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{{Football player infobox
| playername= Jesper Grønkjær
| image = ]
| dateofbirth = {{birth date and age|1977|8|12}}
| cityofbirth = ]
| countryofbirth = ]
| height = {{height|m=1.87}}
| position = Winger<br>Supporting striker
| currentclub = ]
| clubnumber = 10
| contractend = 30 June 2010<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sjat.com/html/fck_kontrakter.htm |title=Kontraktlængder i FCK |publisher=SJAT.COM |last=Poulsen |first=Anders |accessdate=2008-01-31 |language=Danish }}</ref>
| youthyears =
| youthclubs = ]
| years = 1995-1998<br>1998-2000<br>2000-2004<br>2004<br>2005<br>2005-2006<br>2006-present
| clubs = ]<br>]<br>]<br>]<br>]<br>]<br>]
| caps(goals) = 96 (10)<br>55 (12)<br>88 {{0}}(7)<br>16 {{0}}(0)<br>16 {{0}}(0)<br>25 {{0}}(0)<br>46 {{0}}(8)
| nationalyears = 1993<br>1992-1994<br>1994-1997<br>1996-1999<br>1999-present
| nationalteam = Denmark U-16<br>Denmark U-17<br>Denmark U-19<br>]<br>]
| nationalcaps(goals) = {{0}}2 {{0}}(2)<br>19 (13)<br>19 {{0}}(7)<br>24 {{0}}(4)<br>70 {{0}}(5)
| pcupdate = 5 May 2008
| ntupdate = 17 October 2007
}}
'''Jesper Grønkjær''' (born ], ] in ], ]) is a ] professional ] player who currently plays for ]. A pacey winger, earlier in his career he was told that he could have been a sprinter, Grønkjær is able to play both right or left wing, but he is also able to play in the ] as supporting striker. Grønkjær has been ] more than 60 times for the ], scoring five goals. He played for his country at the ], as well as two ] tournaments.

==Biography==
Raised in ], Grønkjær started his career with local team ]. While at Thisted FC, he made his debut for the Danish youth national teams in October 1992 and played 6 matches at the ] ]. He moved on to defending ] champions ] (AaB) in 1995. He played almost 100 matches for the club, including games in the European ] tournament. With three goals in six matches, as the Danish national youth team won silver medals at the 1994 ], he showed himself one of the brightest talents in Danish football. He was named 1995 ] and Grønkjær attracted the attention of a string of European top clubs.

===Moving abroad===
As his contract was projected to run out in the summer 1999, AaB sold Grønkjær in a £3.5 million ] with ] club ] in October 1997, with Grønkjær moving to Amsterdam in July 1998. At Ajax, he was coached by fellow Dane ], and played alongside Danish international ]. With Ajax, he won the 2000 ] and he was named 1999-2000 "Ajax Player of the Year" by the fans.

In his first year at Ajax, Grønkjær made his debut for the Danish national team in the ] (Euro 2000) qualification game against ] on March 27, 1999. In the very first minute of the game, he famously echoed ]'s ] mistimed backpass to ] forward ], as Grønkjær passed the ball to ] forward ] who promptly scored the first goal in Italy's 2-1 victory.<ref>{{da icon}} Rasmus Bech, "Den aften, da Jesper Olsen blev glemt", ''] article'', March 28, 1999</ref> Despite the disappointing debut game, Grønkjær became an important part of the national team under coach ] and he played full time in Denmark's three games at the Euro 2000 main tournament.

===The record move===
In October 2000, Grønkjær joined ] club ] for £7.5m, which made him the then most expensive Danish football player. However, he was still sidelined with an injury until January 2001. His career at Chelsea lasted four years, and his erratic form caused much frustration for Chelsea manager ] and the Chelsea fans. However, at his best he could tear past even the best full-backs and he created some great and important goals for the club.

A notable example was when Grønkjær assisted the first goal and scored the second against ] on the final day of the ] at ] to give Chelsea a 2-1 victory and the important fourth place in the league, which allowed the club to qualify for the upcoming ] tournament.

In the 2003-04 UEFA Champions League quarter-final second leg away at ], Grønkjær came on for ] in the second half, with ] leading 1-0 on the night and 2-1 on aggregate. Within six minutes of the substitution, Chelsea equalized through a goal by ]. As ] scored three minutes before the final whistle, Chelsea went on to defeat Arsenal 3-2 on aggregate and book a place in the semi-finals.<ref>Trevor Haylett, , ''UEFA.com'', April 6, 2004</ref> In the following semi-final against ], he scored from outside the ] with a cross-come-shot, but it was not enough for Chelsea to reach the final, as the club was defeated 5-3 on aggregate by Monaco.

Grønkjær also scored a strike in front of 67,000 fans at ] against ] in the penultimate game of the ], the second of a three-game scoring streak. His final goal scored for Chelsea came the following week against ], where he scored the winner with a header in the first half.

