John Hartmann Eriksen (20 November 1957 – 12 February 2002) was a Danish footballer who played as a striker.

An extremely prolific goal scorer, he scored 319 league goals over the course of 15 seasons, having played in four different countries, namely Holland and Switzerland. He did not manage to win any team honours, however.

Eriksen was a Danish international in the 80's, appearing with the nation in one World Cup and one European Championship.

Club career[link]

Born in Assens, Eriksen started his professional career with Odense BK, scoring 22 goals in each of his two seasons with the club. In January 1980, he moved to Roda JC in the Netherlands, never netting less than 16 goals in each of his four Eredivisie seasons.

In 1984–85, Eriksen joined FC Mulhouse in the French Ligue 2, finishing second in the goal scoring charts as the club narrowly missed on promotion, falling short in the playoffs. In the summer, he returned to Holland and joined Feyenoord, again surpassing the 20-goal mark as the Rotterdam outfit ranked in third position.

Aged almost 29, Eriksen moved to Switzerland where he continued to display solid scoring form, for both Servette FC and FC Luzern. With the former, he led the scorers list in his first two seasons, notably scoring 36 in 34 games in 1987–88 (second position overall, only two points behind champions Neuchâtel Xamax).

Eriksen closed his career at nearly 36 with his first club, hometown's Svendborg FB.

International career[link]

Eriksen won 17 caps and scored six goals for Denmark, his debut coming in 1981. He was selected for the squad that competed in the 1986 FIFA World Cup, appearing as a substitute against West Germany (2–0 win, one goal)^[1] and Spain (1–5 round-of-16 loss).^[2]

Eriksen was also picked for UEFA Euro 1988 in West Germany, playing twice in an eventual group stage exit (two 0–2 losses), starting against Italy.

Death[link]

After ending his career, Eriksen suffered Alzheimer's disease, and lived his last three years in a nursing home in Svendborg. After falling accidentally in his home, he died on 12 February 2002, at only 44 years of age.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Stats at Voetbal International (Dutch)
• Roda JC official profile (Dutch)
• National team data (Danish)
• John Eriksen at National-Football-Teams.com
• John Eriksen – FIFA competition record

v t e Denmark squad – 1986 FIFA World Cup 1 Rasmussen 2 Sivebæk 3 Busk 4 M. Olsen (c) 5 I. Nielsen 6 Lerby 7 Mølby 8 J. Olsen 9 Berggreen 10 Elkjær Larsen 11 Laudrup 12 Bertelsen 13 Frimann 14 Simonsen 15 Arnesen 16 Qvist 17 K. Nielsen 18 Christensen 19 Eriksen 20 Bartram 21 Andersen 22 Høgh Coach: Piontek

v t e Denmark squad – UEFA Euro 1988 1 Rasmussen 2 Sivebæk 3 Busk 4 M. Olsen (c) 5 Nielsen 6 Lerby 7 Helt 8 Frimann 9 Heintze 10 Elkjær 11 Laudrup 12 L. Olsen 13 Jensen 14 J. Olsen 15 Povlsen 16 Schmeichel 17 Berggreen 18 Eriksen 19 Kristensen 20 Vilfort Coach: Piontek