Klaus Berggreen (born 3 February 1958) is a Danish former

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 ...

, most prominently for

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

clubs

Pisa Pisa ( ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Tuscany, Central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for the Leaning Tow ...

and

A.S. Roma Associazione Sportiva Roma (''Rome Sport Association''; Italian pronunciation: ) is a professional football club based in Rome, Italy. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma has participated in the top tier of Italian football for all of its exis ...

.Interview with Jyllands-posten.dk
/ref> He played 46 matches and scored five goals for the Danish national team, and he represented his country at the

1986 World Cup The 1986 FIFA World Cup was the 13th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in Mexico from 31 May to 29 June 1986. The tournament was the second to feature a 24-team format. Colombia had ...

and two

European Championship A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

tournaments.

Career

Born in

Kongens Lyngby Kongens Lyngby (, Danish for "the King's Heather Town"; short form Lyngby) is the seat and commercial centre of Lyngby-Taarbæk Municipality in the northern suburbs of Copenhagen, Denmark. Lyngby Hovedgade is a busy shopping street and the site ...

, Berggreen started playing football at local club

Lyngby Boldklub Lyngby Boldklub () is a professional Football (soccer), football club based in Kongens Lyngby, Lyngby, Denmark, founded in 1921. It is based at Lyngby Stadion. The club play in the Danish Superliga. From 1994 to 2001 the club was known as Lyngby ...

at the age of six. He made his senior debut in 1975, in a Lyngby team which struggled to establish itself in the

Danish 2nd Division The 2nd Division () is a professional association football league for men and the third division in Denmark. It is organised by the Divisionsforeningen on behalf of the Danish Football Association (Danish FA; DBU) as part of the nation-wide Da ...

. Berggreen was Lyngby's top goalscorer for several seasons, and scored 15 goals when the club won

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

to the

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 ...

in 1979. He made his international debut 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 ...

in August 1979, in the first game of the newly appointed national manager

Sepp Piontek Josef Emanuel Hubertus "Sepp" Piontek (born 5 March 1940) is a German former football player and manager. Playing career Born in Wrocław during World War II, Piontek started his playing career with VfL Germania Leer. Between 1963 and 1972, the ...

. He played one more game for his country, before his international career went on a hiatus. In 1982, he moved abroad to play for newly promoted club SC Pisa in the Italian

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

. Berggreen helped the club stay in Serie A, and was recalled to the Danish national team in October 1982. In the

1983–84 Serie A The 1983–84 Serie A season was won by Juventus. It was a tight championship, with reigning champions Roma providing strong opposition to the Bianconeri, who obtained the point they needed by drawing 1-1 against Avellino on 6 May, taking the t ...

season, Pisa were

relegated 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 ...

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 ...

, but Berggreen chose to stay with the club. He was selected to compete for the Danish national team at the 1984 European Championship, where he played four matches, and scored a goal in the 5–0 victory against

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

. In the semi-final against

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, Berggreen was

sent off In sports, an ejection (also known as dismissal, sending-off, disqualification, or early shower) is the removal of a participant from a contest due to a violation of the sport's rules. The exact violations that lead to an ejection vary depending ...

injury time Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the ga ...

, and Denmark were later eliminated following

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

. The following season, he helped Pisa win the 1984–85 Serie B title, and obtain promotion to Serie A once again. Pisa were relegated once more at the end of the

1985–86 Serie A The 1985–86 Serie A season was won by Juventus FC, Juventus. Teams Pisa Calcio, Pisa, US Lecce, Lecce and AS Bari, Bari had been promoted from Serie B. They all will be relegated. Events Italy arrived at the top of the UEFA ranking. Final c ...

season. With the Danish national team, Berggreen played an important part in Denmark's first ever qualification for a

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

tournament. In the penultimate match of the

qualification stage Qualification may refer to: Processes * Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS), a competitive contract procurement process established by the United States Congress * Process qualification, ensures that manufacturing and production processes can ...

in October 1985, Denmark were trailing against

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

by 0–1 at

half-time In several team sports, matches are played in two halves. Half-time (also written halftime or half time) is the name given to the interval between the two halves of the match. Typically, after half-time, teams swap ends of the field of play in or ...

. Ten minutes after the break, Berggreen snapped the ball from a Norwegian defender, and made the assist for

Michael Laudrup Michael Laudrup (, born 15 June 1964) is a Danish professional Association football, football coach and former player. Renowned for his composure, passing, vision, technical skills, ball control, and dribbling ability, Laudrup is widely regarded ...

to tie the game. Berggreen himself went on to score two goals, as Denmark eventually won 5–1. He was included in the Danish squad for the

, and played three games, before Denmark were once again eliminated by Spain. After the World Cup, Berggreen opted to stay in the Serie A, and signed with vice-champions

. He played a single season at Roma, which ended in a seventh-place finish in

. He then moved on to league rivals

Torino Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

, whom he helped to finish in sixth place the following season. He was selected to represent Denmark at the 1988 European Championship in June 1988, where he played two games as a substitute. Berggreen ended his national career after the tournament, having played 46 matches and scored five goals since his international debut in 1979. Berggreen moved back to Denmark, where he ended his career with Lyngby, in a combined role as both active player and Lyngby sports director. He ended his active career in March 1990, at the age of 32 years, after more than 200 games for Lyngby. Lyngby struggled financially, and Berggreen left his job as a sports director in November 1992. He went on to concentrate on his clothing company.

Honours

Pisa *

: 1984–85 *

Mitropa Cup The Mitropa Cup, officially called Coupe de l'Europe Centrale, Mitteleuropäischer Pokal or Central European Cup, was one of the first international major European association football, football cups for club sides. It was conducted among the suc ...

: 1986

References

External links

*
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Berggreen, Klaus 1958 births Living people Danish men's footballers Denmark men's international footballers Denmark men's under-21 international footballers Danish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Danish expatriate sportspeople in Italy Lyngby Boldklub players Serie A players Serie B players Pisa SC players AS Roma players Torino FC players UEFA Euro 1984 players 1986 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 1988 players Men's association football midfielders Sportspeople from Lyngby-Taarbæk Municipality Footballers from the Capital Region of Denmark 20th-century Danish sportsmen