Brondby IF
(Denmark), Bayer Uerdingen (Germany), Bayern München (Germany),
Fiorentina (Italy), AC Milan (Italy), Rangers FC (Scotland),
Chelsea FC (England), FC Kobenhavn (Denmark), Ajax Amsterdam (Holland)
Honours
- Danish
Superliga: 1987 and 1988, with Brøndby IF
- Danish Player of the Year: 1989, 1992, 1995, and 1997
- Euro 1992, with Denmark
- Serie A: 1993/94, with AC Milan
- Scottish Premier League: 1994/95, 1995/96, 1996/97, with
Rangers
- Scottih Cup: 1995/96, with Rangers
- Scottish League Cup: 1996/97, with Rangers
Biography
Brian Laudrup (born February 22, 1969) is a former Danish
professional football (soccer) player, who won the 1992 European
Football Championship (Euro 1992) with the Denmark national
team, and he was a vital part of that Rangers FC team which
dominated the Scottish Premier League in the 1990s. Brian
Laudrup was named by Pelé as one of the top 125 greatest living
footballers at the FIFA 100 ceremony in March 2004, alongside
his equally famous older brother Michael Laudrup.
Brian Laudrup was born into a football family with father Finn
Laudrup, a former Danish national player, and brother Michael
also very keen on the sport. He started his career in his native
Denmark with Brøndby IF where he debuted aged 18 for the Danish
national team on November 18, 1987 in a 0-1 defeat to West
Germany. Brian Laudrup missed out on the Euro 1988, but from
February 1989 Brian Laudrup became a mainstay, and impressed so
much for both club and country, that he won a transfer to
Germany with Uerdingen, and was named Danish Player of the Year
in 1989. After only one season with Uerdingen he was bought by
Bayern Munich for £2m in 1990.
In 1992, Brian Laudrup travelled with the Danish national team
to the Euro 1992 in Sweden, and in a strictly defensive strategy,
Brian Laudrup was one of the only attacking players. Though he
did not score a single goal in the competition, his skill and
speed was an important part of the Danish team that went on to
win the tournament, and Laudrup was voted a shared 5th in the
1992 FIFA World Player of the Year poll, with fellow Dane Peter
Schmeichel, though he had the edge over Schmeichel in the
domestic polls, where Laudrup won his second Danish Player of
the Year award in 1992.
His reputation began to grow and Brian Laudrup fulfilled his
lifelong ambition when he moved to Serie A team Fiorentina.
However, his time in Italy was both unhappy and unsuccessful and
after the Italian team were relegated he felt the fury of the
tifosi as he was smuggled out from the stadium in the trunk of a
car. He was loaned to AC Milan for the 1993 to 1994 season,
which only saw him play a handful of matches throughout the
season, and with the Danish national team things did not look
brighter as they failed to qualify for the 1994 World Cup.
In July 1994, Laudrup was offered an escape route from Italy
when he was approached by Walter Smith of Rangers FC, and he
signed in a £2.3m deal. His time in Scotland was filled with
success as he helped Rangers complete their nine-in-a-row sweep
of the Scottish Premier League and was awarded Danish Player of
the Year twice, giving him a record four wins of the prestigious
award. After a disappointing Euro 1996 for Denmark, with the
only positive note being Brian Laudrup's 3 goals in as many
games.
He took part in his only World Cup campaign when he played the
1998 World Cup, with a Denmark team he ranks even higher than
the Euro 1992 winning side. Alongside Peter Schmeichel and
brother Michael Laudrup, Brian shone and saw Denmark through to
the quarter finals with a goal in the 4-1 surprise thrashing of
Nigeria in the first knock-out round. The quarter-finals would
be his last game for the Denmark team, when they were defeated
2-3 by the later runners-up Brazil, despite Brian Laudrup
scoring on a volley to the top near corner of the goal to level
the game at 2-2. After the tournament, the 29-year old Brian
Laudrup decided to end his national team career at the top,
having played in 82 matches, scoring 21 goals over the course of
eleven years.
He joined Chelsea in 1998 though he did not play many games and
had a brief spell at FC Copenhagen, where he was unceremoniously
booed by fans from his former team Brøndby, as well as
supporters of many other clubs who did not take it lightly that
"the son of the nation" would turn out for a club everybody
loved to hate. Family problems resulted in Laudrup joining Ajax
Amsterdam for one season from 1999 to 2000, taking over from
Michael who had retired at Ajax one year earlier. Injury forced
Brian Laudrup to retire from top-level football at 31 years of
age, after one of the most successful careers in Danish
football.
Brian Laudrup is now a Champions League commentator and pundit
at Danish TV3+ with Peter Schmeichel and former Danish national
player Preben Elkjær Larsen. He is also involved with the
socalled "Laudrup & Høgh ProCamp", a youth football camp, co-coached
with former national team goalkeeper Lars Høgh. In his spare
time he plays for Lyngby Boldklub's Old Boys side alongside
Michael Laudrup, and Brian Laudrup also runs a successful wine
business.
