Peter Schmeichel biography: Danish football player

Peter Schmeichel biography

Danish football player

goalkeeper

Soccer player

Youth clubs

Ledøje-Smørum
Gladsaxe/Hero
Senior clubs

Career
Years Club App (Gls)
Gladsaxe/Hero 046 0(0)
Hvidovre IF 088 0(6)
Brøndby IF 119 0(2)
Manchester United 292 0(1)
Sporting CP 050 0(0)
Aston Villa 029 0(1)
Manchester City 029 0(0)
Total 653 (10)

Honours
Team

1992 European Football Championship, with Denmark
Brøndby IF

Danish Superliga
Champions (4) - 1987, 1988, 1990, and 1991
Runner-Up - 1989
Danish Cup - 1989
Manchester United

Football League First Division Runner-Up - 1992
FA Premier League
Champions (5) - 1992/93, 1993/94, 1995/96, 1996–97, and 1998/99
Runner-Up - 1994/95 and 1997/98
FA Cup (3) - 1994, 1996, and 1999
FA Charity Shield (4) - 1993, 1994, 1996, and 1997
English League Cup - 1992
European Super Cup - 1991
UEFA Champions League - 1998-99
Sporting Lisbon

Portuguese Superliga - 2000
Aston Villa

Inter-Toto Cup - 2001
Personal

Danish Goalkeeper of the Year - 1987, 1988, 1990
Brøndby IF Player of the Year - 1990
Danish Player of the Year (3) - 1990, 1993, and 1999
World's Best Goalkeeper - 1992 and 1993
UEFA Club Football Awards - 1997-98
English Football Hall of Fame - 2003
Others

European Footballer of the Year - 5th, 1992
FIFA World Player of the Year - 5th, 1992, 4th, 1993
World's Best Goalkeeper - 4th, 1994, 2nd, 1995, 4th, 1996, 3rd, 1997, 2nd, 1999

Peter Boleslaw Schmeichel MBE

Danish former keeper, and was voted the "World's Best Goalkeeper" in 1992 and 1993. He experienced a most successful years in English club Man United, with whom he won the 1999 UEFA Champions League to complete The Treble. He was a key member of the Denmark national football team which won a 1992 European Championship (Euro 92) tournament.

Schmeichel is famous for a intimidating physique (he wears an XXXL shirt and stands 6ft 4 tall) and attacking threat. Schmeichel scored 11 goals, a great feat for a keeper. He is the most capped player for the Danish national team, with 129 games and a goal between 1987 and 2001. Apart from Euro 92, he played for his nation at the 1998 FIFA World Cup and three additional European Championship tournaments. He captained the team in 30 matches.

Today, he is regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers ever. The IFFHS ranked Schmeichel as the seventh best keeper of the 20th century in 2000, and in 2001 Schmeichel won a poll held by Reuters, when the majority of the 200,000 participants voted him as the best goalkeeper ever, ahead of Lev Yashin and Gordon Banks. In 2003, Schmeichel was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame in recognition of his impact on the English game. In March 2004, he was named as one of the "125 greatest living footballers", at the FIFA 100 celebrations.

He holdsa record for the greatest games clean sheets ratio in the Premiership, and possibly the world, with 42% of the games he played in the Premiership ending without his team conceding. Although David James holds the record for most clean sheets, he has more games than Schmeichel, so his ratio percentage is lower.

Playing style
At his peak he was in the opinion of many the world's best goalkeeper; a charismatic keeper with presence and excellent shot stopping skills, but equally famous for his temper. He was a perfectionist, never afraid to vent feelings or anger at his own defenders if he thought they made an error. He would frequently shout at defenders, especially Steve Bruce in Man Utd, although the two remained firm friends, and Marc Rieper for Denmark. From his deep position he could spot threats and dangers that his defenders could not always see, and alert them. He would co ordinate the defence, instilling confidence by his constant vocal presence.

When it came to shot stopping from long range, Schmeichel was unrivalled. He was rarely ever beaten from outside the box during his tenure at Man United. Not only that, but from close range he was a master. In his school days playing Handball, he had perfected a strange star shaped jump to cover as much of the goal as possible, allowing him to excel in one on one attacker versus goalkeeper situations. If an opposing player managed to break through the Utd defence, Schmeichel would come charging out to narrow the angle. Spreading his huge frame high and wide in a star shape, this both put the player off and made the net more difficult to hit.

