Jørgen Kristensen (born 12 December 1946), nicknamed ''Troldmanden'' (the Wizard), is a Danish former

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 played professionally for a number of foreign clubs and won the 1974

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

with

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

club

Feyenoord Rotterdam Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club based in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the club changed to various names before settling on being called ...

. He played as an

attacking midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

or winger, and was one of the most technical ballplayers in Danish football. He played 19 matches and scored three goals for the

Denmark national football team The Denmark national football team ( or ''herrelandsholdet'') represents Denmark and Greenland in men's international Association football, football competitions. It is controlled by the Danish Football Association (DBU), the governing body for ...

Biography

Born in

Hedehusene Hedehusene is a suburban town located on the rail line between Copenhagen and Roskilde in the Capital Region of Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent o ...

, he started playing football with a local team. He moved to

Køge Boldklub Køge Boldklub is a Danish football club from Køge, Zealand. History In 1954, the club became the first outside Copenhagen to win the Danish Championship. The club declared bankruptcy in February 2009, but continued as an amateur side in the ...

at the age of 20, where he played for a year, before moving abroad to play for American team Detroit Cougars. He joined

club

Sparta Rotterdam Sparta Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club based in Rotterdam. Established on 1 April 1888, Sparta Rotterdam is the oldest professional football team in the Netherlands. Sparta currently competes in the Eredivisie, the top flig ...

, for whom he made his debut for the Denmark national team in June 1971. He moved to Sparta's inner-city rivals

, and was eventually dropped from the Danish national team in November 1972. He was a part of the Feyenoord team which won the 1974

, but despite playing for a successful team, he was not recalled for the Danish national team. Partly because the national team had prolific attacking players like Henning Jensen,

Ulrik le Fevre Ulrik le Fevre (25 June 1946 – 24 February 2024) was a Danish professional football player, manager and FIFA-licensed player agent. A right-footed left winger, he played for Danish club Vejle Boldklub, German club Borussia Mönchengladbach and ...

Per Røntved Per Christian Røntved (27 January 1949 – 16 May 2023) was a Danish professional footballer who played for German club Werder Bremen from 1972 to 1979. He also played for Danish clubs Brønshøj BK, Randers Freja, and Hvidovre IF. He was nam ...

and not least

Allan Simonsen Allan Rodenkam Simonsen (born 15 December 1952) is a Danish former footballer and manager. He most prominently played as a striker for German Bundesliga club Borussia Mönchengladbach, winning the 1975 and 1979 UEFA Cups, as well as for Barcel ...

. And partly because Kristensen had trouble in getting the time off to travel home to Denmark to play for the national team. He moved back to Denmark to play for Køge again, and was recalled for the Danish national team in August 1976. He moved abroad once more, to play for

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

team

Hertha BSC Hertha, Berliner Sport-Club e. V., commonly known as Hertha BSC () or Hertha Berlin, is a German professional football club based in Berlin. Hertha BSC plays in the 2. Bundesliga, the second tier of German football league system, German footbal ...

in September 1976. With Hertha, he finished in third place of the 1976 German Bundesliga championship and reached the 1977

German Cup The DFB-Pokal (), also known as the German Cup in English, is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundes ...

final. In 1978, he returned to Denmark, to play for

Næstved IF Næstved () is a town in the municipality of the same name, located in the southern part of the island of Zealand in Denmark. Næstved has several adult education centers, five elementary schools - and has at least one of each type of the four ...

. At the end of his Danish career, he moved to the United States to play

indoor soccer Indoor soccer or arena soccer is a form of five-a-side football, five-a-side or six-a-side version of minifootball. It is derived from association football and adapted to be played in walled hardcourt indoor arenas. It differs from the FIFA, FIFA ...

, playing for

Wichita Wings The Wichita Wings were a professional indoor soccer franchise based in Wichita, Kansas. The Wings were admitted to the Major Indoor Soccer League as an expansion team on August 21, 1979.

and the Kansas City Comets.

References

* Marco de los Reyes, "Troldmanden", ''

Berlingske Tidende ''Berlingske'', previously known as ''Berlingske Tidende'' (, 'Berling's Times'), is a Danish national daily newspaper based in Copenhagen. It is considered a newspaper of record for Denmark. First published on 3 January 1749, ''Berlingske'' is ...

'', 11 December 2006

External links

* *
NASL/MISL stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kristensen, Jorgen 1946 births Living people Danish men's footballers Men's association football wingers Køge Boldklub players Calgary Boomers players Chicago Sting (NASL) players Detroit Cougars (soccer) players Sparta Rotterdam players Feyenoord players Hertha BSC players Tulsa Roughnecks (1978–1984) players Kansas City Comets (1979–1991) players Wichita Wings (MISL) players Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992) players Eredivisie players Bundesliga players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Denmark men's international footballers Danish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's soccer players in Canada Danish expatriate sportspeople in Canada Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Danish expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Danish expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in West Germany Danish expatriate sportspeople in West Germany Footballers from Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht UEFA Europa League–winning players 20th-century Danish sportsmen