Steen Blicher (footballer)

Steen Blicher
Personal information
Date of birth (1923-11-22)22 November 1923
Date of death 24 October 2018(2018-10-24) (aged 94)[1]
Position(s) Midfielder
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
KFUM's Boldklub
Akademisk Boldklub
International career
1951–1952 Denmark 8 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Steen Blicher (22 November 1923 – 24 October 2018) was a Danish amateur footballer who played in the left half-back position. Blicher played eight games for the Denmark national football team,[2] and was the captain of the Danish team at the 1952 Summer Olympics.[3][4]

Blicher was a technically limited player, who more than compensated through an immense fighting spirit.[5] He played his club football in Copenhagen with KFUM's Boldklub and later Akademisk Boldklub (AB). In AB, his favorite half-back position was occupied by Danish international Ivan Jensen, and Blicher played some matches as a left winger. When Ivan Jensen turned professional following the 1948 Summer Olympics, Blicher replaced him as the AB left half-back.[5] Blicher was a part of the AB team which won the Danish Championship in 1947,[6] as well as 1951 and 1952.[7]

Blicher made his debut for the Danish national team on 12 May 1951, in a 1-3 defeat to the Scotland national football team.[2] In the last warm-up game before the 1952 Summer Olympics, the Danish team captain, Knud Lundberg, was removed from the position, and Blicher was assigned the position.[8] As Lundberg was Blicher's captain at AB, it was an awkward appointment, but Blicher led the team well through example.[5] Denmark was eliminated by the Yugoslavia national football team in the quarter-finals by 3-5, which was Blicher's last international game.

References

  1. ^ Steen Blicher's obituary (in Danish)
  2. ^ a b Danish national team profile
  3. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Steen Blicher". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 30 May 2012.
  4. ^ "Steen Blicher". Olympedia. Retrieved 6 November 2021.
  5. ^ a b c Lundberg, Knud (1986). Dansk Fodbold. Vol. 1. Fra Breslau til Bronceholdet. Copenhagen: Rhodos. pp. 60–61. ISBN 87-7245-132-7.
  6. ^ Lundberg, Knud (1986). Dansk Fodbold. Vol. 1. Fra Breslau til Bronceholdet. Copenhagen: Rhodos. p. 219. ISBN 87-7245-132-7.
  7. ^ Lundberg, Knud (1987). Dansk Fodbold. Vol. 2. Trange tider og olympisk sølv. Copenhagen: Rhodos. pp. 193–195. ISBN 87-7245-181-5.
  8. ^ Lundberg, Knud (1987). Dansk Fodbold. Vol. 2. Trange tider og olympisk sølv. Copenhagen: Rhodos. pp. 37–38. ISBN 87-7245-181-5.