Janus Mats Drachmann (born 11 May 1988) is a former 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 lea ...

who played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

. Born in

Frederikssund Frederikssund () is a Denmark, Danish town, seat of the Frederikssund Municipality, in the Capital Region of Denmark, Region Hovedstaden with a population of 17,583 (1 January 2025).

, Drachmann emerged from the

AC Horsens Alliance Club Horsens (), commonly referred to as AC Horsens () or simply Horsens, is a Danish professional football club based in Horsens, Central Denmark Region. Founded in 1994, as a superstructure on Horsens fS (founded 1915), Stensballe ...

academy in 2006, and grew into a key player in midfield for the club, as well as the

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 ...

. Through his career, he played for

SønderjyskE SønderjyskE is a Denmark, Danish sport corporation. They have a Football (soccer), football team (SønderjyskE Fodbold, based in Haderslev), two team handball, handball teams (SønderjyskE Håndbold, one male based in Sønderborg, one female bas ...

and

Midtjylland The Central Denmark Region (), or more directly translated as the Central Jutland Region and sometimes simply Mid-Jutland, is an administrative region of Denmark established on 1 January 2007 as part of the 2007 Danish municipal reform. The refo ...

, and OB, eventually returning to AC Horsens before his retirement in 2023. Drachmann was a youth international for

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

, having gained caps for the under-20 and under-21 sides.

Club career

Horsens

Drachmann came to

as an 18-year-old in the summer of 2006, to complete his education, and at the same time develop as a player on the club's reserve team. Due to injury to teammate and Horsens star player

Allan Søgaard Allan Søgaard (born 20 January 1978) is a former Danish football (soccer) player, spent his entire career playing for the Danish Superliga side AC Horsens. His normal position was as a defensive midfielder. He was known as a pacy player, with ...

, Drachmann grabbed the opportunity to be the starting defensive midfielder for the club during the 2007–08 Superliga season. Despite his young age he showed himself capable of playing at the highest level. During the next nine years, Drachmann made 171 league appearances for the club, in which he scored four goals, and grew into

SønderjyskE

Drachmann signed a two-year contract with

on 5 June 2015. He played there for two seasons, in which he made 44 league appearances and scored one goal.

Midtjylland

On 4 January 2017, was first announced that Drachmann would move to

after the ongoing season, but on 29 January, he was set to move to the club Midtjylland immediately. He made his debut for the club on 7 March 2017 in a match against the third tier club

Kjellerup IF Kjellerup Idrætsforening is a Danish football club based in Kjellerup, Central Jutland. It was founded in 1907, and its first team competed in the Denmark Series, the fifth tier of the Danish football league system. The club is a part of the D ...

in the

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 ...

, which Midtjylland won 3–0 with goals by Bruninho, Mikkel Duelund and Simon Kroon. He made his Superliga debut for the club on 19 March, when he started against

Nordsjælland North Zealand, also North Sealand (), refers to the northeastern part of the Danish island of Zealand. The Danish tourist authorities have recently introduced the term Danish Riviera to cover the area in view of its increasing importance for to ...

; a match which Midtjylland lost 1–2. He played a total of nine matches in his first half of the season at the club, all of which were from the start. However, he did not play the full 90 minutes against SønderjyskE and Nordsjælland, as he was replaced in the 75th minute for Gustav Wikheim (5–2 defeat away) and was sent off in the 73rd minute after two yellow cards (3–2 win away) by referee Mads-Kristoffer Kristoffersen.

OB

On 18 July 2018, it was announced that Drachmann had been signed by OB. He penned a four-year agreement, where he was also reunited with head coach

Jakob Michelsen Jakob Saldern Stein Michelsen (born 30 September 1980) is a Danish football manager. He is currently the manager of Norwegian Eliteserien club HamKam. Jakob Michelsen was selected coach of the year in Denmark in 2015. He was the coach behind t ...

, who he had as coach at SønderjyskE. He already made his debut four days later when he started and played every 90 minutes in a 2–2 home draw against SønderjyskE.

Return to Horsens

Drachmann returned to Horsens on 11 June 2021, after the club had just suffered relegation to the second-tier

Danish 1st Division The 1st Division (''1. Division'') is the second-highest football league in Denmark, also known as NordicBet Liga for sponsorship reasons. From 1945 to 1991, the 1. Division was the name of the highest level of football in Denmark. With the for ...

. He helped the club return to the Superliga within one season, captaining the team and making 23 league appearances. At the end of the 2022–23 season, 35-year–old Drachmann announced his retirement from football.

International career

In October 2007, Drachmann was selected for his first matches with the Denmark under-21 team. He has also appeared for the under-20 team.

Coaching career

After retiring in August 2023, Drachmann joined the staff of

as an assistant for the first team. In January 2024, Drachmann was moved into a new role as 'assistant transition coach and responsible for individual training at the academy'.

Honours

Midtjylland *

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 ...

: 2017–18 Horsens *

: 2021–22

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Drachmann, Janus 1988 births Living people People from Frederikssund Municipality Danish men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Denmark men's under-21 international footballers Danish Superliga players Danish 1st Division players AC Horsens players Sønderjyske Fodbold players FC Midtjylland players Odense Boldklub players Denmark men's youth international footballers FC Nordsjælland players FC Djursland players Frederikssund IK players Footballers from the Capital Region of Denmark Danish people of German descent 21st-century Danish sportsmen