Jeppe Højbjerg (born 30 April 1995) 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 lea ...

who plays 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 designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

Club career

Højbjerg started his career at childhood club Sønderris SK, before moving to

Esbjerg fB Esbjerg forenede Boldklubber (; commonly known as Esbjerg fB or EfB in short) is a Danish professional Association football, football club based in Esbjerg, West Jutland, Jylland, that plays in the Danish 1st Division, 1st division, the sec ...

in 2009, where he was initially an outfield player. However, he was on incidentally moved to the

position at practice, and remained at there since. In October 2012, he went on trial with English

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

club Everton, with the club offering him a youth contract afterwards. Højbjerg, however, chose to stay at Esbjerg in order to gain first-team experience. He made his professional debut on 26 September 2013, in a

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 ...

match, where he started in a 7–1 win over lower league side

Aalborg Chang Aalborg Chang is a Danish association football club based in the city of Aalborg, that competes in the Jutland Series, one of the sixth tiers of the Danish football league system, and the top tier of the regional DBU Jutland football associati ...

. On 16 January 2015, Højbjerg was sent on a six-month loan to

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 ...

club

FC Fredericia Fodbold Club Fredericia af 1991 (), simply known as FC Fredericia, is a professional association football club based in the town of Fredericia, Denmark, that competes in the Danish 1st Division, the second tier of the Danish football league syste ...

, in order to gain more first-team experience. Until then he had mainly acted as a backup goalkeeper to starter

Martin Dúbravka Martin Dúbravka (born 15 January 1989) is a Slovak professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for club Newcastle United and the Slovakia national team. He is widely considered one of the best Slovakian footballers of all time. After p ...

. The loan deal was extended another six months in July 2015. After returning from the loan spell, Højbjerg became the Esbjerg starting goalkeeper in the second half of the 2015–16 season. He made his Danish Superliga debut for the club on 28 February 2016 away against

FC Copenhagen Football Club Copenhagen (, ), commonly known as F.C. København, F.C. Copenhagen, Copenhagen, or simply FCK, is a Danish professional football club based in Copenhagen. FCK was founded in 1992 as a superstructure on top of Kjøbenhavns Boldklu ...

Parken Stadium Parken, currently known as Parken - Connected by 3 for sponsorship reasons, and as Telia Parken (2014–2020), is a Soccer-specific stadium, football stadium in the Indre Østerbro (''Inner Østerbro'') district of Copenhagen, Denmark, built from ...

. Since first goalkeeper Jacob Pryts Larsen and reserve goalkeeper Oliver Funch had been injured,

club

Fremad Amager Boldklubben Fremad Amager (meaning in English: The Ball Club Forward Amager; abbreviated Fremad A) is a Danish professional football club based in the district of Amager Vest, Copenhagen. As of the 2024–25 season, the club's senior men's team ...

confirmed on 15 October that they had signed a short contract with Højbjerg for the rest of 2022. Højbjerg stood without a club for 10 months, until signing a short-term deal on 29 September 2023 with his former club,

: a deal until the end of 2023. He left

at the end of 2023.

International career

Højbjerg has been capped for various Danish national youth teams. In 2016, he competed in the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

with the Denmark Olympic team, which reached the quarter-finals. He made four appearances in the Olympic tournament, conceding a total of six goals. Denmark recorded only one win, against

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. On 3 September 2015, he made his first appearance for the Denmark national under-21 team in a friendly against

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, which ended in a 2–1 defeat. He participated with the U21 team at the

2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship The 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship (also known as UEFA Under-21 Euro 2017) was the 21st edition of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship, a biennial international youth association football, football championship organised by UEFA for ...

. He played three matches in this tournament, conceding a total of seven goals. Denmark recorded only one win, against the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hojbjerg, Jeppe Living people 1995 births Footballers from Esbjerg Men's association football goalkeepers Danish men's footballers Denmark men's under-21 international footballers Denmark men's youth international footballers Esbjerg fB players FC Fredericia players Fremad Amager players Danish 1st Division players Danish Superliga players Footballers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers for Denmark 21st-century Danish sportsmen