Jesper Grönkjaer

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Born
1977 (48 years old)
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Godthåb, Greenland

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Status

Ethnicity
White

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Height
187 cm

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Sport

Soccer

Team
_Retired Soccer

2nd Team

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Description

Jesper Grønkjær (Danish pronunciation: ; born 12 August 1977) is a Danish former professional footballer.

A pacey winger, Grønkjær played primarily on the right or left wing, or as a second striker. He played a total 400 league games for a number of European clubs, most notably winning the 1999 Dutch Cup with Ajax Amsterdam and playing more than 100 games for English club Chelsea. Grønkjær ended his career with FC Copenhagen, winning four Danish Superliga titles with the club.

Grønkjær was capped 80 times for the Denmark national team from 1999 to 2010, scoring five goals. He played for his country at the World Cup in 2002 and 2010, as well as two European Championship tournaments. He was named 1995 Danish Under-19 Player of the Year.

While at Thisted FC, Grønkjær made his debut for the Danish youth national teams in October 1992. With three goals in six matches, as the Denmark national youth team won silver medals at the 1994 UEFA European Under-16 Football Championship, Grønkjær showed himself one of the brightest talents in Danish football. He was named 1995 Danish Under-19 Player of the Year. In total, he scored 26 goals in 64 Danish youth team international games.

In his first year at Ajax, Grønkjær made his full international debut for the Denmark national team in the 2000 European Championship (Euro 2000) qualification game against Italy on 27 March 1999. In the very first minute of the game, he famously echoed Jesper Olsen's 1986 World Cup mistimed back pass to Spanish forward Emilio Butragueño, as Grønkjær passed the ball to Italian forward Filippo Inzaghi who promptly scored the first goal in Italy's 2–1 victory. Despite the disappointing debut game, Grønkjær became an important part of the national team under coach Bo Johansson and he played full-time in Denmark's three games at the Euro 2000 main tournament.

While at Chelsea, Grønkjær became a mainstay in the Denmark national team under new national team coach Morten Olsen, and he played in all of Denmark's four games at the 2002 World Cup. In the qualification games for Euro 2004, he scored the game-winning goal in a 1–0 victory over closest rivals Norway, helping Denmark qualify for the final tournament in Portugal. He missed the opening game of Euro 2004 due to the death of his mother, but went to Portugal to join the Danish squad and scored the second goal of the 2–0 win against Bulgaria.

He was included in Olsen's squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. After Denmark's elimination from the 2010 World Cup, Grønkjær announced his retirement from international football.

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Former Youth Teams