Nils Middelboe

Nils Middelboe (born October 5, 1887 in Brunnby , † September 21, 1976 in Frederiksberg ) was a Danish football player and athlete. He became an Olympic silver medalist with the Danish national team in 1908 and 1912 .

society

Middelboe made his first-team debut at Kjøbenhavns Boldklub (KB) in 1903, at the age of 16. At KB he played alongside his older brothers Einar and Kristian Middelboe , the latter also becoming a Danish international. Between 1904 and 1913 Nils won the Copenhagen championship five times with KB, during which time he was also a successful athlete. In 1910 and 1911 he was Danish champion in the triple jump and in the 4 x 100 meter relay . He held the Danish record both over the 800 meters (2: 05.2 min) and in the triple jump (13.29 m).

Middelboe was an amateur player throughout his career. Between 1913 and 1922 he was the first non-British player to play 175 times for Chelsea . During his time with the Blues , he worked as a lawyer at a bank. His amateur status meant that he could not play many of Chelsea's away games, but he was captain from the start. The 1.88 m tall middle runner was known in the press as "The Great Dane" and was considered a fair sportsman.

After his time at Chelsea, he played until 1926 for the two amateur clubs Corinthian FC (1922-1924) and Casuals FC (1924-1926). In 1936 he returned to Denmark as coach of Kjøbenhavns Boldklub and became Danish champions with the club in 1940.

National team

Middelboe (dark jersey) in the 1912 Olympics final against Great Britain

Middelboe was one of the best Danish players in the early years of the Danish national team . His 1-0 lead in the 9-0 victory over France at the 1908 Olympics was the first official international goal for the Danes and was also the first goal scored by a national team at the Olympics. At this tournament he reached the final with his team, which was lost to the British selection 0-2.

He won his second Olympic silver medal in 1912 . At this tournament he was the captain of the best European continental team and only had to admit defeat in the final of the British selection (2: 4). Also eight years later at the Olympic tournament in 1920 Middelboe was there. In his last international match, however, he lost 1-0 to Spain in the preliminary round.

Overall, he played 15 times for the Danish team between 1908 and 1920, scoring seven goals. He has led Denmark onto the field as captain ten times.

Web links

• Nils Middelboe in the weltfussball.de database
• International match profile at the Danish Association (Danish)
• Nils Middelboe in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )