Rasmus Nissen Kristensen (; born 11 July 1997) 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 ...

who plays as a

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for club

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...

and the Denmark national team.

Youth career

Kristensen was born to a footballing family and began playing football in Brande IF when he was six years old. He played in the club for six years, before joining

Herning Fremad FC Midtjylland (, "Central Jutland") is a Danish professional football club based in Herning and Ikast in the western part of Jutland. The club is the result of a merger between Ikast FS and Herning Fremad. Midtjylland competes in the Danish ...

where he played for two years. In 2012, Kristensen signed a youth contract with

FC Midtjylland FC Midtjylland (, "Central Jutland") is a Danish professional football club based in Herning and Ikast in the western part of Jutland. The club is the result of a merger between Ikast FS and Herning Fremad. Midtjylland competes in the Danish Su ...

Club career

FC Midtjylland

Kristensen was promoted to the first team squad in summer 2016 at the age of 18 and signed a five-year professional contract. At the age of 18, Kristensen got his official debut for FCM on 7 March 2016, in a Superliga match against

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 ...

. He started on the bench, but replaced

Václav Kadlec Václav Kadlec (born 20 May 1992) is a Czech professional footballer who plays as a forward for Viktoria Žižkov. Club career Kadlec made his debut in the Czech First League on 25 October 2008 for AC Sparta Prague against 1. FK Příbram. He ...

in the 39th minute in a match, which FCM lost 1–2. He turned into a key player for the team in the 2016–17 season.

Ajax

On 23 January 2018, Kristensen joined

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * ''Ajax'' (play), by the ancient Gree ...

on a four-and-a-half-year contract.

RB Salzburg

After one and a half years with Ajax, Kristensen moved to Austria and joined

Austrian Football Bundesliga The Austrian Football Bundesliga (german: Österreichische Fußball-Bundesliga, italic=no , "Austrian Football Federal League"), also known as Admiral Bundesliga for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Austrian football league system. The ...

club

FC Red Bull Salzburg FC Red Bull Salzburg is an Austrian professional football club based in Wals-Siezenheim, that competes in the Austrian Bundesliga, the top flight of Austrian Football. Their home ground is the Red Bull Arena. Due to sponsorship restrictions, ...

on a five-year contract.

Leeds United

On 8 June 2022, Kristensen joined

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

club

on a five year contract for an undisclosed fee in the region of £10 million. He will play for the team from 1 July 2022, and became Leeds's second confirmed arrival of the summer transfer window, reuniting with former Salzburg teammate

Brenden Aaronson Brenden Russell Aaronson (born October 22, 2000) is an American professional soccer player who plays as an attacking midfielder or winger for club Leeds United and the United States national team. In May 2022, Aaronson moved to Leeds from R ...

. He made his senior league debut for Leeds as part of the starting eleven in their season opener on 6 August with a 2-1 home win over

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Ro ...

International career

In November 2020, he was called up to

Kasper Hjulmand Kasper Hjulmand (born 9 April 1972) is a Danish football manager and a former player. He is the head coach for the Denmark national team. Playing career A defender, Hjulmand began his career with Randers Freja in 1987 where he played four yea ...

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

COVID-19 restrictions Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of non-pharmaceutical interventions colloquially known as lockdowns (encompassing stay-at-home orders, curfews, quarantines, and similar societal restrictions) have been implemented in numerous coun ...

, as well as a case of

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickl ...

in the squad, which had put several national team players in quarantine. He made his debut for the

Denmark national football team The Denmark men's national football team ( da, Danmarks herre-fodboldlandshold or ''herrelandsholdet'') represents Denmark in men's international football competitions. It is controlled by the Danish Football Association (DBU), the governing bo ...

on 4 September 2021 in a

World Cup qualifier The FIFA World Cup qualification is a competitive match that a national association football team takes in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the (men's) FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments are hel ...

against the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic archipelago, island group and an autonomous territory of the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotlan ...

, a 1–0 away victory. He started the game and was substituted at half-time.

Personal life

Kristensen is the nephew of the former

Sturm Graz Sportklub Sturm Graz is an Austrian association football club, based in Graz, Styria, playing in the Austrian Football Bundesliga. The club was founded in 1909. Its colours are black and white. In its history, Sturm Graz has won the Austrian f ...

player Sigurd Kristensen and is the cousin of

Leon Jessen Leon Jessen (born 11 June 1986) is a retired Danish football defender. Career Jessen began his career 2001 with Brande IF and joined Ikast FS in 2003. On 23 June 2010, Jessen left the Danish Superliga side FC Midtjylland after five years and ...

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Ajax *

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is ...

: 2018–19 *

KNVB Cup The KNVB Beker (; en, KNVB Cup), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organized by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. O ...

: 2018–19 Red Bull Salzburg *

Austrian Bundesliga The Austrian Football Bundesliga (german: Österreichische Fußball-Bundesliga, italic=no , "Austrian Football Federal League"), also known as Admiral Bundesliga for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Austrian football league system. The ...

: 2019–20,

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 ...

, 2021–22 *

Austrian Cup The Austrian Cup (german: ÖFB-Cup), known as UNIQA ÖFB Cup for sponsorship purposes, is an annual football competition held by the Austrian Football Association, the ÖFB. During the 2008–09 season, Austria Wien won the tournament for 27th t ...

: 2019–20,

, 2021–22

Individual

Team of the Year:

, 2021–22

References

External links

*
Rasmus Kristensen
at DBU {{DEFAULTSORT:Kristensen, Rasmus 1997 births Living people People from Ikast-Brande Municipality Sportspeople from the Central Denmark Region Danish men's footballers Association football defenders Danish Superliga players FC Midtjylland players AFC Ajax players Eredivisie players FC Red Bull Salzburg players Austrian Football Bundesliga players Premier League players Leeds United F.C. players 2022 FIFA World Cup players Denmark youth international footballers Denmark under-21 international footballers Denmark international footballers Danish expatriate men's footballers Danish expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Danish expatriate sportspeople in Austria Expatriate footballers in Austria Danish expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate footballers in England