Summary
Morten Nordstrand Nielsen (Danish pronunciation: [ˈnoɐ̯stʁɑnˀ]; born 8 June 1983) is a Danish former professional footballer, who played as a striker. He is currently the assistant coach of F.C. Copenhagen U17.[1] He has played eight times for the Denmark national football team.
 Nordstrand with F.C. Copenhagen in 2008 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Morten Nordstrand Nielsen | ||
| Date of birth | 8 June 1983 | ||
| Place of birth | Hundested, Denmark | ||
| Height | 1.77 m (5 ft 10 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Striker | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | FC Copenhagen (youth coach) | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Hundested IK | |||
| Frederikshavn | |||
| Lyngby | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2001–2006 | Lyngby | 93 | (87) |
| 2006–2007 | Nordsjælland | 33 | (18) |
| 2007–2012 | F.C. Copenhagen | 86 | (32) |
| 2009–2010 | → Groningen (loan) | 12 | (2) |
| 2011 | → Nordsjælland (loan) | 9 | (5) |
| 2012–2015 | Nordsjælland | 56 | (10) |
| 2015–2016 | AGF | 24 | (3) |
| 2016–2017 | Newcastle Jets | 34 | (7) |
| 2017–2018 | Fremad Amager | 29 | (5) |
| International career | |||
| 2007–2009 | Denmark | 8 | (3) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 2018–2020 | FC Copenhagen (U17 assistant) | ||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Club career edit
Youth football edit
Born in Hundested, Nordstrand played for the local club from he was 5 to 17 years old. He was known for scoring a lot of goals, and his father thought he should move to Frederikshavn and stay at Nordjyllands Sportscollege and play for the local club Frederikshavn fI. After the college stay he moved back to Hundested.
Lyngby BK edit
Nordstrand's coach from college contacted Lyngby BK about Nordstrand and his talent, and afterwards he started as senior player in Lyngby. When the club went bankrupt in the winter 2001, Nordstrand moved up from the youth team as one of several amateur players comprising Lyngby BK's first team squad.[2] He made his senior debut in December 2001, 17 years old.[3] He played three league games, as Lyngby finished last in the 2001–02 Superliga season, and underwent forced relegation to the fourth level of Danish football, the Denmark Series.
Nordstrand stayed at the club, and proved himself a goalscorer in the lower leagues of Danish football. Lyngby won promotion to the Danish 2nd Division at the end of the 2003–04 season. Nordstrand formed a dangerous striker partnership with Christian Holst,[4] the pair scoring 43 goals in the 2004–05 season. Nordstrand was the club topscorer with 22 goals, as Lyngby finished third in the 2nd Division that year, and won promotion to the Danish 1st Division.[5]
Nordsjælland edit
When Superliga club FC Nordsjælland sold top-scoring striker, and later Danish international, Mads Junker in January 2006, it was initially speculated that Nordstrand would fill his place in the squad.[6] Nordstrand finished the season with Lyngby, and topped the 1st Division goalscorer list with 29 goals, when Lyngby barely missed promotion during the 2005–06 season. Nordstrand decided he wanted top-flight football, and was chased by a number of Superliga clubs, as well as Dutch club FC Groningen.[7] With his Lyngby contract running out in July 2006, he eventually signed a contract with FC Nordsjælland.[8]
In his first season back in the top-flight Danish Superliga, he was the top goalscorer after the first half of the 2006–07 Superliga, with 10 goals in 18 games. Nordstrand was called up for the league national team, which played a number of unofficial national team games in the United States, El Salvador and Honduras in January 2007, by national team manager Morten Olsen. He played in all three games and scored one goal on the tour. On the date of arrival in Copenhagen from the tour, he was selected to the Danish national team for a friendly match against Australia in February 2007. He made his national team debut, when he came on as a substitute in the 86th minute of the match. He has played all matches of this season (33) scoring 18 or 19 goals. Some media says that he has scored 18 goals others say 19, a goal against FCM was scored by either Nordstrand or Lundberg. Which is still discussed.
F.C. Copenhagen edit
On 6 July 2007, Nordstrand moved to F.C. Copenhagen, signing a five-year-long contract with the Danish champions.[9] The transfer fee was reported to be around 15 million Danish kroner (€2 million ), at that time the largest transfer fee ever paid for a player between two Danish clubs.[10]
At F.C. Copenhagen Nordstrand quickly became an important player. In the 2007–08 season he scored 9 goals and alongside Marcus Allbäck was the team's main attacking force. In the beginning of 2008–09 season he usually started the matches, but he often found himself on the bench with Ailton Almeida and Cesar Santin playing in attack. Despite that, he scored 20 goals in competitive matches for F.C. Copenhagen in the 2008–09 season and was the team's top scorer.
He is also known as Denmark's version of Ole Gunnar Solskjær because of an old nickname "Babyface Assassin".
