Per Frimann Hansen (born 4 June 1962) is a Danish former

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 ...

player. He played 158 matches 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 ...

for Belgian club

RSC Anderlecht Royal Sporting Club Anderlecht, commonly abbreviated to RSC Anderlecht (, , ) or RSCA (, , ), is a Belgian professional association football, football club based in Anderlecht, Brussels Capital-Region. Anderlecht plays in the Belgian First Div ...

, with whom he won three Belgian championships, as well as the 1983

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

. He played 17 matches and scored one goal for the Danish national team, and represented his country 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 ...

and 1988 European Championship.

Biography

Frimann started his career with Danish club

Akademisk Boldklub Akademisk Boldklub Gladsaxe (AB) is a Denmark, Danish professional football (soccer), football club from Gladsaxe north of Copenhagen, currently playing at the 3rd highest level of Danish domestic football in the Danish 2nd Division group 1. The ...

(AB) under manager Christian Andersen. In 1980, Frimann made his senior debut for AB, who played in the top-flight

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 1981, Frimann moved to

Kjøbenhavns Boldklub Kjøbenhavns Boldklub (known simply as KB) was a Danish professional multi-sports club based in Copenhagen. The club was founded on 26 April 1876 on the grassy fields in outer Copenhagen which later became Fælledparken. Tennis has been played s ...

(KB). At KB, he was noticed by Belgian club Anderlecht, and he went to play for the club a season later. Frimann immediately got a place in the Anderlecht starting line-up, and he made his debut for the Danish national team in October 1983. Frimann remained seven seasons in Anderlecht, where he won three Belgian championships and the 1983 UEFA Cup. In his time at the club, he played alongside a number of fellow Danish national team players, most notably national

team captain In team sport, captain is a title given to a member of the team. The title is frequently honorary, but in some cases the captain may have significant responsibility for strategy and teamwork while the game is in progress on the field. In eithe ...

Morten Olsen Morten Per Olsen (; born 14 August 1949) is a Danish former Association football, football manager and former player. He was the head coach of the Denmark national football team, Denmark national team for 15 years from 2000 until 2015, guiding ...

. In 1988, after many injury problems at Anderlecht, the 26-year-old Frimann decided to return to Denmark. He was bought by

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 ...

, and loaned out to

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 ...

(AGF) in the 1988 season, where he won the 1988

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 ...

. In 1989, he moved from AGF to Brøndby, where Morten Olsen was manager. In August 1990, Frimann ended his playing career, at 28 years of age, due to continued injury problems. He was the first player on Danish soil to have a

testimonial match A testimonial match or testimonial game, often referred to simply as a testimonial, is a practice in some sports, particularly in association football in the United Kingdom and South America, where a club has a match to honour a player for servic ...

to his benefit, as the Danish 1986 World Cup team beat Brøndby IF 6–4.

International career

Selected for the Danish squad at the 1986 World Cup, Frimann looked like becoming an important part of the Danish team.Jeppe Facius, "Drenget direktør", ''

Ekstra Bladet is a Danish tabloid newspaper, published by JP/Politikens Hus in Copenhagen.About
(in Danish) . Retrieved 22 Se ...

'', 18 September 1999 A complicated ankle injury, sustained during the last training camp before the tournament, kept Frimann from playing at the 1986 World Cup, and for the rest of his career he would struggle with injuries.Jens-Carl Kristensen, "Per Frimann stopper som fodboldinvalid", ''

Berlingske Tidende ''Berlingske'', previously known as ''Berlingske Tidende'' (, 'Berling's Times'), is a Danish national daily newspaper based in Copenhagen. It is considered a newspaper of record for Denmark. First published on 3 January 1749, ''Berlingske'' is ...

'', 15 August 1990 Frimann was a part of the Danish team which qualified for the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and officially branded as Seoul 1988 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. 159 nations were represe ...

