Kris Stadsgaard (born 1 August 1985) is a Danish former professional

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 ...

er who played as a

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

. He made one senior appearance in 2003 for

Farum Farum is a town on the northeast of the island of Zealand in eastern Denmark, 20 km northwest of Copenhagen. The town has a population of 20,369 (1 January 2025).

before the club changed its name to Nordsjælland. He signed with Italian club Reggina in August 2007 and left the club in March 2008 for Rosenborg in Norway, winning two

Norwegian Premier League Eliteserien () is a professional association football league in Norway and the highest level of the Norwegian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the Norwegian First Division ...

championships in three seasons there. After 1.5 years with Spanish club

Málaga Málaga (; ) is a Municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 591,637 in 2024, it is the second-most populo ...

he returned to Denmark with

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

in January 2012. He made three appearances for the Denmark national team. He is the son of former Danish football referee Knud Stadsgaard.

Club career

Farum and Nordsjælland

Born in

, Denmark, Stadsgaard began his career at

Farum Farum is a town on the northeast of the island of Zealand in eastern Denmark, 20 km northwest of Copenhagen. The town has a population of 20,369 (1 January 2025).

, where he started his career since joining them in 2001 and progressed through the ranks. Stadsgaard made his

Danish Superliga The Danish Superliga (, ) is a professional association football league in Denmark and the highest level of the Danish football league system. The league is currently contested by 12 teams each year, with 2 teams relegated. It is the current ...

debut for Farum in the

2002–03 Danish Superliga The 2002–03 Danish Superliga season was the 13th season of the Danish Superliga league championship, governed by the Danish Football Association. It took place from the first match on July 27, 2002, to final match on June 22, 2003. The Danish c ...

season, playing alongside Rasmus Marvits in central–defence position, in a 5–1 loss against

Silkeborg Silkeborg () is a Denmark, Danish town with a population of 52,571 (1 January 2025). He stayed with the team when Farum BK changed its name to Nordsjælland in summer 2003. After making five appearances in the 2003–04 season, Stadsgaard had a first team chance following the injury of the club's captain Jacob Rasmussen and from that moment on, Stadsgaard managed to play his way into the Nordsjælland team in the 2004–05 season. As the 2004–05 season progressed, he went on to make twenty–one appearances in all competitions. As a result of his performance, Stadsgaard was rewarded with a contract extension, signing a four–year contract. However, Stadgaard's first team opportunities was limited for the next two seasons, as he suffered injuries and made eight appearances as a result. In the 2007–08 season, Stadsgaard was given a handful of first appearances and since the start of the season, he went on to make six appearances.

Reggina

In August 2012 Stadsgaard signed with 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 ...

team Reggina who paid a transfer fee of 10 million DKK (€1.5 million) to Nordsjælland, including him in their squad for the 2007–08 season. After the move, he was joined by compatriot

Mike Tullberg Mike Tullberg (born 25 December 1985) is a Danish professional football manager and former player who is currently in charge of Borussia Dortmund II. Playing career A forward, Tullberg got his national breakthrough with Danish Superliga club AG ...

. On 15 September 2007, Stadsgaard made his debut for the club in a 2–1 defeat to

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: People, characters, figures, names * Roma or Romani people, an ethnic group living mostly in Europe and the Americas. * Roma called Roy, ancient Egyptian High Priest of Amun * Roma (footballer, born 1979), born ''Paul ...

. However, Stadsgaard soon struggled in the first team, as he appeared mostly on the substitute and was told by the club's sporting director, Riccardo Bigon, to open up his personality, to integrate better into the squad. By January, both Stadsgaard and Tullberg were dropped from the squad and never played for the club again. He rejected an opportunity to leave the club in January when he refused to be loaned out, leading both the club and him fell out. Following his move to Rosenberg, Stadsgaard expressed regret moving to Reggina and admitted money was a factor as the reason he joined them.

Rosenborg

After staying at Reggina for eight months, Stadsgaard ended his stay there when he signed for Norwegian club Rosenborg on 29 March 2008 for approximately 4 million

NOK Nok is a village in Jaba, Nigeria, Jaba Local Government Area of Kaduna State, Nigeria. The village is an archeological site. Archaeology The discovery of terracotta figurines at this location caused its name to be used for the Nok culture, ...

