Allan Nielsen

Allan Nielsen (born 13 March 1971) is a Danish former professional footballer whose most notable period of football was four years at English Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur with whom he won the 1999 League Cup, scoring the winning goal. He was also an integral part of the Denmark national team from 1996 to 2001, playing a total of 44 matches and scoring seven goals. He competed for Denmark in the international 1996 European Championship (Euro 1996), 1998 FIFA World Cup and Euro 2000 tournaments. Biography Nielsen was born in Esbjerg, Denmark. Having never played a senior match for Esbjerg fB, whom he joined from the academy of Sædding-Guldager Idrætsforening (SGI), he moved abroad in 1989 to play for German Bundesliga team Bayern Munich at the age of 18. In his three years at the club, he played only six minutes in a single game in May 1991, as he came on as a substitute in a 7–3 win against Hertha BSC. Failing to break through at Bayern Munich, he left the club in the summer 1991. Nielsen initially signed a three-year contract with FC Sion in June 1991, but he never played a game for the club. He swiftly moved back to Denmark, to play with OB in the Danish Superliga championship, where he debuted in September 1991. At Odense, he was a part of the team that won the 1993 Danish Cup and he was then brought to league rivals FC Copenhagen in 1994. He played a single season for the club, where he was team captain, before he moved to main rivals Brøndby IF in 1995. In his year at Brøndby, the club won the 1995–96 Danish Superliga championship, and Nielsen was named Brøndby IF 1995 Player of the Year. He was called up for the Danish national team under national manager Richard Møller Nielsen. Nielsen made his debut against Armenia on 16 August 1995. He came on as a substitute and following 45 seconds on the pitch, he scored the second goal in Denmark's 2–0 win. He was called up to represent Denmark at the Euro '96 tournament hosted by England, where he scored one goal in his only match, the 3–0 win against Turkey.