Born in Copenhagen, Thygesen started playing youth football for Greve Fodbold and later Brøndby IF, before getting his senior debut with Danish 1st Division (second tier) club BK Frem in the 2002–03 season. He helped Frem win promotion to the Danish Superliga in his second season, and was a part of Frem's starting line-up in the top-flight Danish championship. He played 30 out of 33 possible matches and scored five goals, which saw Frem relegated at the end of the season.
Midtjylland
Thygesen decided to stay in the Superliga, signing for FC Midtjylland in the summer of 2004.[1] Here, he quickly established himself in the starting line-up.
Originally bought as a winger by Midtjylland,[2] Thygesen made his breakthrough as a central midfielder, when he scored seven goals for the club in the first half of the 2006–07 season.
Borussia Mönchengladbach
On 9 January 2007, he was signed by Borussia Mönchengladbach in the German Bundesliga.[3] Rumours had initially sent him to Alemannia Aachen, but they were unwilling to pay the transfer fee demanded by Midtjylland.[4][5] He joined Mönchengladbach at their January training camp, which meant he had to drop the league national team tour.[6] On 27 January 2007, he made his Bundesliga debut against Energie Cottbus, which Mönchengladbach lost 1–3.[7] He made two appearances under head coach Jupp Heynckes, before the latter was fired, which meant that Thygesen had a hard time finding his way into the first team. Thygesen had failed to break into the team under new coach Jos Luhukay, playing only three of the remaining 15 league games.[8]
Borussia Mönchengladbach were relegated from the Bundesliga at the end of the season, and Thygesen looked to leave the club in the summer 2007. He returned to FC Midtjylland on 1 July 2007, looking to strengthen his former club before their 2007-08 UEFA Cup campaign.[9]
Brøndby
On 1 June 2011, he signed a three-year deal with Brøndby IF.
On 15 November 2006, he got his debut for the senior Danish national team under national team manager Morten Olsen. Thygesen came on as a substitute for Christian Poulsen in the second half of a friendly match against the Czech Republic. Five days later, he was called up for the league national team, for the trip to the United States, El Salvador and Honduras in January 2007.
Coaching career
After four years at FC Roskilde, it was announced on 8 July 2019 that he had left the club.[10] Two weeks later he announced, that he had retired and would continue at FC Helsingør as an assistant manager.[11] Thygesen left the position in February 2023.[12]
On 4 September 2023, he was announced as new manager of FC Roskilde succeeding Jesper Håkansson.[13] He guided the club to promotion to the Danish 1st Division, but on 10 October 2024, he resigned as manager of the club.[14]