, signing a four–year contract. It came after when his father, Knud, confirmed that Rosenborg expressed interest signing him. On 7 April 2008, Stadsgaard made his Rosenborg debut, where he came on as a second-half substitute, in a 3–2 kiss against

Strømsgodset Strømsgodset is a former municipality in Vestfold county (from 1964 Buskerud county) in Norway which is today a part of the city of Drammen. History Strømsgodset was originally a small rural annex to the city parish of Bragernes (Drammen). ...

. From that moment, Stadsgaard became a first team regular since his debut until he suffered an injury in early–June. Unfortunately, while rehabilitating his injury, it was delayed for another month. After returning to the first team in late–August, Stadsgaard then suffered another injury that kept him out for the rest of the season during a UEFA match against

Club Brugge (), known simply as Club Brugge (in English also: ''Club Bruges''), is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges, Belgium. It was founded in 1891 and its home ground is the Jan Breydel Stadium, which has a capacity of 29,042. They pl ...

. At the end of the 2008 season, Stadsgaard finished his first season, making sixteen appearances in all competitions. In the 2009 season, Stadsgaard missed the start of the season, due to rehabilitating his knee injury and it was not until on 3 May 2009 when he made his return to the first team from injury, in a 1–0 win against

Fredrikstad Fredrikstad (; previously ''Frederiksstad''; literally "Fredrik's Town") is a List of cities in Norway, city and Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Østfold Counties of Norway, county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipal ...

. From that moment on, Stadsgaard regained his first team place since returning from injury and his performance earned him a national called up. In 2009, Stadsgaard was featured for most of the season, although he appeared on the substitute bench on three occasion and sidelined with suspension. Despite this, Stadsgaard helped Rosenberg win the league and went on to make twenty–five appearances in all competitions. In 2010 season, Stadsgaard started the season well when he scored his first Rosenborg goal, in a 3–1 win over Aalesunds to win the Superfinalen trophy, which turned out to be the last edition. Since the start of the 2010 season, Stadsgaard established himself in the first team and went on to make twenty–one appearances in all competitions. His performance in the summer attracted interests, including Copenhagen. Amid the transfer speculation, he made his last appearance for Rosenborg on 29 August 2010, in a 3–2 win over

Start Start can refer to multiple topics: * Takeoff, the phase of flight where an aircraft transitions from moving along the ground to flying through the air * Starting lineup in sports * Track and field#Starts use in race, Starts use in sport race * S ...

. Despite his departure, the club went on to win the league for the second time this season. During his time with the club, Rosenborg won the 2009 and 2010

championships, as well as the

2010 Superfinalen The 2010 Superfinalen was the second edition of Superfinalen, an annual football match between the winners of the previous season's Tippeligaen and Norwegian Cup competitions. Modeled on the FA Community Shield, the match is intended to be a seaso ...

trophy.

Málaga

On 31 August 2010, Stadsgaard left Rosenborg to sign a three-year contract with

of the Spanish

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

for an undisclosed fee, although the move was reported to be 11 million

. Upon joining the club, Stadsgaard revealed that there were interests from other club but insisted Málaga was his first choice. Stadsgaard made his La Liga debut for Málaga, playing the whole game on 12 September 2010 against

Real Zaragoza Real Zaragoza, S.A.D. (), commonly referred to as Zaragoza, is a football club based in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, that currently competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system, Spanish league system. Zarag ...

, which saw them win 5–3. In the next game against

Sevilla Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula. Seville ...

on 19 September 2010, Stadsgaard set up a goal for

Salomón Rondón José Salomón Rondón Giménez (; born 16 September 1989) is a Venezuelan professional footballer who plays as a striker for Liga MX club Pachuca and captains the Venezuela national team. After starting out at Aragua, Rondón went on to spen ...

, which saw Málaga lose 2–1. He scored his first goal for Málaga on 16 October 2010, in a 1–4 home loss against

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

. However, as the 2010–11 season progressed, Stadsgaard spent the rest of the season on the substitute bench and his own injury concerns following the arrival of

Martín Demichelis Martín Gastón Demichelis (; born 20 December 1980) is an Argentine professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Association football, footballer who played usually as a centre-back, although he could also operate as ...