One of his key strengths was the long throw out which means he could throw the ball from inside his penalty box all the way to the oppositions penalty box used to launch quick counter attacks. As soon as Schmeichel gained control of the ball from the opposing team in the United penalty area, he would search out Manchester United's two wingers Ryan Giggs and Andrei Kanchelskis and throw a ball to them in order to catch the opposing team off balance.

Despite being a goalkeeper, he could also single handedly provide a deadly offensive threat. He would run into the attack on corner kicks if his team was behind. The sight of him going up for the corner was a great distraction to opposing defenders. He scored a goal in this fashion, for Man United, in a 1995 UEFA Cup match against Rotor Volgograd. He scored in the last minutes of the game, though United was eliminated from the tournament on the away goals rule. His presence in the opposition penalty area arguably also led to United's equaliser in the final of the 99 UEFA Champions League. During his short spell at Aston Villa in the 2001/02 season, he became the first ever goalkeeper to score in a Premier League match.

Biography
Schmeichel was born in Søborggård parish, Gladsaxe in Denmark. His father was Polish and his mother was Danish, and Peter Schmeichel was a Polish citizen until 1970 when he, his father, and his siblings became Danish citizens. Schmeichel played his first years at local teams in Gladsaxe before moving to Hvidovre IF in the top-flight Danish 1st Division championship in 1984. He made a debut for Denmark under 21 national football team in May 1984. He worked as a carpet fitter before becoming a pro footballer. In February 2007 he became the host in a new quiz, on TV3 (Denmark) named 1 mod 100 (the Danish version of 1 vs. 100).

Professional career

Brøndby
Despite a fifth best defense in the league, conceding 40 goals in 30 games, Schmeichel and Hvidovre finished in 14th place and were relegated in 1985. After only a single season, the club bounced right back to the 1st Division, but Schmeichel was lost by Hvidovre. He moved to Brøndby IF before the 1987 season. Winning the Danish league in his first year, he joined a club which he helped turn to a success. He debuted for the Danish national team in May 1987, under national manager Sepp Piontek, and was selected for the Euro 88 tournament, where he became Denmark's starting goalkeeper.

Schmeichel and Brøndby won four championships in five seasons. The climax of his Brøndby career would come in the European 1991 UEFA Cup competition, which saw Schmeichel as an important part of the team that reached the semi finals. The club was eliminated by AS Roma with a last minute goal by Rudi Völler. Following the tournament, Schmeichel was voted 10th in "The World's Best Goalkeeper 1991" poll by the IFFHS.

Man United
Following showings on the international scene, Manchester United bought him in 1991 for £530,000, a price which was described in 2000 by Utd manager Alex Ferguson as the "bargain of the century". Schmeichel played the bulk of his career for Utd, eight years in total. With United, Schmeichel won five FA Premier League titles, three FA Cups, one League Cup, and the UEFA Champions League.

He and United finished runners up in his first season, but Schmeichel would experience personal success with the Danish national team under new national manager Richard Møller Nielsen. Schmeichel was Denmark's starting goalkeeper at the Euro 92 tournament which they won. He saved a penalty kick from Marco van Basten in the semi final, and notably held a cross with a hand in the final. He made a string of important saves during the tournament, and was elected "The World's Best Goalkeeper 1992".

In the 1992-93 season, 22 clean sheets from Schmeichel helped Utd win the FA Premier League championship for the first time in 28 years. Schmeichel was once again named "The World's Best Goalkeeper" in 1993. In January 1994, Schmeichel fell out with Ferguson, as Utd had squandered a 3-0 lead to draw 3-3 with Liverpool FC. The two had a row where Schmeichel "said the most horrible things", and he was subsequently sacked by Ferguson. A few days later, Schmeichel made an improvised apology to the other players. Unknown to him, Ferguson was eavesdropping on this, and he let Schmeichel stay at Man Utd. Schmeichel and Utd repeated the Premier League championship win at the end of the season. Schmeichel competed with Denmark at the Euro 96 hosted by England. The defending European Champions went out in the group stage, despite delivering results equivalent to the Euro 92 tournament.

Following a February 1997 match against Arsenal FC, Schmeichel was accused of racism by Arsenal striker Ian Wright. During a game, Schmeichel and Wright had controversies, and at the end of the game, the players confronted each other on their way off the pitch. After the game, news emerged of a police inquiry into a November 1996 match between the two clubs, where it was alleged Schmeichel had made a racist remark. After months of politicizing by The FA and The PFA, who wanted a "converted" Schmeichel as their posterboy of the "Kick Racism out of Football" campaign, no evidence was found and the case was dropped.

