OB Odense
(Denmark), Udinese (Italy), AC Milan (Italy), Inter Milan
(Italy), Norwich City (England), Borussia Monchengladbach
(Germany)
Honours
Danish 1st
Division: 1989
Danish Cup: 1991, 1992-93
Danish Player of the Year: 1994
Serie A: 1998-99, with AC Milan
Coppa Italia: 2002-03, with AC Milan
UEFA Champions League: 2003, with AC Milan
Biography
Thomas Helveg (born June 24, 1971 in Odense) is a Danish
international football (soccer) player, a defensive midfielder
and defender who currently plays for Borussia Mönchengladbach in
the Bundesliga. A rock in the Danish defense since his debut in
1994, Helveg has compiled 98 caps for the Denmark national
football team, and is thereby the fourth most capped player for
Denmark. He played for his country at the 1992 Summer Olympics,
and at the 1998 and 2002 World Cup, as well as 1996 European
Championship (Euro 1996), Euro 2000, and Helveg was named
national team captain following the retirement of René Henriksen
after the Euro 2004 tournament.
Thomas Helveg's international career began when he was sold from
Odense BK to Italian club Udinese in the autumn 1994. He was
soon to have succes in Udine, even though the team was relegated
in his first season, and he received his first call-up to the
national team in 1994. For five years, he was first choice in
the right side of the pitch and after the promotion of his team
in 1995 after only one season in Serie B, Udinese became a tough
opponent for the other clubs in Serie A. In the 1997 season,
Helveg would get company in Udinese by fellow Danish player
Martin Jørgensen, and they developed a close relationship naming
each other nephew Jørgensen and uncle Helveg, their connection
most outspoken in their joint celebration following Helveg's
goal in Denmark's 4-1 win over Nigeria in the 1998 World Cup.
After the season 1997-1998, he was traded to AC Milan.
The shift from Udinese to AC Milan was made easier by the fact
that he had company by both his teammate Oliver Bierhoff and
their manager Alberto Zaccheroni from the Udinese days. The trio
gained succes in Milan as they won the Italian championship in
1999. Thomas Helveg played a large role in the succes as a
starter in almost every game in the season. In the next two
seasons he was still first choice, but in the season 2001-2002
he began to be challenged severely by players like Dario Simic
and Gennaro Gattuso. Even though he continued to play rather
often, his postition began to weaken, and before the season
2003-2004 he changed to Inter Milan - the arch rivals of AC
Milan. A funny detail is that Helveg was in fact already owned
by Inter, who the had been loaning him to Milan for the
2002-2003 season.
In Inter Milan he regained some of his form and played 22 games
in Serie A and 6 in the European cups. In this his last year in
Italy he was from time to time also used in the left side of the
defence by his old manager in both Udinese and AC Milan, Alberto
Zaccheroni. After a year in Inter Milan, Helveg decided to play
in England.
After joining Norwich City, the veteran defender struggled to
reproduce the form shown continuously in Serie A and on the
international scene, losing his place in the line-up in the
opening weeks of the season. He regained his place in the side
after a long absence in early 2005, this time in central
midfield, and finished the season, in typically versatile
fashion, as the first choice right back. After a largely
disappointing season, showing only flashes of his undoubted
class, Helveg left the club to play in Germany.