, as well as, his own injury concern. Despite this, Stadsgaard finished the season, making twenty–five appearances and scoring once in all competitions. Ahead of the 2011–12 season, Stadsgaard was linked a return move to his homeland, with Copenhagen keen on signing him, which was denied Stadsgaard, himself. In the 2011–12 season, Stadsgaard suffered a setback when he had a venous occlusion on his left leg and was sidelined for two months. Although he appeared on as an unused substitute, Stadsgaard was expected to leave the club in the January transfer window, with Copenhagen confirmed their interests once again. In January 2012, they made an approach from Malaga of signing him, leading to negotiations soon after.

Copenhagen

On 23 January 2012,

broke the news that they were parting with Stadsgaard in their website. After his release from Spain, Stadsgaard signed for Danish side

, returning to his homeland and played his first Danish club for the first time since 2007. Upon arriving at Copenhagen, Stadsgaard was given the captaincy. Stadsgaard made his Copenhagen debut on 4 March 2012, where he made his first start, in a 1–1 draw against

AaB AAB, AaB or Aab may refer to: Aviation * Abelag Aviation in Belgium * Air Assault Badge, a United States Army military badge * Anti-aircraft battery, a weapons system component for anti-aircraft warfare * IATA airport code for Arrabury Airport ...

. Since making his debut, Stadsgaard managed to dispatch a first team place from

Ragnar Sigurðsson Ragnar Sigurðsson (born 19 June 1986) is an Icelandic former professional footballer who played as centre-back. Beginning his career with Fylkir, he went on to represent IFK Göteborg, Copenhagen, Krasnodar, Fulham, Rubin Kazan, Rostov, and R ...

. However, Stadsgaard suffered an injury that kept him out for two weeks. Following his return, he managed to regain his first team place, but was involved in an incident with manager

Carsten V. Jensen Carsten Vagn Jensen (; born 28 February 1963), colloquially known as Carsten V. Jensen or simply CV, is a Danish former footballer and coach, who was most recently the director of football of Brøndby IF. Career He started his career with Næstv ...

after Stadsgaard reportedly told him to shut up following a 2–2 draw against

SønderjyskE SønderjyskE is a Denmark, Danish sport corporation. They have a Football (soccer), football team (SønderjyskE Fodbold, based in Haderslev), two team handball, handball teams (SønderjyskE Håndbold, one male based in Sønderborg, one female bas ...

. Although the club was unsuccessful to win the league later in the season, Stadsgaard finished the half season at Copenhagen, making fourteen appearances in all competitions. Despite this, Stadsgaard helped the side win the

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 ...

nevertheless. In the 2012–13 season, Stadsgaard appeared on the substitute bench for the first two league matches, due to new manager

Ariël Jacobs Ariël Jacobs (; born 25 July 1953) is a Belgian association football, football manager and former player who most recently managed Ligue 1 side Valenciennes FC and is currently employed as Director of Football at Oud-Heverlee Leuven. Managerial ...

preferring Sigurðsson and

Sölvi Ottesen Sölvi Geir Ottesen Jónsson (born 18 February 1984) is an Icelandic former footballer and current manager, who played as a centre back; he earned 28 caps for the Iceland national football team. He is currently the manager of Icelandic team V ...

. After appearing on the substitute bench for the next two matches once more between 25 August 2012 and 2 September 2012, Stadsgaard returned to the first team on 15 September 2012, where he set up a goal for

Igor Vetokele Igor Mavuba Vetokele (born 23 March 1992) is a former professional footballer who played as a forward. Born in Belgium, he also represented the Angola national team. Club career Cercle Brugge Vetokele started his youth career at Oostende in 200 ...

to score an equaliser, in a 2–1 win over Nordsjælland. On 21 October 2012, he scored his first Copenhagen goal, in a 1–0 win over Brøndby and then scored again two weeks later, on 3 November 2012, in a 2–0 win over

Aarhus GF Aarhus Gymnastikforening (; commonly known as AGF ) is a professional sports club based in Aarhus, Jutland, Denmark. Founded in 1880, it is one of the oldest clubs in the country where gymnastics and fencing were featured as its main sports. How ...