, but the team never got to compete in the final tournament. It was discovered that Frimann was not eligible for the 2–0 win over

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 ...

in which he played, and Denmark was penalised the points of the win. This cost the spot at the final tournament. He was a part of the Danish squad for the 1988 European Championship, where he took part in a single match.

Retirement

Following his retirement, he worked with

public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. Pu ...

in the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

from 1992 to 1996. He was hired as an internal consulent in Danmarks Idrætsforbund in 1996. In April 1998, he became the sports director of former club AB. When AB manager Christian Andersen agreed a contract with league rivals

F.C. Copenhagen Football Club Copenhagen (, ), commonly known as F.C. København, F.C. Copenhagen, Copenhagen, or simply FCK, is a Danish professional football club based in Copenhagen. FCK was founded in 1992 as a superstructure on top of Kjøbenhavns Boldklub ...

in October 1998, eight months before his contract expiry in June 1999, Frimann initially refused to let Andersen go before time and suspended him. He soon changed his mind and let Andersen go, but the two would go on to have a strained relationship. In his time at AB, the club lost a great part of its

market liquidity In business, economics or investment, market liquidity is a market's feature whereby an individual or firm can quickly purchase or sell an asset without causing a drastic change in the asset's price. Liquidity involves the trade-off between the ...

, and he left the club in 2002. He then became a sportscaster at the ''Onside'' football show on the

TV3 Denmark TV3 is a Danish pay television channel owned by Viaplay Group. It was separated from the earlier Pan-Scandinavian version in 1990. Unlike its main rivals, DR and TV 2, the channel does not broadcast from Denmark but from the United Kingdom ...

TV-channel. In his 2004 autobiography, Andersen questioned Frimann's involvement in AB's financial losses, and though Frimann aired the possibility of a lawsuit, the matter was resolved when Andersen made a public apology.Thomas Mikkel Mortensen, "Christian Andersen siger undskyld", ''

'', 20 November 2004

Honours

; RSC Anderlecht *

Belgian First Division The Belgian Pro League (; ; ), officially the Jupiler Pro League () for sponsor Jupiler, is a professional association football league in Belgium and the highest level of the Belgian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs from the 2023– ...

: 1984–85, 1985–86, 1986–87 *

Belgian Super Cup The Belgian Super Cup ( ; ; ), ''Pro League Supercup'', is a Belgian club competition played as a single match between the Belgian Pro League champions (also received the Super Cup host) and the Belgian Cup winners. If both teams are the same, ...

: 1985, 1987 *

: 1982–83 (

winners Winners Merchants International L.P. is a chain of off-price Canadian department stores owned by TJX Companies. Its market niche is similar to the American chain TJ Maxx, and it is a partnered retailer to department stores HomeSense and Marshall ...

), 1983–84 (

runners-up A prize is an award to be given to a person or a group of people (such as sporting teams and organizations) to recognize and reward their actions and achievements.

) *

Jules Pappaert Cup Trophy Jules Pappaert or Pappaert cup is a Belgian football trophy since 1953 and is awarded annually to a club in the first, second or third division of the Belgian Pro League with the longest uninterrupted series of unbeaten games. The award is ...

: 1983, 1985 * Bruges Matins: 1985

Århus

: 1987–88

Brøndby IF

Source: *

Danish Football Championship 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 ...

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

* Danish Cup: 1988-89

References

External links

*
Viasat profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Frimann, Per 1962 births Living people Danish men's footballers Denmark men's international footballers Denmark men's under-21 international footballers Belgian Pro League players Akademisk Boldklub players Kjøbenhavns Boldklub players R.S.C. Anderlecht players Aarhus Gymnastikforening players Brøndby IF players 1986 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 1988 players Danish television presenters Danish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Danish expatriate sportspeople in Belgium UEFA Europa League–winning players Men's association football midfielders Sportspeople from Gladsaxe Municipality Footballers from the Capital Region of Denmark 20th-century Danish sportsmen