copenhagen. It occupies an area of less tha ...

in Copenhagen, Ivan Nielsen started his senior career with Fremad Amager in 1975. He debuted for the Danish under-21 national team in September 1977, and went on to play six games and score one goal for the under-21 national team. In 1979, he moved abroad to play professionally with Feyenoord Rotterdam in the Dutch

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 ...

championship. He was a part of the Feyenoord team which won the 1980 Dutch Cup, and made his debut for the Danish national team under national team manager

Sepp Piontek Josef Emanuel Hubertus "Sepp" Piontek (born 5 March 1940) is a German former football player and manager. Playing career Born in Wrocław during World War II, Piontek started his playing career with VfL Germania Leer. Between 1963 and 1972, the ...

in November 1980. In 1984, Nielsen and Feyenoord won both the 1984 Eredivisie championship and Dutch Cup trophy. He was called up for the Danish national team at the 1984 European Championship. He played full time in Denmark's four games at the tournament, before the team was eliminated in the semi-finals. He was also called up for the 1986 World Cup, where he played three games as Denmark reached the round of 16. After seven seasons at Feyenoord, he left the club in 1986. Moving on to defending Eredivisie champions

, Nielsen joined up with fellow Danish internationals

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 directo ...

and

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 ...

. Nielsen helped PSV win three Eredivisie championships in a row from 1987 to 1989, as well as the three Dutch Cups in a row from 1988 to 1990. His most notable result with PSV, was winning the international 1988 European Cup, when S.L. Benfica from

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 ...

were beaten on

penalty shootout 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 ...

in the final. Nielsen represented the Danish national team in the 1988 European Championship tournament. The tournament was a disappointment for the Danish team, though Nielsen was one of few older players who played up to standard. He ended his national team career in November 1989, having never scored in his 51 national team games. After four seasons at PSV, he returned to Denmark to end his career in 1990. He joined former club Fremad Amager, where he spent a single season. He moved to B 1903 in 1991, and when the club merged to form F.C. Copenhagen in 1992, Nielsen went on to play for the new club. He was a part of the Copenhagen team which won the 1993

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 ...

championship, in its first season of existence. After that season, he moved to Næstved IF, where he ended his career. He managed Næstved, and later

Dragør Boldklub Dragør Boldklub (DB for short) is a Danish football club based in Dragør, on the island of Amager Amager ( ), located in the Øresund, is Denmark's most densely populated island, with more than 216,000 inhabitants (January 2022). The protecte ...

, before starting his own plumbing business in Copenhagen.

Style of play

With his tall, 192 cm, and his strong body and stamina, he was a tough man-marker. In a 1986 World Cup match, he successfully marked Uruguayan star Enzo Francescoli, and left him unable to move and play his football. In the 7th minute he was booked for a strong tackle against Francescoli. Towards the end of the first half, Nielsen fouled him at the edge of the penalty area. The referee was close to the situation and awarded a penalty, on which Francescoli scored Uruguay's only goal (2–1) in Denmark's 6–1 win.

Honours

Feyenoord *

: 1983–84 *

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

: 1979–80, 1983–84 PSV *

: 1986–87, 1987–88, 1988–89 *

: 1987–88, 1988–89, 1989–90 *

: 1987–88 FC Copenhagen *

: 1992–93

External links

*
F.C. Copenhagen profile

ShowStars profile

Company profile

Feyenoord-online profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nielsen, Ivan 1956 births Living people Danish men's footballers Feyenoord players PSV Eindhoven players UEFA Champions League–winning players F.C. Copenhagen players Eredivisie players Danish Superliga players Denmark men's international footballers Denmark men's under-21 international footballers 1986 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 1984 players UEFA Euro 1988 players Danish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Danish expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Footballers from Frederiksberg Næstved Boldklub managers Men's association football defenders Fremad Amager players Danish football managers 20th-century Danish sportsmen