Christian Poulsen

Christian Bjørnshøj Poulsen (born 28 February 1980), is a Danish professional football player who plays for Liverpool. He has played for a number of European clubs, winning the Danish Superliga championship with F.C. Copenhagen, the German DFB Ligapokal trophy with FC Schalke 04, and the European UEFA Cup with Spanish team Sevilla FC and with Italian Serie A club Juventus.

He has been a regular member of the Denmark national football team since his debut in 2001, and has played 79 matches, scoring six goals for his country. He represented Denmark at the 2002 FIFA World Cup and 2004 European Championship international tournaments. Poulsen was named 2001 Danish under-21 Player of the Year, and won the 2005 and 2006 Danish Player of the Year awards; the first to win two years in a row.

[edit]Club career [edit]Nordvest FC

Born in Asnæs, Poulsen started playing youth football in the local club Asnaes BK. However, he moved to amateur club Nordvest FC at the age of 15, where he made his senior debut at 17 years of age, captaining the side on several occasions.[2] He was called up for theDanish under-19 football team in September 1998, and played four games for the team.

In September 2000, he underwent a trial period for F.C. Copenhagen in the top-flight Danish Superliga championship,[2] and signed his first professional contract with the club within a week. Poulsen took a commanding role in the attacking midfield of FCK, following the heart problems of former Norwegian international midfielder Ståle Solbakken in March 2001. Poulsen quickly made his mark on the league, and helped his club win the 2000–01 Superliga championship. He scored to 1–0 in the 3–1 win against second-placed Brøndby IF, which secured the league title.

Following a good start of the 2001–02 Superliga season, Poulsen was called up for the Danish national football team by national managerMorten Olsen. He got his debut when he started the 1–1 draw with the Netherlands on November 10, 2001. FCK ended runners-up in the 2001–02 Superliga, and Poulsen was named 2002 FCK Player of the Year. He was called up for the Danish squad for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, where he was initially used as a substitute. He took part in all three group stage matches, gradually getting more playing time in each game. Following two yellow cards in the group stage, he was suspended when Denmark were eliminated in the knock-out phase. Following two successful seasons with FC Copenhagen, which included nearly 50 official appearances and 10 goals, Poulsen transferred abroad to German outfit FC Schalke 04.

After the 2002 World Cup, Poulsen made a €7M move, the most expensive sale by a Danish club at the time,[3] to German club Schalke 04, where he looked to take over the position as holding midfielder left by veteran Czech international Jiří Němec. His start in Schalke was made easier by the fact that his team mate in the Danish national team, Ebbe Sand, also played for the club. Through his time at Schalke, Poulsen played a number of matches at right back, but eventually secured himself a spot in the central midfield for both club and country.

Poulsen was selected for the Danish squad at the 2004 European Championship. He played three of Denmark's four games, before Denmark was eliminated from the tournament. With Schalke, Poulsen won the 2005 DFB Ligapokal cup trophy. His displays for Schalke and the Danish national team earned him the 2005 Danish Player of the Year award. After four seasons with the club, which included well over 100 appearances, his contract ran out in June 2006. Long-lasting rumours linked him to several teams, including Italian clubs Inter Milan and A.C. Milan.[4]

He eventually signed a contract with defending UEFA Cup champions Sevilla FC of Spain, the team that knocked Schalke out of the 2005-06 UEFA Cup tournament. In his debut match for the club, Poulsen helped Sevilla win the European Super Cup trophy, with a 3–0 victory against FC Barcelonaon August 25. Following his first month at the club, he was named the best new signing in Spain by Spanish sports daily Marca.[5] He became the first player to be named Danish Player of the Year for two consecutive years, when he also won the 2006 award. He helped Sevilla defend the UEFA Cup title, winning the 2006–07 edition of the tournament and also won the Spanish Cup that year.

On July 14, 2008, Juventus officially announced the acquisition of the Danish defensive midfielder Poulsen from Sevilla FC. The transfer fee was €9.75M, with a four-year contract worth 3 million euros a year for Poulsen.[6] On February 8, Poulsen scored his first goal in the 90th minute against Sicilian club Calcio Catania giving the win to his team after the game was heading for a 1–1 draw.

On August 12, 2010, Liverpool announced the signing of Christian Poulsen for a fee of £4.5m, signing a three-year contract, he was handed the number 28 shirt, previously worn byDamien Plessis , who now plays for Panathanaikos.[7][8] On 19 August 2010, Poulsen made his debut against Turkish team Trabzonspor in the Europa League, in a match where he had a goal disallowed in the second half, as Liverpool won 1-0[9] through a Ryan Babel goal. Poulsen made his league debut for Liverpool in a 1-0 win against West Bromich Albion on 29 August 2010. Since his league debut however, Poulson started to turn in many bad performances, and as a result Liverpool fans started jeering him. On one occasion he even replied to one taunt of "you're shite and you know you are" by saying "I know what you are but what am I".

In the group stage of the 2004 European Championship, following the 0–0 draw with Italy, Danish television showed Poulsen being spat on by Italian playmaker Francesco Totti. Totti received a three-match ban and gave a "full public apology", after failing in his claim that he was provoked by Poulsen.[10] Italy were subsequently eliminated from the tournament in the group stage.

In the 2005–06 Champions League tournament, Poulsen's club Schalke played two games against Italian team A.C. Milan. Following their first match, a 2–2 draw, Poulsen was bizzarely described as "a coward" by Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti,[11] alleging that Poulsen physically kicked Milan's Brazilian playmaker Kaká. In the second match Schalke lost 2–3, despite a goal by Poulsen. Following the final whistle, Italian playerGennaro Gattuso steered towards Poulsen and confronted him.[12] Gattuso made gloating taunts, while Poulsen gave him an ironic thumbs up, afterwards declaring he found Gattuso childish and hoped he felt embarrassed for himself.[13]

In the 89th minute of the UEFA Euro 2008 qualifier against Sweden, Sweden's Markus Rosenberg struck Poulsen, who in turn punched Rosenberg.[14] After conferring with his assistant referee, referee Fandel sent off Poulsen and awarded Sweden a penalty, which was never taken as a fan ran onto the pitch trying to punch the referee. The Danish player Michael Gravgaard grabbed a hold of the fan but the referee abandoned the game.[15]

In the aftermath of the game, an angry fan attempted to press charges against Poulsen for punching Rosenberg.[16] A member of the Copenhagen metropolitan police called for a month long jail sentence,[16] and Danish Minister of Justice Lene Espersen called for Poulsen's exclusion from the national team.[17]

The case failed in court on June 18,[18] and national team coach Morten Olsen re-called Poulsen for the national team.[19]

See UEFA Euro 2008 qualifier fan attack for a list of other incidents in the controversial match between Sweden and Denmark.

F.C. Copenhagen

• Danish Superliga: 2000–01, 2001–02

Schalke 04

• DFB Ligapokal: 2005

Sevilla

• Copa del Rey: 2007
• UEFA Cup: 2007
• UEFA Super Cup: 2006
• Supercopa de España: 2007

• Danish Football Player of the Year: 2005, 2006
• Danish Young Player of the Year: 2001