Jesper Christjansen (; born 29 December 1987) is a retired 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 played as a
midfielder
A midfielder is an outfield position in association football.
Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...
.
Career
Early career
Christjansen first played for a local club,
Skovlunde IF, and before joining the
Brøndby IF
Brøndbyernes Idrætsforening (, usually abbreviated to Brøndby IF (), is a professional association football club based in Brøndbyvester, Capital Region of Denmark. The club was founded in 1964 as a merger between two local clubs and was pr ...
youth academy. There, he went through the different age groups before reaching the U-21 team, where he was eventually made team
captain
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
. As one of the U-21 profiles, Christjansen trained with the first team on occasion and appeared on the first-team bench several times under coach
Tom Køhlert
Tom Køhlert (; born 30 April 1947) is a Danish football manager and former player who managed Brøndby IF from 1979 to 1985 and several times later as a caretaker. He led the club to its first ever Danish championship in 1985. He has also functi ...
in 2007.
On 24 January 2009, in search of more playing time, Christjansen signed with
Lolland Falster Alliancen
Lolland (; formerly spelled ''Laaland'', literally "low land") is the fourth largest island of Denmark, with an area of . Located in the Baltic Sea, it is part of Region Sjælland (Region Zealand). As of 1 January 2022, it has 57,618 inhabi ...
in the bottom of the
Danish second tier. LFA finished 14th out of 16 that season, effectuating direct relegation to the
Danish third tier.
On 30 July 2009, half a year after signing with LFA, Christjansen was signed by
BK Frem
Boldklubben Frem (also known as Frem, BK Frem or BK Frem Copenhagen) is a Danish sports club based in the Valby-Sydhavnen area of Copenhagen. It is best known for its semi-professional football team. Since its foundation in 1886, Frem has w ...
who had stayed up in the second tier the season before. For Frem, he was a first-team regular during the
2009–10 season, and was named as one of the players on the shortlist for the Division Player of the Year award. Frem went bankrupt at the end of the season and were demoted to the
Copenhagen Series
Copenhagen Series for men ( da, Københavnsserien for Herrer; Herre Københavnsserien), unofficially also known as Københavnerserien and often shortened to KS serien and KS Herre, is the highest division for men organised by the regional football ...
, the Danish fifth division, effectively making Christjansen a free agent.
Following Frem's bankruptcy, Christjansen signed with
Hvidovre IF
Hvidovre Idrætsforening, more commonly known as Hvidovre IF () is a Danish professional football club based in Hvidovre. The club competes in the Danish 1st Division, the second tier of Danish football, and plays its home matches at the Hvidovre ...
, which allowed him to continue playing in the second tier on an amateur contract. On 22 December 2011, he signed a professional contract with
Brønshøj BK
Brønshøj, part of the municipality of Copenhagen, forms, together with Husum, the administrative city district (''bydel'') of Brønshøj-Husum, in Denmark.
History
The first mention of the village Brønshøj (Brunshoga), is in a letter date ...
from the
Danish third tier, managed by
Bo Henriksen
Bo Henriksen (born 7 February 1975) is a Danish football coach and former player. He is the current head coach of Swiss Super League side FC Zürich.
Henriksen rose to prominence as a striker in both his home country, where he won the 1999� ...
. In Brønshøj, he grew out to become a first-team starter and vice-captain.
Lyngby
On 12 June 2014, after Christjansen's contract with Brønshøj had expired, he signed a two-year contract with
Lyngby BK
Lyngby Boldklub () is a Danish professional football club founded in 1921. It is based at Lyngby Stadion in Kongens Lyngby, Lyngby-Taarbæk Municipality, a northern suburb of Copenhagen. From 1994 to 2001 the club was known as Lyngby FC. The club ...
. On 19 January 2016, his contract was extended with Lyngby for another years, and coach
David Nielsen
David Jean Nielsen (born 1 December 1976) is a Danish former professional footballer and manager.
He played for a number of Danish clubs, as well as Fortuna Düsseldorf in Germany and English clubs Grimsby Town, Wimbledon and Norwich City. His ...
cited his hard-working attitude as the reason for his contract extension. A few months later, on 8 May, Christjansen and Lyngby secured promotion to the
Danish Superliga
The Danish Superliga ( da, Superligaen, ) is the current Danish football championship tournament, and administered by the Danish Football Association. It is the highest football league in Denmark and is currently contested by 12 teams each y ...
by beating
FC Helsingør
FC Helsingør is a Danish football club from Helsingør. The club plays in the Danish 1st Division, having been promoted after winning the Danish 2nd Division in the 2019-2020 season. The club has finished the last two seasons in the top 4 of t ...
1–0. On 16 July 2016, Christjansen made his first appearance at the highest level, starting in the opening game of the season away at
F.C. Copenhagen
Football Club Copenhagen ( da, Football Club København, ), commonly known as FC København, FC Copenhagen, Copenhagen or simply FCK, is a professional Danish football club in Copenhagen, Denmark. FCK was founded in 1992 as a superstructure on ...
which Lyngby lost 3–0. The season became an overwhelming success for Christjansen and Lyngby, as the club reached
Europa League play-offs after securing a third place in the Superliga. That season, he made 34 appearances and scored four goals.
Christjansen made his European debut on 29 June 2017, as Lyngby beat
Welsh
Welsh may refer to:
Related to Wales
* Welsh, referring or related to Wales
* Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales
* Welsh people
People
* Welsh (surname)
* Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peopl ...
side
Bangor City 1–0 to kick off their European campaign.
NSÍ Runavík
As Christjansen's contract with Lyngby expired following the
2019–20 season, he signed a six-month contract with
NSÍ Runavík
NSÍ Runavík is a Faroese football club, playing in Runavík on the island of Eysturoy. It was founded 24 March 1957. In 2003 NSÍ participated for the first time on a European stage.
In 2007, the club won the Faroe Islands Premier League fo ...
on 26 July 2020 keeping him a part of the club until the end of
2020 Faroe Islands Premier League
The 2020 Faroe Islands Premier League (referred to as ''Betri deildin menn'' for sponsorship reasons) was the 78th season of top-tier football in the Faroe Islands, and the 16th under the current format.
KÍ were the defending champions, having ...
. He scored his first goal for the club on 6 August in a 1–0 away win over
ÍF Fuglafjørður.
Christjansen left Runavík in the beginning of January 2021 and later announced his retirement on 19 March 2021 at the age of 33.
Jesper Christjansen stopper karrieren
bold.dk, 19 March 2021
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Christjansen, Jesper
Danish footballers
Danish expatriate footballers
1987 births
Living people
Brøndby IF players
Hvidovre IF players
Brønshøj Boldklub players
Lyngby Boldklub players
NSÍ Runavík players
Danish Superliga players
Danish 1st Division players
Faroe Islands Premier League players
Association football midfielders
People from Ballerup Municipality
Ballerup-Skovlunde Fodbold players
Expatriate footballers in the Faroe Islands
Sportspeople from the Capital Region of Denmark