Brian Laudrup

Personal information
Full name	Brian Laudrup
Date of birth	(1969-02-22) 22 February 1969 (age 43)
Place of birth	Vienna, Austria
Height	1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)
Playing position	Winger/Attacking midfielder
Youth career
	Brøndby
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1986–1989	Brøndby	49	(13)
1989–1990	Bayer Uerdingen	34	(6)
1990–1992	Bayern Munich	53	(11)
1992–1993	Fiorentina	31	(5)
1993–1994	Milan	9	(1)
1994–1998	Rangers	116	(33)
1998–1999	Chelsea	7	(0)
1999	Copenhagen	12	(2)
1999–2000	Ajax	31	(13)
Total		342	(84)
National team
1984	Denmark U-17	6	(0)
1985–1987	Denmark U-19	12	(6)
1987–1988	Denmark U-21	5	(0)
1987–1998	Denmark	82	(21)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Brian Laudrup (born 22 February 1969) is a Danish former football player and current football commentator, pundit and analyst on TV3+. Along with former international goalkeeper Lars Høgh, Laudrup manages a football academy for marginalized youth.^[1] He is widely regarded alongside his brother, Michael, as one of the greatest Danish football players in history.

During his playing career, Laudrup represented a number of European clubs. He started with Danish club Brøndby, winning two Danish championships in the late 1980s. He then played for German and Italian clubs, winning the 1994 Serie A as well as the 1994 UEFA Champions League title with AC Milan. He was a vital part of the Rangers team which dominated the Scottish Premier League in the 1990s, winning three championships among others. He won the 1998 UEFA Super Cup with English club Chelsea, had a brief stint with FC Copenhagen in Denmark, before ending his career with Dutch club Ajax in 2000. He played 82 games and scored 21 goals for the Danish national team, and was a vital part of the Danish teams who won the Euro 1992 and 1995 Intercontinental Cup tournaments.

He won the Danish Footballer of the Year award a record four times. He was named by Pelé as one of the top 125 greatest living footballers at the FIFA 100 ceremony in March 2004, alongside his older brother Michael Laudrup.

Early life[link]

Brian Laudrup was born into a football family, as his father Finn Laudrup was a former Danish international, and his brother Michael Laudrup also became a Danish international. He was born in Vienna, where Finn was playing for Wiener Sport-Club.

Club career[link]

Brian started his senior career with Brøndby IF in Denmark. At Brøndby he competed with later Danish internationals Claus Nielsen and Bent Christensen for a place in the starting line-up, and formed a great partnership with Claus Nielsen.^[2] He won the 1987 and 1988 Danish First Division with the club. Halfway through the 1989 season, Laudrup's contract with Brøndby expired, and he agreed to join German club Bayer Uerdingen. The transfer fee was thought to be around DKK 8 million, the partition of which Brøndby and Brian's father and agent Finn Laudrup disagreed about.^[3] The Danish Football Association ruled in favor of Brøndby's claims of around DKK 3.9 million, but the Laudrups paid around DKK 3.3 million, and insisted on not paying the remainder.^[4] The case was eventually settled in March 1990.^[5]

German years[link]

Brian joined Uerdingen, in order to play in a club with relative little pressure, and also looked to lean on fellow Dane Jan Bartram who was already at the club.^[6] He scored six goals in 34 games during the 1989–90 Fußball-Bundesliga season, and impressed so much for both club and country, that he was named Danish Player of the Year in 1989. As he felt the Uerdingen executives would not strengthen the Uerdingen team, Laudrup wanted to leave the club in the summer 1990.^[7]

He signed a two-year contract with Bayern Munich who bought him for a DM6 million transfer fee in May 1990, making him the most expensive Bundesliga player at the time.^[8] In his first season with Bayern, Laudrup scored nine goals in 33 games, as the club finished in second place. He was named by Kicker magazine as the 1990 striker of the year,^[9] and was included in Kicker's team of the 1990–91 Fußball-Bundesliga.^[10] After playing the first five games of the following season, he suffered a cruciate ligament injury in his right knee in August 1991.^[11] In December 1991, Laudrup said new Bayern executives Franz Beckenbauer and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge were creating chaos in the team, through their public criticism of the younger Bayern players.^[12] He returned to the team in February 1992, and played the last 15 games of the season, as Bayern finished 10th. He left the club when his contract expired in the summer 1992.

Serie A[link]

His reputation began to grow and Laudrup fulfilled his lifelong ambition when he moved to Serie A team Fiorentina. However, his time in Italy was both unhappy and unsuccessful and after Fiorentina were relegated he felt the fury of the tifosi so he was smuggled out from the stadium in the trunk of a car.

He was loaned to Milan for the 1993–94 season, which only saw him play a handful of matches throughout the season. Despite being on contract with Fiorentina until the summer 1996, Laudrup stated in December 1993 that he did not want to return to the club.^[13]

Rangers[link]

In July 1994, Laudrup was offered an escape route from Italy when he was approached by Walter Smith of Rangers, and he signed in a £2.3 million deal. His time in Scotland was filled with success as he helped Rangers complete their nine-in-a-row sweep of the Scottish League Title and was awarded Danish Player of the Year twice, giving him a record four wins of the award. Laudrup's time with Rangers was a massive success where many fans still consider him to be the greatest ever foreigner to have played for Rangers. His performance in the 1996 Scottish Cup Final where he scored two and setup three goals has since made people call the game the Laudrup Final.^[14]

Last years[link]

Laudrup joined Chelsea in 1998, making his debut as Chelsea won the 1998 UEFA Super Cup. Ravaged by injury, he did not play many games. Laudrup's only Chelsea goal came against Copenhagen in the Cup Winners' Cup, in his final game for the London club.^[15]

He then moved back to Denmark in the spring 1999, and had a brief spell with FC Copenhagen. Playing for the main rivals of former club Brøndby, he was unceremoniously booed by the home fans when he revisited Brøndby Stadium in March 1999,^[16] and was also harassed by fans from other Danish clubs.^[17]

Family problems resulted in Laudrup joining Ajax for one season from 1999 to 2000, taking over from Michael who had retired at Ajax one year earlier. Injury forced Laudrup to retire from top-level football at 31 years of age, after one of the most successful careers in Danish football.