Loan to FC Groningen edit
In August 2009 Nordstrand signed for Dutch Eredivisie club FC Groningen on loan, as a replacement for fan favourite and fellow Scandinavian Marcus Berg. In his debut game with his new club, he provided the only goal in a derby against SC Heerenveen, ended in a 1–0 win for FC Groningen, the first in the Eredivisie season for the Green-Whites. On 23 March 2010, Groningen announced they would not consider the purchase option and that Nordstrand would return to F.C. Copenhagen.[11]
Return to Nordsjælland edit
On 17 January 2012, Nordstrand signed a contract with FC Nordsjælland effective 1 July same year.[12]
AGF edit
On 14 December 2014 Nordstrand signed 1-year contract with AGF.[13] He left the club on 1 January 2016.[14]
Newcastle Jets edit
On 28 January 2016, Nordstrand joined Australian club Newcastle Jets.[15]
Following a positive performance including 4 goals in 11 appearances, Nordstrand signed a year extension of his contract. Then, he went on a goal drought for 13 rounds after scoring the winning goal against Brisbane Roar. Newcastle Jets did not score a goal since round 22 after his teammate Andrew Nabbout went on a goal drought as well. After he had left the club, in the first round of the next season, his replacement Roy O'Donovan scored a hat-trick against his former team.[16]
Fremad Amager edit
On 3 June 2017, Nordstrand signed with Danish 1st Division-side Fremad Amager.[17]
Coaching career edit
After retiring in the summer 2018, he was appointed assistant coach for the U17 team of FC Copenhagen.[18] Two years later, in the summer 2020, he was moved to a new role as a forward coach for the U13 to the U17 teams.[19]
International goals edit
- Scores and results list Denmark's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Nordstrand goal.
| No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 12 September 2007 | Aarhus, Denmark |  Liechtenstein |
1–0 | 4–0 | Euro 2008 qualification |
| 2 | 4–0 | |||||
| 3 | 28 March 2009 | Attard, Malta |  Malta |
3–0 | 3–0 | World Cup 2010 qualification |
Honours edit
- Danish Superliga: 2008–09
- Danish Cup: 2008–09, 2011–12
- Danish Superliga topscorer : 2008–09
References edit
- ^ Morten Nordstrand bliver U17-assistent i FCK, bold.dk, 4 June 2018
- ^ "Superligabolden ruller igen", B.T., 26 February 2002
- ^ Jan B. Jensen, "Dansk fodbold: Vi bliver til grin", Jyllands-Posten, 5 December 2001
- ^ Jakob Fønss, "Slagelses forsvar skal bremse farlig frontduo", Sjællands Tidende, 14 May 2005
- ^ Danmarksturneringen 2004 – 05 Archived 28 January 2008 at the Wayback Machine at Peders Fodboldstatistik
- ^ "FCN kigger på Nordstrand", Ekstra Bladet, 7 January 2006
- ^ "Nordstrand tabt for Lyngby", Ekstra Bladet, 29 May 2006
- ^ "Topscorer til FCN", Berlingske Tidende, 8 June 2006
- ^ "To landsholdsspillere til F.C. København" (in Danish). F.C. Copenhagen. 6 July 2007. Archived from the original on 26 February 2012. Retrieved 6 July 2007.
- ^ Thorsen, Gisle; Schrøder, Rene; Carlskov, Thor (6 July 2007). "FCK smider 15 millioner for 'Nord'" (in Danish). Ekstra Bladet. Archived from the original on 8 July 2007. Retrieved 6 July 2007.
- ^ "FC Groningen licht optie Nordstrand niet". Archived from the original on 25 March 2010. Retrieved 23 March 2010.
- ^ "Morten Nordstrand bliver i FCK sæsonen ud". Archived from the original on 26 January 2012. Retrieved 17 January 2012.
- ^ "Nordstrand til AGF" (in Danish). agf.dk. Archived from the original on 29 December 2014. Retrieved 14 December 2014.
- ^ "AGF siger farvel til Nordstrand og Skhirtladze" (in Danish). bold.dk. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
- ^ "Newcastle Jets net Morten Nordstrand". Newcastle Jets. 28 January 2016. Archived from the original on 22 June 2017. Retrieved 27 January 2016.
- ^ "Morten Nordstrand extends Jets stay". Newcastle Jets. 18 April 2016.
- ^ Fremad Amager-scoop: Snupper Nordstrand, bold.dk, 3 June 2017
- ^ Morten Nordstrand bliver U17-assistent i FCK, bold.dk, 4 June 2018
- ^ TRÆNERROKADER I TALENTAFDELINGEN, fck.dk, 28 July 2020
External links edit
- Morten Nordstrand national team profile at the Danish Football Association (in Danish)
- Morten Nordstrand at DR (in Danish) (archived)
- Voetbal International profile (in Dutch)