Poul Lars Høgh-Pedersen (; 14 January 1959 – 8 December 2021) was a Danish
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 his entire career as a
goalkeeper
In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...
for
Odense BK
Odense Boldklub (; also known as Odense BK or the more commonly used OB) is a Danish professional football club based in the city of Odense, in southern Denmark. The club has won three Danish championships and five Danish Cup trophies. OB play ...
. He won three
Danish football champions
The Danish football champions are the winners of the highest league of football in Denmark. The title has been contested since 1913, in a varying form of competitions. Since 1991, the winners have been found through the Danish Superliga championsh ...
hips and three
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 ...
trophies with OB, and won the
Danish ''Best Goalkeeper of the Year'' award five times. He played eight matches for the
Denmark national team, and was selected for 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
1996 European Championship squads. He was a part of the Danish team which won the 1995
King Fahd Cup.
Høgh owned his own goalkeeping company named Lars Høgh Coaching ApS. He trained countless goalkeepers in the Danish Superliga, both individually but also firmly attached to clubs in the league.
At the time of his death, he worked as a goalkeeping coach for
Brøndby IF
Brøndbyernes Idrætsforening (, usually abbreviated to Brøndby IF (), is a Danish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Brøndbyvester. Brøndby IF denotes the professional football section of Brøndbyernes ...
(2016–2021), and the Denmark national team (2007–2021).
From 2000 to 2003, Høgh worked as sports director for
OB.
Career
Born in
Odense
Odense ( , , ) is the third largest city in Denmark (after Copenhagen and Aarhus) and the largest city on the island of Funen. As of 1 January 2025, the city proper had a population of 185,480 while Odense Municipality had a population of 210, ...
, Høgh started playing football with local club
Odense Boldklub
Odense Boldklub (; also known as Odense BK or the more commonly used OB) is a Danish professional football club based in the city of Odense, in southern Denmark. The club has won three Danish championships and five Danish Cup trophies. OB play ...
(OB). He made his senior debut in 1977 as an amateur (later to become semi-professional, and eventually full-time-professional), and was an understudy to
Denmark national team goalkeeper
Mogens Therkildsen
Mogens Benno Therkildsen (born 15 March 1940) is a Danish former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He competed in the men's tournament at the 1972 Summer Olympics
The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX O ...
, as OB won the
1977 Danish championship. The following years he established himself as OB's starting goalkeeper, and debuted for the
Denmark under-21 national team in March 1979. He was a part of the OB team which won the
1982 Danish championship and 1983 Danish Cup, and was called up for the Denmark national team by national team 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 made his national team debut in May 1983, and was a part of the Denmark team at the
1986 FIFA World Cup
The 1986 FIFA World Cup was the 13th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, 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-tea ...
.
He started the World Cup as a substitute, but played in Denmark's last two matches at the tournament. Høgh replaced
Troels Rasmussen
Troels Rasmussen (born 7 April 1961) is a Danish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper for Danish clubs Vejle Boldklub and AGF. He played 391 games for AGF, and scored five goals from penalty kick
A penalty shot or penalt ...
as starting goalkeeper when Denmark beat
West Germany
West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...
2–0 and advanced to the knock-out stage. In the round of 16 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 ...
, Høgh conceded four goals to Spanish striker
Emilio Butragueño
Emilio Butragueño Santos (; born 22 July 1963) is a Spanish retired professional footballer who played as a striker.
He was best known for his spell with Real Madrid. Nicknamed ''El Buitre'' (The Vulture), he was a member of the '' La Quinta ...
, as Denmark lost 5–1 and was eliminated from the tournament. After the 1986 World Cup, Høgh was named 1986 ''Best Goalkeeper of the Year''. Troels Rasmussen reclaimed his starting position in the national team, and Høgh played what would be his last match in the national team for eight years in September 1987. With the emergence of record-setting goalkeeper
Peter Schmeichel
Peter Bolesław Schmeichel (born 18 November 1963) is a Danish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. During eight seasons at English club Manchester United, he won 15 trophies including five Premier League titles, three FA C ...
, Høgh established himself as one of Schmeichel's most frequent understudies.
With OB, Høgh continued his consistent goalkeeping, and guided the team to another Danish championship in 1989, as well as Danish Cup triumphs in 1991 and 1993. He won the ''Best Goalkeeper of the Year'' award a further four times, setting a record five award wins in 1994. Høgh was a part of the Denmark national team at the 1995 King Fahd Cup, where he was Denmark's starting goalkeeper in the absence of Peter Schmeichel. In the second game of the tournament, Høgh suffered an injury, and was replaced by
Mogens Krogh
Mogens Krogh (; born 31 October 1963) is a Danish former professional football player who was most recently manager of Næstved BK. In his playing career, Krogh was the first choice goalkeeper of Ikast fS between 1981 and 1991 and of Brøndby ...
, who tended the goal as Denmark won the tournament.
Later life and death
Høgh retired as a footballer in 2000, 41 years old, after an outstanding career with OB. He played his entire career with OB, for whom he played a total 817 matches from his debut in 1977, of which 603 were league matches. Following his retirement, Høgh served three years as sports director for Odense BK. He went on to become a footballing coach, both for individual goalkeepers, as well as clubs. In 2008, he replaced
Jørgen Henriksen as coach for the goalkeepers of the national team of Denmark. He maintained this position and the same position for
Brøndby IF
Brøndbyernes Idrætsforening (, usually abbreviated to Brøndby IF (), is a Danish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Brøndbyvester. Brøndby IF denotes the professional football section of Brøndbyernes ...
until
pancreatic cancer
Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of ...
prevented him from doing so. He died from the disease on 8 December 2021, at the age of 62. A week before his death he had been included in the
Danish Football Association
The Danish Football Association (; DBU) is the governing body of football in Denmark. It is the organization of Danish football clubs and runs the professional Danish football leagues, alongside the men's and women's national teams. Based ...
's Hall of Fame.
[Roth, C. (9 December 2021)]
Lars Høgh er død
TV2.
Honours
OB
*
Danish championship:
1977
Events January
* January 8 – 1977 Moscow bombings, Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group.
* January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (no ...
,
1982
Events
January
* January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00).
* January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...
,
1989
1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...
*
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 ...
:
1982–83,
1990–91,
1992–93
Denmark
*
King Fahd Cup:
1995
1995 was designated as:
* United Nations Year for Tolerance
* World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War
This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...
Individual
*
Danish ''Best Goalkeeper of the Year'': 1986, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1994
See also
*
List of one-club men in football
References
External links
*
*
*
OB profile
ShowStars profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hogh, Lars
1959 births
2021 deaths
Men's association football goalkeepers
Danish men's footballers
Denmark men's international footballers
Denmark men's under-21 international footballers
Footballers from Odense
Danish Superliga players
Odense Boldklub players
1986 FIFA World Cup players
1995 King Fahd Cup players
FIFA Confederations Cup–winning players
UEFA Euro 1996 players
FC Nordsjælland non-playing staff
AaB Fodbold non-playing staff
Brøndby IF non-playing staff
Odense Boldklub non-playing staff
Association football goalkeeping coaches
Deaths from pancreatic cancer
Deaths from cancer in Denmark
20th-century Danish sportsmen