Karl Aage Hansen (4 July 1921 – 23 November 1990) was a Danish

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 as a forward. He won a

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receives ...

with 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 ...

at the

1948 Summer Olympics The 1948 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and officially branded as London 1948, were an international multi-sport event held from 29 July to 14 August 1948 in London, United Kingdom. Following a twelve-year hiatus cau ...

in London. He scored 17 goals in 22 games for the Danish national team, and was Danish

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 ...

on 17 occasions. He got his breakthrough as an amateur player in Danish club

Akademisk Boldklub Akademisk Boldklub Gladsaxe (AB) is a Denmark, Danish professional football (soccer), football club from Gladsaxe north of Copenhagen, currently playing at the 3rd highest level of Danish domestic football in the Danish 2nd Division group 1. The ...

, but moved abroad in 1948 to play professionally for a number of European clubs, including

Juventus FC Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...

and

UC Sampdoria Unione Calcio Sampdoria, commonly referred to as Sampdoria (), is an Italian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Genoa, Liguria. Sampdoria was formed in 1946 from the List of football club mergers, merg ...

in Italy and

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. They compete in , the third tier of English football league system, English football. Huddersfield Town we ...

in England.

Career

Amateur years

Karl Aage Hansen had a strong physique, and was a good dribbler with excellent technique, who played in the

inside forward In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than Midfielder, midfielders and Defender (association football), d ...

position. He had a lax approach to training, but kept in shape through

team handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a Handball goalkeeper, goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands ...

decathlon The decathlon is a combined event in athletics consisting of 10 track and field events. The word "decathlon" was formed, in analogy to the word "pentathlon", from Greek δέκα (''déka'', meaning "ten") and ἄθλος (''áthlos'', or ἄ ...

, and doing gymnastics. He played handball for KFUM Handball and football for KFUM Boldklub.KFUMs BOLDKLUB Fra klubbens historie
. Kfum-fodbold.dk. When he moved from KFUM Boldklub to play football for

(AB), he moved from KFUM Handball to HG Handball, where most of his AB teammates played. Hansen won the Danish handball championship with HG and represented the

Denmark men's national handball team The Denmark men's national handball team () is controlled by the Danish Handball Association and represents Denmark in international matches. They are the team with the second most gold medals won in the World Cup his ...

. Hansen's preferred sport was football, and his move to top club AB was motivated by a greater possibility to get selected for the

. Hansen made his international debut on 20 June 1943, as Denmark won 3–2 against the

Sweden men's national football team The Sweden men's national football team () represents Sweden in men's international Association football, football and it is controlled by the Swedish Football Association, the governing body of football in Sweden. Sweden's home ground is Strawb ...

, the last international game during the

German occupation of Denmark At the outset of World War II in September 1939, Denmark declared itself neutral, but that neutrality did not prevent Nazi Germany from occupying the country soon after the outbreak of war; the occupation lasted until Germany's defeat. The ...

. With AB, Hansen won the Danish championship three times, namely in the 1942–43 and

1944–45 Danish War Tournament The 1944–45 Danish War Tournament. Boldklubben Frem unsuccessfully defended its 1944 title. Akademisk Boldklub successfully defended its pursuit of the 1945 title defeating Aarhus Gymnastikforening, 3-2. Statistics of Danish War Tournament ...

s, as well as the 1946–47 Danish 1st Division. He was called up to the first Danish national team assembled after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

in June 1945, and only missed a single of Denmark's next 15 games until June 1947. In these 14 games, Hansen scored 13 goals and was likewise named

in 13 games. In the run-up to the

in London, Hansen missed a few international games due to injury. He returned to the final warm-up game, scoring two goals as Denmark beat the

Poland national football team The Poland national football team () represents Poland in men's international Association football, football competitions since their first match in 1921. It is governed by the Polish Football Association (PZPN), the governing body for football ...

8–0. Hansen was considered the most important player of the Olympic team, with his leadership skills, great work rate, creative passing, and ability to score goals. In the first game of the Olympic tournament against the

Egypt national football team The Egypt national football team (), nicknamed Pharaohs (), represents Egypt in men's FIFA, international Association football, football, and is governed by the Egyptian Football Association (EFA), the governing body of football in Egypt. Egypt ...

, Hansen scored two goals, including a goal from a solo dribble from inside the Danish half, and was credited for securing Denmark the 3–1 victory in

extra time Overtime (OT) or extra time (ET) is an additional period of play to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only if the game is required t ...

