Preben Arentoft (born 1 November 1942) 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 who played in the

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 ...

position. He played professionally for a number of clubs, most notably

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Since th ...

and

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

. He played nine games for the

Denmark national football team The Denmark national football team ( or ''herrelandsholdet'') represents Denmark and Greenland in men's international Association football, football competitions. It is controlled by the Danish Football Association (DBU), the governing body for ...

Biography

Born in

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 ...

, Arentoft started playing football with Copenhagen club

Brønshøj Boldklub Brønshøj BK, full name Brønshøj Boldklub, is a Danish football club located in the outskirts of Copenhagen. The club was founded on 15 May 1919. History Early years Brønshøj BK's first decades were spent in local leagues in the Copenha ...

. He made his Danish national team debut in June 1965, and played four national team games while at Brønshøj. He moved abroad to play professionally for

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

club

Greenock Morton Greenock Morton Football Club is a Scottish professional football club, which plays in the . The club was founded as Morton Football Club in 1874, making it one of the oldest Scottish clubs. Morton was renamed Greenock Morton in 1994 to celebr ...

. Due to the Danish rules of

amateurism An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, self-taught, user-generated, DIY, and hobbyist. History H ...

, he was no longer eligible for the Danish national team. In 1969, Arentoft moved to

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

to play for

. He played for Newcastle until 1971, earning the nickname ''Benny''. He made a total of 63 appearances for the club, scoring 3 goals. He helped Newcastle win the

Inter-Cities Fairs Cup The Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, most commonly referred to as the Fairs Cup and sometimes as the European Fairs Cup or Fairs Cities' Cup, was a European football competition played between 1955 and 1971. The Fairs Cup was the idea of FIFA vice-presid ...

in 1969, scoring in the second leg of the final. This made him the first Danish football player to win a European cup title. He is also remembered for having to play in goal during a 5-1 win over

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 1970, coming on for an injured

Willie McFaul William Stewart McFaul (born 1 October 1943), known as Willie or Iam McFaul, is a Northern Irish former football player and now coach. He spent most of his career with Newcastle United. Playing career McFaul was born in Coleraine. He joined ...

. The rules of

on the Danish national team was abandoned in 1971 before a game against Portugal. Preben Arentoft (representing

) was picked, along with a handful of other players, to be the first professionals ever to participate on the national team. Denmark lost the game 5-0. He gained another 4 caps that year to round off his career in the national team. In 1971, he moved on to English club

, before ending his career with

Helsingør IF Helsingør ( , ; ), classically known in English as Elsinore ( ), is a coastal city in northeastern Denmark. Helsingør Municipality had a population of 63,953 on 1 January 2025, making it the 23rd most populated municipality in Denmark. Helsin ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Arentoft, Preben 1942 births Living people Danish men's footballers Danish expatriate men's footballers Denmark men's international footballers Newcastle United F.C. players English Football League players Scottish Football League players Expatriate men's footballers in Scotland Expatriate men's footballers in England Greenock Morton F.C. players Blackburn Rovers F.C. players Men's association football midfielders Brønshøj Boldklub players Brønshøj BK managers Danish football managers Footballers from Copenhagen Danish expatriate sportspeople in England Danish expatriate sportspeople in Scotland 20th-century Danish sportsmen