Mathias Damm Kvistgaarden (; born 15 April 2002) is a Danish professional

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 plays as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

for

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship, known simply as the Championship and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Bet Championship, is a professional association football league in England and Wales. Contested by 24 clubs, it is the highest divi ...

club

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club is a professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was founded in 1902. Since 1935, Norwich have played their h ...

and the Denmark national team.

Club career

Brøndby

Youth

Born in

Birkerød Birkerød () is a town in Rudersdal Municipality in the northern outskirts of Copenhagen, Denmark. It is surrounded by several lakes and small woodlands. Birkerød station is located on the Nordbanen, Hillerød radial of the S-train suburban networ ...

, Kvistgaarden began his career at hometown club

IF Skjold Birkerød Idrætsforeningen Skjold Birkerød (; commonly known as Skjold Birkerød), is a sports club based in Birkerød, Denmark. Skjold is mostly known for its association football department, which competes in the Denmark Series, the fourth tier of the ...

. At age 11, he was noticed by scouts of

FC Nordsjælland Football Club Nordsjælland, commonly known as FC Nordsjælland, Nordsjælland () or FCN, is a professional Danish association football, football team from the North Zealand town of Farum. Founded as ''Farum Boldklub'' from the merger of the to ...

at a youth trial, while at the same time going on trial at

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 ...

; eventually choosing to move to the Lyngby youth academy in 2013. Two years later, he joined the youth academy of

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 ...

at U13-level, partly due to the Kvistgaarden family's close relationship to former head coach of Brøndby,

Thomas Frank Thomas Carr Frank (born March 21, 1965) is an American political analyst, historian, and journalist. He co-founded and edited '' The Baffler'' magazine. Frank is the author of the books '' What's the Matter with Kansas?'' (2004) and '' Listen, L ...

. At the same time, he enrolled as a pupil at Brøndbyvester Skole located less than one kilometre from the club, with his main course being

physical education Physical education is an academic subject taught in schools worldwide, encompassing Primary education, primary, Secondary education, secondary, and sometimes tertiary education. It is often referred to as Phys. Ed. or PE, and in the United Stat ...

. He described the environment in the youth squads as being very competitive compared to his former experiences in IF Skjold and Lyngby, and the Brøndby U13-team ended up in first place of the table of their respective youth league that year. Kvistgaarden was promoted to the U19-team in the summer of 2019, and scored nine goals in 14 appearances in their campaign in the under-19 league.

First team

Kvistgaarden was included in the first-team squad for the first time on 5 July 2020, ahead of an away match in the

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 ...

against AaB, due to regular first team strikers

Simon Hedlund Simon Fredrik Hedlund (; born 11 March 1993) is a Swedish professional footballer who plays as a forward for Allsvenskan club Elfsborg. Hedlund joined IF Elfsborg at the age of 16 and debuted in the Allsvenskan in 2012. In 2016, he moved to U ...

and

Samuel Mráz Samuel Mráz (born 13 May 1997) is a Slovak professional footballer who plays as a forward for Polish club Motor Lublin and the Slovakia national team. Club career Senica Mráz started his football career at hometown club ŠK Malacky, before ...

having been tested positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

. During the match, which Brøndby lost 2–0, Kvistgaarden made his debut as a 73rd-minute substitute for Mikael Uhre. His first senior goal came on 6 March 2022, which proved to be the winning goal in a 1–0 away victory against

Silkeborg Silkeborg () is a Denmark, Danish town with a population of 52,571 (1 January 2025).AaB. He signed a contract extension on 29 April, keeping him at the club until 2025. In May 2022, Kvistgaarden scored four goals in three league appearances, including his first brace on the final matchday of the season against Silkeborg. Before the match, he had been named Superliga Young Player of the Month for May. On 26 May 2023, Kvistgaarden extended his contract with Brøndby until 2027. He scored his first senior

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

three days later in a 5–1 win over

Nordsjælland North Zealand, also North Sealand (), refers to the northeastern part of the Danish island of Zealand. The Danish tourist authorities have recently introduced the term Danish Riviera to cover the area in view of its increasing importance for to ...

Norwich City

On 8 July 2025, Kvistgaarden signed for

club

on an initial four-year deal for an undisclosed fee.

International career

Kvistgaarden has won six caps for Denmark at under-18 level in which he has scored three goals. He made his debut for the Denmark under-19 team on 8 October 2020 in a friendly against

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, where he scored a goal in a 3–1 win. On 4 June 2022, Kvistgaarden gained his first cap for the Denmark under-21s in the UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifier against

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

. He started and played 63 minutes before being substituted for

Rasmus Højlund Rasmus Winther Højlund (; born 4 February 2003) is a Danish professional footballer who plays as a striker for Premier League club Manchester United and the Denmark national team. Højlund graduated from Copenhagen's youth academy, making h ...

in a 3–0 win at

Vejle Stadium Vejle Stadium () is a fully enclosed, modern (built in 2008) football stadium in Vejle, Denmark and is home ground of Vejle Boldklub. The stadium has two towers for business and two VIP lounges. The stadium holds 11,060 spectators and the field ...

. He scored his first goal for the under-21 team ten days later against

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

, poking in the ball at the far post after an assist by Gustav Isaksen. Kvistgaarden made his debut for the Denmark national team against

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

in a friendly on 7 June 2025, coming on as a substitute in the 65th minute in place of Mikkel Damsgaard. Denmark won the game 2–1.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Brøndby *

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

Individual * Superliga Young Player of the Month: May 2022, May 2023 *

Team of the Month: October 2023 *

Team of the Year: 2024–25

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kvistgaarden, Mathias 2002 births Living people Sportspeople from Rudersdal Municipality Footballers from the Capital Region of Denmark Danish men's footballers Men's association football forwards IF Skjold Birkerød players Lyngby Boldklub players Brøndby IF players Norwich City F.C. players Danish Superliga players Denmark men's youth international footballers Denmark men's under-21 international footballers Denmark men's international footballers 21st-century Danish sportsmen Danish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Danish expatriate sportspeople in England