Oliver Christensen (born 22 March 1999) 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

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 Italian club

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Florence, Tuscany. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while ...

Club career

OB

Born in

Kerteminde Kerteminde (nickname: ''Min Amandas by'', i.e. ''My Amanda's town''), is a town in central Denmark, located in Kerteminde Municipality on the island of Funen. The town has a population of 6,128 (1 January 2025).

on the island of

Funen Funen (, ), is the third-largest List of islands of Denmark, island of Denmark, after Zealand and North Jutlandic Island, Vendsyssel-Thy, with an area of . It is the List of islands by area, 165th-largest island in the world. It is located in th ...

, Christensen played in the youth department of his local club, Kerteminde Boldklub, before moving to

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) at under-12 level. There, he progressed through the academy, and completed a trial with

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

in October 2016. In May 2017, Christensen signed a three-year professional contract with OB, and was promoted to the first team. Thus, he became a part of the club until 2020. In the first year of his contract, he still attended classes, after which he would become a full-time professional from the summer of 2018. He made his professional debut on 22 October 2018 in a

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 ...

match against

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 ...

. He impressed during the match, fending off a number of shots on goal from opposing players. He since became established as the starting goalkeeper for OB, gaining the nickname ''Gribben fra Kerteminde'', meaning "the vulture from

" due to his large

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the opposite wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingsp ...

Hertha BSC

On 26 August 2021, Christensen was sold to

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

club

Hertha BSC Hertha, Berliner Sport-Club e. V., commonly known as Hertha BSC () or Hertha Berlin, is a German professional football club based in Berlin. Hertha BSC plays in the 2. Bundesliga, the second tier of German football league system, German footbal ...

, where he signed a deal until June 2026. On 5 November, he made his debut for the reserve team

Hertha BSC II Hertha BSC II is the reserve team of Hertha BSC that is based in Berlin, Germany. Historically, during the time the senior team played in professional football the team has played as Hertha BSC Amateure. Since 2005 it has played under its current ...

in the

Regionalliga Nordost The Regionalliga Nordost is the fourth tier of German football league system, German football in the states of Berlin, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Saxony-Anhalt, Saxony and Thuringia. These comprise the states of former East Germany ...

game against

1. FC Lokomotive Leipzig 1. Fußballclub Lokomotive Leipzig e.V. is a German football club based in the locality of Probstheida in the Südost borough of Leipzig, Saxony. The club was previously known as VfB Leipzig and was the first national champion of Germany. It h ...

. During the 2021–22 season he did not make any Bundesliga appearance, as

Alexander Schwolow Alexander Schwolow (born 2 June 1992) is a German professional association footballer, footballer who plays as a goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper for Bundesliga club 1. FC Union Berlin, Union Berlin. Club career Youth years Schwo ...

and Marcel Lotka were given preference. Hertha finished the season in 16th place in the table and would thus meet

Hamburger SV Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), or HSV (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its Association football, football department. Though the current HSV was founde ...

in playoffs for relegation and promotion. Since Lotka and Schwolow were injured, Christensen played both games and was able to keep Hertha in the Bundesliga.

Fiorentina

On 10 August 2023, Christensen signed with Italian club

, initially as a backup to goalkeeper

Pietro Terracciano Pietro Terracciano (born 8 March 1990) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Serie A club Fiorentina. Club career Nocerina Terracciano began his professional career with Nocerina before spending the 2010–11 seas ...

. He made his competitive debut on 27 August in a 2–2 draw against

Lecce Lecce (; ) is a city in southern Italy and capital of the province of Lecce. It is on the Salentine Peninsula, at the heel of the Italian Peninsula, and is over two thousand years old. Because of its rich Baroque architecture, Lecce is n ...

. Although he started the following match against

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football ...

, his appearances were mainly in the

UEFA Conference League The UEFA Conference League (UECL), usually known simply as the Conference League, is an annual football competition organised since 2021 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It is the thir ...

, where he played four of the six group stage matches. Christensen also made key contributions in the

Coppa Italia Coppa Italia () is the annual domestic cup of Italian football. The knockout competition was organized by the DDS and the Lega Calcio until the 2009–10 season and by Lega Serie A ever since. Juventus is the competition's most successf ...

, performing strongly in both the

round of 16 A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

against

Parma Parma (; ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmesan, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,986 inhabitants as of 2025, ...

and the

quarter-finals A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

against

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

. However, an injury limited his season to just two

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 ...

matches, with ten appearances overall across all competitions. In his second season, following the arrival of

David de Gea David de Gea Quintana (; born 7 November 1990) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for club Fiorentina. Considered one of the best keepers of his generation, he is known for his reflexes and shot-stopping capabilitie ...

, Christensen became the fourth-choice goalkeeper and was left entirely out of the squad by new head coach

Raffaele Palladino Raffaele Palladino (; born 17 April 1984) is an Italian professional football coach and former player who was most recently the head coach of club Fiorentina. Club career Palladino started his senior career at Sporting Benevento, before joinin ...

Loan to Salernitana

On 22 January 2025, Christensen was loaned to

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 ...

club

Salernitana Unione Sportiva Salernitana 1919 is an Italian professional football club based in Salerno, Campania. The original club was founded in 1919 and has been reconstituted three times in the course of its history, most recently in 2011. The current ...

for the remainder of the season.

International career

Christensen played two games each for the Denmark under-18 team in 2017 and for the under-19 team in 2017 and 2018, respectively. After gaining a cap for the under-20 side in 2019, Christensen made his debut for the under-21 team on 10 September 2019 in a 2–1 victory in the

2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification The 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifying competition was a men's under-21 association football, football tournament that determined the 14 teams that would be joining the automatically qualified co-hosts Hungary national under-21 fo ...

match against

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

Aalborg Aalborg or Ålborg ( , , ) is Denmark's List of cities and towns in Denmark, fourth largest urban settlement (behind Copenhagen, Aarhus, and Odense) with a population of 119,862 (1 July 2022) in the town proper and an Urban area, urban populati ...

. On 9 November 2020, Christensen was called up to

Kasper Hjulmand Kasper Hjulmand (born 9 April 1972) is a Danish Association football, football manager and a former player. He was most recently the head coach for the Denmark national football team, Denmark national team. As a manager, he led FC Nordsjælland ...

's senior squad for the friendly against

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

due to several cancellations from, among others, the Danish national team players playing in England, due to the

COVID-19 restrictions During the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of non-pharmaceutical interventions, particularly lockdowns (encompassing stay-at-home orders, curfews, quarantines, and similar societal restrictions), were implemented in numero ...

, as well as a case of

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 ...

in the squad, which had put several national team players in quarantine. He started the match against Sweden at

Brøndby Stadium Brøndby Stadium (, ) is a football stadium in Brøndbyvester, Denmark. It is the home ground of the Danish Superliga club Brøndby IF. The venue is the second-largest stadium in Denmark. Built in 1965 and inaugurated on 31 July 1966 where it ha ...

in his debut match, on 11 November 2020.

Career statistics

References

External links

Profile
at the Hertha BSC website {{DEFAULTSORT:Christensen, Oliver 1999 births Living people People from Kerteminde Danish men's footballers Danish expatriate men's footballers Denmark men's youth international footballers Denmark men's under-21 international footballers Denmark men's international footballers Men's association football defenders Footballers from Odense Danish Superliga players Regionalliga players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Serie A players Serie B players Odense Boldklub players Hertha BSC players Hertha BSC II players ACF Fiorentina players US Salernitana 1919 players Danish expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Danish expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Italy 2022 FIFA World Cup players 21st-century Danish sportsmen