Under new national manager Bo Johansson, Schmeichel was a part of a Danish squad at the 1998 FIFA World Cup. He was one of the leading members of the Danish campaign, which ended in a 2-3 quarter final defeat to Brazil.

Schemichel ended his Man United career on the highest note, when Schmeichel and Utd won the Treble, the FA Premier League title, FA Cup and UEFA Champions League, in the same season. In that year's FA Cup semi final against Arsenal FC, Schmeichel saved a penalty kick by Dennis Bergkamp in the last minutes of the game, to send the game into extra time. In the absence of the suspended Roy Keane, he captained United in the UEFA Champions League final in May 1999. German opponents Bayern Munich had a 1 - 0 lead until the dying minutes of the game, when United received a corner. Schmeichel ran into attack, to attempt creating confusion, and Teddy Sheringham scored the equalising goal. A few minutes later, Ole Gunnar Solskjær scored the 2-1 winner for United, Schmeichel's last game for the club.

Sporting Clube de Portugal
Schmeichel decided to leave English football at the end of the 1999 season, as a gruelling 60 game league and cups season, which came with playing with a successful club, was threatening to undermine his high standards at the age of 35. He moved to Sporting, where he won the 1999-2000 Portuguese Premier League title in his first season with the club. He scored his only goal for the Danish national team, a penalty kick against Belgium, in a June 2000 warm up match for the Euro 2000. He represented Denmark at the Euro 2000, where the team was eliminated in the group stage. He retired from the national team in April 2001, when he played a planned farewell match against Slovenia.

His second year with Sporting would be remarkable in that it was the first time in 14 years, since his Hvidovre days, that Schmeichel's club would finish below second place in the domestic league competition. Schmeichel stated his wish to activate a contract option of a further year at Sporting in January 2001, but eventually decided to leave the club when his contract ran out in June 2001. He considered a number of options for the future, before deciding to keep on playing.

Return to England
He returned to England with Aston Villa in July 2001. On October 20, 2001, Schmeichel became the first goalkeeper to score a Premiership goal, in a 3 - 2 defeat away to Everton. A goalkeeper scoring in the Premier League is a feat only repeated twice, by Blackburn Rover's Brad Friedel on February 21, 2004, also from a corner kick, and by Tottenham Hotspur's Paul Robinson from a free-kick on March 17, 2007. Schmeichel failed to complete his single season at Villa due to having a clause in his contract stipulating he had to play in every game if he was fit to do so. After a string of poor performances, Graham Taylor decided to release Schmeichel from his contract to play Peter Enckelman.

Schmeichel played his last active year for Man City during the 2002-03 season. Schmeichel's record in the Manchester derby is exceptional, in he was never on the losing side. During his nine years with Man United, they were unbeaten against Man City, while in his single season with City, they won at Maine Road and drew at Old Trafford. Ironically, his last major action in football was to make a world class save against Liverpool at Anfield, in a game which City went onto win. This ultimately led to Liverpool missing out on a Champions League spot on the final day of the season.

Retirement
In December 1999, Schmeichel became a club owner of his childhood club Hvidovre IF. He withdrew from the club in June 2002. He has worked as a pundit for the BBC since then, a frequent studio pundit when Man Utd are playing. He began hosting live UEFA Champions League matches at Danish tv channel TV3+, with Preben Elkjær and Brian Laudrup studio pundits. He is working again as a pundit for the BBC in the English FA Cup Third Round match between Manchester Utd, his former club, and Aston Villa alongside host Gary Lineker, and pundits Alan Hansen and Alan Shearer.

He has a son, Kasper Schmeichel, who plays as goalkeeper for Manchester City (on loan at Falkirk FC). Kasper was called up for the Danish U-19 squad in August 2003 and he got his first experience of first team football on loan at League 2 side Darlington FC in 2005.

His popularity in Britain is perhaps best measured by Chesney Battersby-Brown on the soap Coronation Street naming his former dog (a Great Dane) 'Schmeichel'. He also took part in Soccer Aid, and played for the Rest of the World team, who lost 2 - 1 after he was substituted at half time. Schmeichel was a contestant on the 2006 series of the BBC's popular Saturday night TV programme Strictly Come Dancing, but was voted out by the public on his 43rd birthday. He recently appeared on The Weakest Link in The UK. He was voted off as the weakest link in the first round.

Misspell

Petr Smeichel Pter Shmeichel Pete Scmeichel

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