Henrik Nielsen (footballer, born 1965)

Henrik Nielsen

Personal information
Full name	Henrik Steffen Nielsen
Date of birth	(1958-10-10) 10 October 1958 (age 66)
Place of birth	Virum, Denmark
Height	1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)
Position(s)	Striker
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1984–1987	B93		(34)
1987–1988	AEK Athens	40	(26)
1988–1989	Iraklis	14	(1)
1989–1990	Fenerbahçe	19	(5)
1990	B 1903	2	(0)
1990–1992	Lille	30	(9)
1992	Brøndby	8	(2)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Henrik Nielsen (born 10 October 1958) is a former Danish professional footballer who played as a striker.

Career

Nielsen started his football career in the Danish 2nd Division, playing for B93. There he was scouted by the coach of AEK Athens at the time, Todor Veselinović, and convinced the club's president Andreas Zafeiropoulos to brought him to AEK in the summer of 1987.^[1]

The "Copenhagen doll", as he was nicknamed in Greece, initially resembled his predecessor in the position at AEK, Håkan Sandberg, in terms of appearance. He immediately made impressive appearances with the team and showed excellent scoring ability, scoring goals in every way. As a result of his amazing performance that season, he was the top scorer of the Greek league, with 21 goals,^[2] while he was much loved by AEK fans.^[3] His best match was a 7–1 win at home against Veria, where he scored 4 times.^[4] But the following season everything changed. The new coach of AEK Dušan Bajević showed that he did not trust him that much, as a result of which he sometimes used him as the main option and sometimes left him on the bench. Finally, in December 1988, Bajevic and the president Gidopoulos decided to let him leave the club as they were full at the foregners' positions. It was a decision that certainly caused surprise, however AEK finally won the championship at the end of the season, generally justifying the choices of the team managers.^[5]

In the rest of the season he played in the colors of Iraklis and in the summer of 1989 he left Greece. He then played in Fenerbahçe, where he won the President Cup in 1990. He played for B 1903 for a few months. Afterwards he spent 2 seasons with Lille and ended his career in the Danish 2nd Division with the colors of Brøndby in 1992, due to an injury.^[6]

Personal life

Henrik Nielsen now lives in Copenhagen with his 5 daughters and wife. They have a successful wine production business.^[7]

Honours

AEK Athens

• Alpha Ethniki: 1988–89

Fenerbahçe

• President Cup: 1990

Individual

• Alpha Ethniki top scorer: 1987–88

References

1. Κούβαρης, Γιώργος. "Χένρικ Νίλσεν: "Με είχαν διώξει κακήν-κακώς από την ΑΕΚ"". gazzetta.gr.
2. Karasoulos, Spyros (12 June 2009). "Greece - List of Topscorers". RSSSF.
3. "Χένρικ Νίλσεν: Τα γενέθλια ενός μεγάλου γκολτζή, η αγάπη του για την ΑΕΚ και η άγνωστη ιστορία". aek365.org.
4. "ΑΕΚ-ΒΕΡΟΙΑ 7-1 + Νιλσεν συνεντευξη" – via youtube.com.
5. "Αντίο του Νίλσεν με δύο γκολ και πρωτιά (Vid)". 11 December 2019.
6. "danskfodbold.com - DBU's Officielle Statistikere". danskfodbold.com.
7. "Χένρικ Νίλσεν". aekpedia.com.