. As the 2012–13 season progressed, Stadsgaard helped the club win the

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football * ''League of Legends'', a 2009 multiplayer online battle a ...

this season and went on to make thirty–eight appearances and scoring two times in all competitions. In the 2013–14 season, Stadsgaard found his first team place at the club under threat following the arrival of

Olof Mellberg Erik Olof Mellberg (; born 3 September 1977) is a Swedish football manager and former professional player who was last the manager of St. Louis City in Major League Soccer. During his career, Mellberg played as a defender, with his longest ...

. However, he soon lost his first team place, resulting him on the substitute bench, as well as, his own injury concern. Following his recovery from injury, Stadsgaard was given a handful of first team appearances for the rest of the season following the sale of Sigurðsson and Ottesen. Despite suffering from injury later on, he went on to make twenty–two appearances in all competitions in the 2013–14 season. The 2014–15 season saw Stadsgaard switched shirt from four to thirteen instead following the arrival of Per Nilsson. However, at the start of the 2014–15 season, Stadsgaard suffered a knee injury and required surgery as a result. Because of this, Stadsgaard never made an appearance in the 2014–15 season, as his recovery was delayed on numerous occasion. In the 2015–16 season, Stadsgaard continued to recover his knee injury since the start of the last season. By mid–August, he returned from injury and appeared as an unused substitute on three occasion throughout August. However, once again, Stadsgaard suffered another injury again, as well as, competitions and never appeared in the first team for the rest of the season. While recovering from injury, Stadsgaard's future at Copenhagen was in doubt after he was left out of the training camp in Dubai. At the end of the 2015–16 season, Stadsgaard's release by the club was confirmed. Because of his ongoing battle with injury, Stadsgaard announced his retirement from football. While spending two seasons on the sidelines with injuries, the club won both the league and the cup consecutively.

International career

In 2005, Stadsgaard played two matches for the Denmark under 20 team. Four years on, Stadsgaard was called up by the senior national team for the first time. On 12 August 2009, he debuted for the Denmark national team against

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

. Playing out of position as a left back, he was directly involved in Chile's second goal, only a minute after his entrance. Despite the error, Rosenberg then Manager

Erik Hamrén Erik Anders Hamrén (born 27 June 1957) is a Swedish manager and former football player, who most recently was the manager of Danish Superliga club AaB. He also previously coached the Sweden national team between 2009 and 2016 and the Iceland ...

hoped that Stadsgaaard could be in the squad for the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

. However, Stadsgaard did not make the cut. Stadsgaard was not recalled for the national team until November 2010, deputizing for the injured

Bo Svensson Bo Svensson (born 4 August 1979) is a Danish professional football manager and former player who played as a defender. He was most recently the head coach of Union Berlin. During his playing career, Svensson made three appearances for the Den ...

and

Simon Kjær Simon Thorup Kjær (; born 26 March 1989) is a Danish former professional Association football, footballer who played as a centre-back. Kjær was named 2007 Danish Football Player of the Year#Young Players of the Year, Danish under-19 talent o ...

in a friendly game 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 ...

. He replaced

Mathias Jørgensen Mathias Jattah-Njie Jørgensen (; born 23 April 1990), commonly known by his mononymous nickname Zanka (), is a Danish professional footballer who plays as a centre-back or right-back for Major League Soccer club LA Galaxy. Jørgensen began hi ...

in the central defence at half-time, in a game that ultimately ended a 0–0 draw.

Career statistics

Personal life

Stadsgaard is engaged to his long-term girlfriend, Michella Moengaard. Stadsgaard said his girlfriend speaks Spanish and helped him to speak the language following his move to Málaga.

Honours

Rosenborg * Norwegian Premier League Championship:

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

* Norwegian Superfinal: 2010 Copenhagen * Danish Superliga Championship:

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

, 2015–16 *

: 2011–12, 2014–15, 2015–16

References

External links

*
Kris Stadsgaard
official

statistics at danskfodbold.com *
Italian Serie A stats
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Stadsgaard, Kris 1985 births Living people Footballers from Copenhagen Danish men's footballers Men's association football defenders Danish Superliga players FC Nordsjælland players Serie A players AS Reggina 1914 players Eliteserien players Rosenborg BK players La Liga players Málaga CF players F.C. Copenhagen players Denmark men's under-21 international footballers Denmark men's international footballers Danish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Norway Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Danish expatriate sportspeople in Norway Danish expatriate sportspeople in Italy Danish expatriate sportspeople in Spain 21st-century Danish sportsmen