While at Chelsea, Grønkjær became a mainstay in the Danish national team under new national team coach Morten Olsen, and he played in all of Denmark's four games at the 2002 World Cup. In the qualification games for ], he scored the game-winning goal in a 1-0 victory over closest rivals ], helping Denmark qualify for the final tournament in ]. He missed the opening game of Euro 2004 due to the death of his mother, but went to Portugal to join the Danish squad and scored the second goal of the 2-0 win against ].

===A step down===
Chelsea had fired manager Ranieri before Euro 2004, and Grønkjær left the club and started the ] at league rivals ]. However, after a poor start with Birmingham, where he failed to adapt to the tactics of the team, he was transferred to ] in January 2005 for a fee of around £2.5m. His spells with Birmingham and Atletico were a troubled time for Grønkjær, and in the summer of 2005 he transferred to ] club ], where the club was building a formidable squad under manager ], with Grønkjær playing alongside fellow Dane ].

However, despite the hype and expectations at the start of the season, the club struggled in mid-table. At the beginning of February 2006, Grønkjær and Tomasson openly criticised Trapattoni as "lacking the will to attack and win." The criticism came after 12 drawn games out of 20, and although Trapattoni wanted to assert his authority and benched both players in the next game, he himself was fired the very next day, on ] ].

Rumours in the German and Danish media suggested that Grønkjær would leave Stuttgart in favour of Danish club ]<ref name="fck">{{da icon}} , ''Politiken'', ] ].</ref> and he was presented as a new player for the defending Danish champions on ], ].<ref name="dr_FCK">{{da icon}} , ''dr.dk'', ], ]</ref> Seen as an important player in F.C. Copenhagen's first UEFA Champions League campaign in the ], Grønkjær picked up a ] injury in a September 2006 match against ]. He was prognosed an eight to twelve week recovery,<ref>{{da icon}} Jesper Møller, , '']'', September 15, 2006</ref> and returned in a November game against ] in the ]. On ] 2006, he scored his second Champions League goal in his career, against ] in a match FCK won 3-1 at ].

==Career statistics==
{{Football player statistics 1|YY}}
{{Football player statistics 2|DEN|YY}}
|-
|]||rowspan="3"|]||rowspan="3"|]||29||3||||||||||||||||
|-
|]||28||1||||||||||||||||
|-
|]||29||6||||||||||||||||
{{Football player statistics 2|NED|YY}}
|-
|]||rowspan="3"|]||rowspan="3"|]||25||8||||||||||||||||
|-
|]||25||3||||||||||||||||
|-
|]||5||1||||||||||||||||
{{Football player statistics 2|ENG|YY}}
|-
|]||rowspan="4"|]||rowspan="4"|]||14||1||||||||||||||||
|-
|]||13||0||||||||||||||||
|-
|]||30||4||||||||||||||||
|-
|]||31||2||||||||||||||||
|-
|]||]||]||16||0||||||||||||||||
{{Football player statistics 2|ESP|YY}}
|-
|]||]||]||16||0||||||||||||||||
{{Football player statistics 2|GER|YY}}
|-
|]||]||]||25||0||||||||||||||||
{{Football player statistics 2|DEN|YY}}
|-
|]||rowspan="3"|]||rowspan="3"|]||21||5||||||||||||||||
|-
|]||||||||||||||||||||
|-
|]||||||||||||||||||||
{{Football player statistics 3|5|DEN}}107||15||||||||||||||||
{{Football player statistics 4|NED}}55||12||||||||||||||||
{{Football player statistics 4|ENG}}104||7||||||||||||||||
{{Football player statistics 4|ESP}}16||0||||||||||||||||
{{Football player statistics 4|GER}}25||0||||||||||||||||
{{Football player statistics 5}}307||34||||||||||||||||
|}

==International goals==
:''Scores and results list Denmark's goal tally first.''
{| class="wikitable"
! # !! Date !! Venue !! Opponent !! Score !! Result !! Competition
|-
| 1 || ] || ], ] || {{fb|SVN}} || 1-0 || 3-0 || ]
|-
| 2 || ] || ], ] || {{fb|TUN}} || 1-0 || 2-1 || ]
|-
| 3 || ] || ], ] || {{fb|NOR}} || 1-0 || 1-0 || ]
|-
| 4 || ] || ], ] || {{fb|FIN}} || 1-0 || 1-1 || ]
|-
| 5 || ] || ], ] || {{fb|BUL}} || 2-0 || 2-0 || ]
|}

==Honours==
*'''1995 ]'''
*'''1999 ]''' with Ajax
*'''2007 ]''' with Copenhagen
*'''2006-07 TIPS-bladet's Player of the Year'''
*'''2007 ] Profile of the Year'''
*'''2007 ] Player of the Year'''
*'''2007 Team of the Year'''
*'''2007 TIPS-bladet's Autumn Profile'''

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
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{{Navboxes
|title= Jesper Grønkjær - Navigation boxes
|list1=
{{Denmark Squad 2000 European Championship}}
{{Denmark Squad 2002 World Cup}}
{{Denmark Squad 2004 European Championship}}
{{Players of FCK}}
}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gronkjaer, Jesper}}
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Revision as of 22:18, 5 September 2008