Jannik Vestergaard (born 3 August 1992) is a Danish 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 ...

who plays as a

centre back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

club

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the Nation ...

and the Denmark national team. Vestergaard played for various

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish ance ...

and

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

clubs before joining

Southampton Southampton () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire, S ...

in 2018. He also played for various youth levels and debuted for the senior team in 2013.

Early and personal life

Vestergaard was born to a Danish father and a German mother in the Copenhagen suburb of

Hvidovre Hvidovre is the main town in Hvidovre Municipality, Denmark. The town, a suburb of Copenhagen, is about 10 km southwest of the capital's center. It is the 2nd biggest suburb of Copenhagen, only beaten by Frederiksberg. History Hvidovre has ...

and grew up in Copenhagen. His German grandfather Hannes Schröers and uncle Jan Schröers were also footballers for

Fortuna Düsseldorf Düsseldorfer Turn- und Sportverein Fortuna 1895 e.V., commonly known as Fortuna Düsseldorf (), is a German football club in Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, which competes in the 2. Bundesliga. Founded in 1895, Fortuna entered the league ...

and

Bayer 05 Uerdingen KFC Uerdingen 05 is a German football club in the Uerdingen district of the city of Krefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia. The former Bundesliga side enjoyed its greatest successes in the 1980s but now plays in the fifth-level Oberliga. History The ...

respectively. His cousin Mika Schröers played for

Borussia Mönchengladbach Borussia Verein für Leibesübungen 1900 e. V. Mönchengladbach, commonly known as Borussia Mönchengladbach (), Mönchengladbach () or Gladbach (; abbreviated as Borussia MG, BMG), is a professional Association football, football club based in ...

's youth teams in 2016. He has a girlfriend, Pernille, and a dog, Brady.

Club career

Early career

Vestergaard played youth football with Vestia, Frem,

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

and Brøndby. He began his senior career with German club

TSG 1899 Hoffenheim Turn- und Sportgemeinschaft 1899 Hoffenheim e.V., or simply TSG 1899 Hoffenheim or just Hoffenheim () is a German professional football club based in Hoffenheim, a village of Sinsheim municipality, Baden-Württemberg. Originally founded in 1 ...

. He moved to

Werder Bremen Sportverein Werder Bremen von 1899 e. V. (), commonly known as Werder Bremen (), Werder or simply Bremen, is a German professional sports club based in Bremen, Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. Founded on 4 February 1899, they are best known for the ...

in January 2015. On 11 June 2016, Vestergaard joined

for a reported transfer of €12 million plus bonuses.

Southampton

Vestergaard moved to English club

on 13 July 2018, signing a four-year contract. On 12 August 2018, he made his debut in a 0–0 draw against

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River ...

in the

. He scored his first goal for the club on 31 August 2019, the equalizer in a 1–1 draw against

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

Leicester City

On 12 August 2021 it was announced that Southampton had accepted a transfer offer from

for Vestergaard. On 13 August 2021, he signed for

on a three-year contract, for an undisclosed fee.

International career

Youth level

Besides Denmark, Vestergaard was also eligible to represent

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

through his German mother. Vestergaard represented the Denmark national youth teams at under-18, under-19, under-20 and under-21 levels. He received his first call-up to the Denmark senior team in August 2013, describing it as his "dream" to play for the country, and he made his debut later that month in a match against

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is divided into Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 mill ...

. His first goal for Denmark came in his first competitive game, against Sweden in the European Championship play-off return leg on 17 November 2015. He represented the Denmark U21 team at the

2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship Fifteen or 15 may refer to: * 15 (number), the natural number following 14 and preceding 16 *one of the years 15 BC, AD 15, 1915, 2015 Music * Fifteen (band), a punk rock band Albums * ''15'' (Buckcherry album), 2005 * ''15'' (Ani Lorak a ...

in the Czech Republic, and scored in a 2–1 defeat of the host nation in the opening match at the

Eden Arena Fortuna Arena (formerly known as Sinobo Stadium, Eden Aréna and Synot Tip Arena) is a football stadium, in Prague- Vršovice, Czech Republic. The stadium has a capacity of 19,370 people and it is the biggest and the most modern football stad ...

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

Senior level

Vestergaard was a member of Denmark's squad at the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's 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 righ ...

in Russia, but did not make any appearances in the tournament. In June 2021, he was included in the national team's bid for

2020 UEFA Euro The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2020) or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe ...

, where the team reached the semi-finals.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Denmark's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Vestergaard goal''.

References

External links

Player's profile
at

Danish Football Association The Danish Football Union ( da, Dansk Boldspil-Union; DBU) is the governing body of football in Denmark. It is the organization of the Danish football clubs and runs the professional Danish football leagues and the men's and women's national te ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vestergaard, Jannik 1992 births Living people People from Hvidovre Municipality Danish footballers Denmark youth international footballers Denmark under-21 international footballers Denmark international footballers Association football defenders Boldklubben Frem players F.C. Copenhagen players Brøndby IF players TSG 1899 Hoffenheim II players TSG 1899 Hoffenheim players SV Werder Bremen players Borussia Mönchengladbach players Southampton F.C. players Leicester City F.C. players Bundesliga players Regionalliga players Premier League players 2018 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2020 players Danish expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Germany Danish expatriate sportspeople in England Danish expatriate sportspeople in Germany Danish people of German descent Sportspeople from the Capital Region of Denmark