Søren Andersen (born 31 January 1970) is a Danish former 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 ...

. He played as a striker, and most prominently represented English club

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

, Spanish club

Rayo Vallecano Rayo Vallecano de Madrid, S.A.D. (), often abbreviated to Rayo (Spanish for "thunderbolt"), is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid, in the neighbourhood of Vallecas. Rayo was founded on 29 May 1924, and currently compete in La ...

, as well as several Danish clubs. He won the 1992

Danish Cup The Danish Cup ( da, Landspokalturneringen; often referred to as Pokalen) is the official " knockout" cup competition in Danish football, run by the Danish Football Association. The cup has been contested annually since 1955. The winner will qu ...

with

AGF Aarhus 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 and gymnastics and fencing are featured as its main sports. How ...

. Andersen played 12 games for the Denmark national team, though he did not score, and represented Denmark at the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...

and 1996 European Championship tournaments.

Biography

Andersen began his career as a junior with

Silkeborg IF Silkeborg Idrætsforening, (; commonly known as Silkeborg IF or SIF in short) is a professional football club based in Silkeborg, Denmark. The club was founded in 1917, reached the highest level of Danish football in 1987, and afterwards became ...

, joining

in August 1989. He made his debut for the Danish under-21 national team in April 1990.Søren Andersen – Alle hold (Alle kampe)
at

Danish Football Association The Danish Football Union ( da, Dansk Boldspil-Union; DBU) is the governing body of football in Denmark. It is the organization of the Danish football clubs and runs the professional Danish football leagues and the men's and women's national te ...

He won the 1992

with AGF, and was included in the Danish under-21 squad for the

by coach

Viggo Jensen Alexander Viggo Jensen (born 22 June 1874 in Copenhagen, Denmark; died 2 November 1930 in Copenhagen, Denmark) was a Danish weightlifter, sport shooter, gymnast, and athlete. He was the first Danish and Nordic Olympic champion, at the 1896 Summ ...

.Slutrundetrupper 1908–2004
at

He played a single match at the tournament; his seventh and last games for the under-21 national team. He made his debut for the senior Danish national team in January 1993, under national coach

Richard Møller Nielsen Richard Møller Nielsen (19 August 1937 – 13 February 2014) was a Danish football player and manager. He coached the Denmark national football team that won the UEFA Euro 1992 tournament. In 1995, he was awarded a gold version of the Medal of Me ...

. Having scored 51 goals in 109 league games for AGF, Andersen moved abroad in October 1993. He went on to play for Spanish club

UE Lleida Unió Esportiva Lleida was a Spanish football team based in Lleida, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. It was founded as ''Lérida Balompié-AEM'' on 30 October 1939, and became ''Unión Deportiva Lérida'' in 1947, after a merger with ''C ...

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...

. He played a single season at Lleida, where he scored the winning goal in a 2–1 win against multiple Spanish champions

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

. When Lleida were

relegated In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...

to the Segunda División at the end of the season, Andersen moved to Segunda División rivals

. He played 12 games for Rayo, scoring a single goal.Rayo Vallecano – Liga Adelante Squad season 1994–1995
at LFP.es In January 1995, Andersen moved to Swedish club

IFK Norrköping Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna Norrköping, more commonly known as IFK Norrköping or simply Norrköping, is a Swedish professional football club based in Norrköping. The club is affiliated to Östergötlands Fotbollförbund and play the ...

, before going back to Denmark. He went on to play for defending Danish champions

Aalborg Boldspilklub Aalborg Boldspilklub is a Danish sports club based in the city of Aalborg. The club is also known as AaB for short (cf. logo) or Aalborg BK. Through time the club has had branches in cricket, tennis, ice hockey, handball, and basketball, but c ...

(AaB) in August 1995.Søren Andersen
at DanskFodbold.com At Aalborg, he was poised to replace striker Erik Bo Andersen who had been sold to

Rangers A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...

. Søren Andersen became an instant success, and was called up for the Danish squad at the 1996 European Championship, where he played a single match. He was AaB's lead goalscorer in the 1996–97 season with 14 goals, the fifth highest tally of the league. He scored a total of 36 goals in 77 games for AaB, including five goals in a single game against

Viborg FF Viborg Fodsports Forening ("Viborg Footsport Association"), or Viborg F.F. and VFF for short, is a Danish professional football club based in Viborg. The club was founded in 1896 and waited more than a century before winning its only national ...

. In July 1998, Andersen moved to England, joining

of the First Division for a fee of £425,000. He scored both City goals on his debut, a 2–2 draw at home to

Oxford United Oxford United Football Club is a professional football club in the city of Oxford, England. The team plays in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The chairman is Grant Ferguson, the manager is Karl Robinson and ...

. In the 1998–99 season, in which City were relegated, he scored 10 goals out of 29 in a forward partnership with

Ade Akinbiyi Adeola Oluwatoyin Akinbiyi (born 10 October 1974) is a football coach and former professional footballer. As a player he was a forward who notably played in the Premier League for Norwich City, Leicester City and Sheffield United, as well as ...

. He left City in September 1999, returning to Denmark to join

Odense BK Odense Boldklub (; also known as Odense BK or the more commonly used OB) is a Danish professional football club based in the city Odense. The club has won three Danish championships and five Danish Cup trophies. OB play in the Danish Superlig ...

, costing the Danish side £200,000. He left Odense to rejoin his former club AGF Aarhus in November 2001. He was injured in early March 2002, badly breaking his arm in a collision with Sweden international goalkeeper Magnus Kihlstedt, in a game against Kihlstedt's club

FC København Football Club Copenhagen ( da, Football Club København, ), commonly known as FC København, FC Copenhagen, Copenhagen or simply FCK, is a professional Danish football club in Copenhagen, Denmark. FCK was founded in 1992 as a superstructure on ...

. He ended his career in March 2003, due to chronically aching

achilles tendon The Achilles tendon or heel cord, also known as the calcaneal tendon, is a tendon at the back of the lower leg, and is the thickest in the human body. It serves to attach the plantaris, gastrocnemius (calf) and soleus muscles to the calcane ...

Honours

: 1992

References

External links

*
AaB profile

La Liga statistics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Andersen, Soren 1970 births Living people Danish men's footballers Danish expatriate men's footballers Denmark men's international footballers Denmark men's under-21 international footballers Olympic footballers for Denmark Footballers at the 1992 Summer Olympics UEFA Euro 1996 players Danish Superliga players La Liga players English Football League players Allsvenskan players AaB Fodbold players Bristol City F.C. players Rayo Vallecano players UE Lleida players Odense Boldklub players IFK Norrköping players Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden Men's association football forwards Footballers from Aarhus Danish expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Danish expatriate sportspeople in England Danish expatriate sportspeople in Spain Denmark men's youth international footballers