. Having captained Denmark to a 5–3 win against the

Italy national football team The Italy national football team () has represented Italy in men's international Association football, football since its first match in 1910. The national team is controlled by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC), the governing body for fo ...

in the quarter-final, Hansen's injury reappeared during the semi-final against Sweden. As no substitutions were allowed, Denmark played on with the hampered Hansen, and lost the game 2–4. Without Hansen, but with 11 fit players, Denmark won the

game 5–3 against the

Great Britain national football team The Great Britain Olympic football team is the men's football team that represents the United Kingdom at the Summer Olympic Games (where it competed as Great Britain, branded Team GB). The team is organised by the Football Association as the me ...

. Following the competition, Karl Aage Hansen and Carl Aage Præst were selected as Denmark's top performers at the tournament.p.383
. (PDF) . Karl Aage Hansen only played two additional international games for Denmark, before he signed a professional contract, and was banned from the amateur-only national team selection.

Professional career

Hansen's first year abroad was spent at

, which narrowly avoided

relegation Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

from the top-flight 1948–49 Football League First Division. In 1949, Hansen moved to Italy to play for Atalanta Bergamo, and received a transfer fee of approximately DKK150,000. At Atalanta, he played alongside fellow Danish Olympic footballer Jørgen Leschly Sørensen. Hansen scored 18 goals in 37 games,Roberto Di Maggio
Danish Players in Italy

RSSSF The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (''RSSSF'') is an international organisation dedicated to collecting statistics about association football. The foundation aims to build an exhaustive archive of football-related information from around ...

, 2 January 2005 as Atalanta finished in eight place of the

1949–50 Serie A The 1949-50 Serie A was the forty-eighth edition of the Italian Football Championship. It was the seventeenth Italian Football Championship branded Serie A, since Serie A was launched in 1929. This was the twenty-fourth season from which the It ...

season. For the next season, Hansen moved on to defending Serie A champions

, where he was to play alongside fellow Danish Olympians John Hansen and Carl Aage Præst. As a part of his contract, Karl Aage demanded a clause to let him change clubs on a free transfer. The three Danes had a great understanding on the pitch. In his first season at Juventus, Karl Aage Hansen scored 23 goals in 34 games, making him the joint third highest goal scorer of the season. During the

1951–52 Serie A The 1951-52 Serie A was the fiftieth edition of the Italian Football Championship. It was the nineteenth Italian Football Championship branded Serie A, since Serie A was launched in 1929. This was the twenty-sixth season from which the Italian Fo ...

season, Karl Aage scored only 12 goals, but in his stead John Hansen stepped up, and became league top goal scorer, as Juventus won the Serie A championship. Karl Aage Hansen played an additional season with Juventus, before leaving the club on a free transfer in 1953. The Juventus leaders thought Karl Aage Hansen over the hill, and would not offer him a satisfactory contract. He played 87 games and scored 37 goals in the Serie A for Juventus. Karl Aage Hansen had not liked being in Juventus as much as his time in Atalanta, and looked forward to move on. In the end, he chose Serie A rivals Sampdoria Genoa as his new club, and got the transfer sum himself. He stayed a single season with Sampdoria, helping the club finish 8th in the 1953–54 Serie A season, before making yet another lucrative move to the young Serie A team

Catania Calcio Catania Football Club, commonly known as Catania, is an Football in Italy, Italian football club based in the city of Catania, Sicily, that plays in Serie C. Originally founded in 1908 as ''Associazione Sportiva pro Educazione Fisica'', the clu ...

in 1954. Hansen spent three seasons with Catania, even following the club into the

Serie B The Serie B (), officially known as Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had b ...

, when the team was relegated due to

match fixing In organized sports, match fixing (also known as game fixing, race fixing, throwing, rigging, hippodroming, or more generally sports fixing) is the act of playing or officiating a contest with the intention of achieving a predetermined result, v ...

in 1955. He played a total 79 games and scored seven goals for Catania. In 1957, Hansen's professional career was over, and he returned to Denmark. He is estimated to be the member of the Danish 1948 Olympics team who made the most money from his professional career, due to his many lucrative free transfer moves, each time earning the entire transfer fee for himself.

References

External links

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Career details
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hansen, Karl Aage 1921 births 1990 deaths Danish men's footballers Denmark men's international footballers Danish male handball players Footballers at the 1948 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers for Denmark Olympic bronze medalists for Denmark Men's association football forwards Juventus FC players UC Sampdoria players Atalanta BC players Catania FC players Huddersfield Town A.F.C. players English Football League players Serie A players Serie B players Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in England Danish expatriate men's footballers Olympic medalists in football Medalists at the 1948 Summer Olympics Danish expatriate sportspeople in Italy Danish expatriate sportspeople in England 20th-century Danish sportsmen