Søren Colding (; born 2 September 1972) is a Danish former professional

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 most prominently captained Danish club

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

VfL Bochum Verein für Leibesübungen Bochum 1848 Fußballgemeinschaft, commonly referred to as VfL Bochum (), is a Football in Germany, German professional association football club based in the city of Bochum, North Rhine-Westphalia. They currently play ...

in Germany from his position of

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

. He represented 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 ...

in 27 matches, and he was a participant at the

1998 FIFA World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 1 ...

and 2000 European Championship tournaments.

Biography

Born on

Frederiksberg Frederiksberg () is a part of the Capital Region of Denmark. It is an independent municipality, Frederiksberg Municipality, separate from Copenhagen Municipality, but both are a part of the region of Copenhagen. It occupies an area of less tha ...

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 ...

, Colding played his youth team football for Ejby 68 and

BK Frem Boldklubben Frem (also known as Frem, BK Frem or BK Frem Copenhagen) is a Danish sports club based in the Valby- Sydhavnen area of Copenhagen. It is best known for its semi-professional football team and its youth academy. Since its foundatio ...

. He made his Denmark under-21 national team debut on 25 August 1992. Colding first made himself noticed on the senior level, when he scored in Frem's 1–5 defeat to

Real Zaragoza Real Zaragoza, S.A.D. (), commonly referred to as Zaragoza, is a football club based in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, that currently competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system, Spanish league system. Zarag ...

in the

1992–93 UEFA Cup The 1992–93 UEFA Cup was the 22nd season of Europe's then-tertiary club football tournament organised by UEFA. The final was played over two legs at Westfalenstadion, Dortmund, Germany, and at Stadio Delle Alpi, Turin, Italy. The competiti ...

tournament. When Frem went

bankrupt Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the de ...

in fall 1993, Colding moved to rivals Brøndby IF in the

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 ...

championship. He debuted for the club in June 1994, and Colding made his debut for the Danish national team under national team coach Bo Johansson in November 1996. He was subsequently voted 1996 ''Brøndby IF Player of the Year''. Following Brøndby's three Danish Superliga triumphs in a row from 1996 to 1998, and the club's qualification for the 1998–99 UEFA Champions League tournament, Colding became a mainstay in the Danish national team. He played in the majority of the Danish national team matches from 1998 to 2000, and he took part in all Denmark's matches at both the

and

UEFA Euro 2000 The 2000 UEFA European Football Championship, also known as Euro 2000, was the 11th UEFA European Championship, a football tournament held every four years and organised by UEFA, the sport's governing body in Europe. The finals tournament was ...

. With the arrival of new national team coach

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 June 2000, Colding's career for Denmark went on hiatus. With Brøndby, Colding won two

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 ...

trophies and three Danish football championships, and since March 1999 he captained the side when he took over the captain's armband from

John Jensen John Jensen (; born 3 May 1965), nicknamed Faxe (), is a Danish professional football manager and former player. A former midfielder, his playing career lasted almost two entire decades, including a stint with Arsenal in England and three stin ...

. Colding moved abroad in winter 2000 to play for

relegation Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

battlers VfL Bochum in the German

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 ...

, in a transfer deal worth 1.5 million DEM. He debuted in January 2001 and played the last 16 games of the 2000–01 Bundesliga season, as Bochum ended dead last in the league and were relegated to the German 2. Bundesliga. The club won

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

the following year, with Colding the deputy team captain, a position he kept through his Bochum career as he captained the Bochum side in several games. The club finished in a meriting fifth place in the 2003–04 Bundesliga season, and Colding received his final call-up to the Danish national team, when Morten Olsen included him in the team that lost 0–2 to

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

in March 2004. Bochum were relegated again following the 2004–05 season, and Colding ended his career in the club following eight games played during the 2005–06 2. Bundesliga season, which once more ended in promotion for Bochum to the top-flight Bundesliga. Colding has been the general director for handball club AG København but left the club on 30 July 2012, just one day before the club filed for bankruptcy.

Honours

Brøndby IF *

: 1995–96, 1996–97, 1997–98 *

: 1997–98

References

External links

*
Boldklubben Frem profile

Brøndby IF profile
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Colding, Soren 1972 births Living people Footballers from Frederiksberg Men's association football defenders Danish men's footballers Denmark men's international footballers Denmark men's under-21 international footballers Denmark men's youth international footballers Boldklubben Frem players Brøndby IF players VfL Bochum players Danish Superliga players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players 1998 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2000 players Expatriate men's footballers in Germany