International career[link]

Laudrup made his international debut for the Denmark under-17 team in July 1984, and played six games for the team until October that year. From October 1985 to August 1987, he played 12 games and scored six goals for the Denmark under-19s. He also represented the Danish under-21s in five games from June 1987 to November 1988.^[18] He was called up for the senior Danish national team by coach Sepp Piontek in April 1987, as a replacement for his brother Michael,^[19] but did not get his debut.^[20]

Senior debut[link]

Laudrup was included in the senior Danish "Olympic national team" of under-21 coach Richard Møller Nielsen, and took part in three qualification games for the 1988 Summer Olympics. He made his debut on 18 November 1987, at the age of 18, in a 0–1 defeat to West Germany, with Bjarne Goldbæk also debuting in that game. Laudrup scored his first national team goal in his third game, a 4–0 win against Greece on 20 April 1988. He was then included as a part of coach Piontek's selection ahead of the Euro 1988. He came on as a substitute in a friendly match against Austria in April 1988, but broke his collarbone just before the final Euro 1988 squad was named.^[21]

He was recalled to the senior national team in February 1989,^[18] and became a mainstay in the team under new national team coach Richard Møller Nielsen. He scored three goals in four games, as Denmark narrowly missed qualification for the 1990 World Cup. During the dispute with Brøndby over his transfer fee, it was discussed whether the Danish Football Association should ban Laudrup from the national team.^[5] Following three games in the qualification campaign for the Euro 1992, Laudrup decided to quit the national team in November 1990 alongside Michael Laudrup and Jan Bartram, as he lacked respect for coach Nielsen.^[22]

European Champion[link]

Laudrup returned to the national team under coach Nielsen in April 1992.^[18] In 1992, Laudrup travelled with the Danish national team to the Euro 1992 in Sweden, and in a strictly defensive strategy, Laudrup was one of the few attacking players. Though he did not score a single goal in the competition, his skill and speed was an important part of the Danish team that went on to win the tournament, and Laudrup was voted a shared fifth in the 1992 FIFA World Player of the Year poll, with fellow Dane Peter Schmeichel, though he had the edge over Schmeichel in the domestic polls, where Laudrup won his second Danish Player of the Year award in 1992.

He scored two goals in 12 games,^[18] as Denmark were edged out of participation at the 1994 World Cup by Spain and the Republic of Ireland. During the World Cup qualification, Michael Laudrup had re-entered the team. Brian scored one goal in three games, as Denmark won the 1995 Intercontinental Cup, beating Argentina in the final. He helped Denmark qualify for Euro 1996, though the tournament was a disappointment for the defending champions. Laudrup scored three goals in as many games, including two against Turkey, but the team was eliminated in the preliminary group stage.

World Cup participation[link]

With four goals in seven games, Laudrup was an important part of the Danish team that qualified for the 1998 World Cup, the only World Cup of his career. Alongside Peter Schmeichel and brother Michael Laudrup, Brian shone at the tournament, and he saw Denmark through to the quarter finals with a goal in the 4–1 surprise thrashing of Nigeria in the first knock-out round. The quarter-final was his last game for the Denmark team, when they were defeated 2–3 by eventual runners-up Brazil, despite Brian Laudrup scoring on a volley to the top near corner of the goal to level the game at 2–2. Until the Brazil match, when Laudrup had scored for Denmark, they had never lost.

The quarter-final was the best ever Danish result at a World Cup, and Laudrup later ranked the 1998 Denmark team higher than the Euro 1992 winning side.^[23] He was named as one of the 16 players selected by FIFA as the "All Star Team" of the World Cup, alongside his brother Michael. After the tournament, Laudrup decided to end his national team career at the top, having played in 82 matches, scoring 21 goals over the course of eleven years.

Later career[link]

Laudrup is now a Champions League commentator and pundit at Danish TV3+ with Peter Schmeichel and former Danish national player Preben Elkjær Larsen.

He is also involved with the so called "Laudrup & Høgh ProCamp", a youth football camp, co-coached with former national team goalkeeper Lars Høgh.

In his spare time, he plays for Lyngby Boldklub's Old Boys side alongside Michael Laudrup.

Personal life[link]

Laudrup is married to Mette and has a son, Nicolai, and a daughter, Rasmine.

On 7 September 2010, he announced that he had lymphoma cancer and was undergoing treatment.^[24][25] Three months after the start of the treatment he was told that there were no signs of the disease.^[26]

Career statistics[link]

^[27]

Honours[link]

Brøndby

• Danish 1st Division: 2

1987, 1988

Bayern Munich

• German Super Cup: 1990

Milan

• Serie A: 1

1993–94

• UEFA Champions League: 1

1993–94

Rangers

• Scottish Premier League: 3

1994–95, 1995–96, 1996–97

• Scottish Cup: 1

1995–96

• Scottish League Cup: 1

1996–97

Chelsea

• UEFA Super Cup: 1

1998

Denmark

• UEFA European Football Championship: 1

Euro 1992

• IC 1995: ?

Individual

• Danish Player of the Year: 4

1989, 1992, 1995, 1997

• FIFA 100: 1

2004

References[link]