Last year’s champions have intention of giving up the title
Brondby is immersed in a profound process of reorganisation, and the Maspalomas tournament will put it to the test

Maspalomas, December 24, 2006

Name: Brondby IF

Address: Brondby Stadion, 30 (Brondby)

Telephone: (+45) 4363 0810

Fax: (+45) 43432627

Website: www.brondby.com

E-mail: info@brondby-if.dk

Year founded: 1964

Stadium: Brondby Stadion (28,000 spectators)

Titles won: 10 Swedish leagues and 5 Swedish cups

 

Brondby is experiencing its first year of the post-Michael Laudrup era.  This young team (which was founded in 1964) underwent a spectacular period of success under the leadership of the former FC Barcelona and Real Madrid player, winning two league titles and one cup. The yellows arrived in Maspalomas following this success and won their first lighthouse trophy, to prove that the students of a skilful teacher always come out on top. Attractive football, with and enormous goal-scoring capacity were the keys that led Brondby to win its first Maspalomas International Tournament. At the end of last season, after failing to win any titles,  Laudrup decided to move on. The person entrusted with substituting the Danish genius is Jorgen Henriksen. At the present time, things are not going too well. Brondby is seventh in its league, with 24 points, too few to even dream of winning the title.  The leader of the Danish league is Copenhagen, who now has 43 points after 18 matches.

 

In Europe, the yellows were eliminated in the preliminary round by Eintracht  Frankfurt, who gave them a whipping in Germany (4-0) and they managed to achieve a 2-2 draw in Denmark. This year, they can only opt for the Cup, although the rival to beat in order to go on to the final round is the Copenhagen. Meanwhile, in Maspalomas we will be seeing a Brondby that is immersed in reorganising itself as a team. Henriksen has sacrificed Laudrup’s third centre forward to assemble a somewhat more defensive team, using the classic 4-4-2 design. It is quite evident that it will be quite a long time before the  Brondby Stadion fans can enjoy watching a machine that is properly oiled and ready to go. 

 

In any case, the backbone of the team continues to be the same, and in theory, the team’s potential has not suffered too much. The lighthouse trophy, which is the winter tournament with the greatest prestige, is one of the few consolations open to the Danes this year, and so they will be arriving in San Fernando to give all they’ve got.

 

The stars

 

The most important asset of Brondby IF is its blocking power. That is the key to the success of the Nordic team, but there are also a couple of players who make all the difference in a team that is known for its hard work and enormous physical strength.  Thomas Rytter leads the defenders. The veteran left wing player is the most ‘international’ player in the Danish team, and is also a familiar face for Spanish fans, after playing with Sevilla. We should also mention the progress of the striker Trond Andersen, who is permanently included in the line-ups of Brondby IF.

Dorsal	Jugador	Posición	Año	País	Internacional
1.	Casper Ankergren	Goal Keeper	79	DEN	0
16.	Morten Cramer	Goal Keeper	67	DEN	0
30.	Michael Tørnes	Goal Keeper	86	DEN	0
2.	Trond Andersen	Defender	75	NOR	38
4.	Per Nielsen	Defender	73	DEN	9
5.	Mark Howard	Defender	86	ENG	0
14.	Joseph Elanga	Defender	79	CMR	17
18.	Henrik Kildentoft	Defender	85	DEN	0
20.	Asbjørn Sennels	Defender	79	DEN	2
22.	Morten Rasmusen	Defender	85	DEN	3
23.	Martin Spelmann	Defender	87	DEN	0
24.	Adam Eckersley	Defender	85	ENG	0
3.	Thomas Rytter	Midfielder	74	DEN	5
6.	Marcus Lantz	Midfielder	75	SWE	5
7.	Kasper Lorentzen	Midfielder	85	DEN	0
8.	Kim Daugaard	Midfielder	74	DEN	0
9.	Martin Retov	Midfielder	80	DEN	1
10.	Martin Ericsson	Midfielder	80	SWE	3
11.	Mads Jørgensen	Midfielder	79	DEN	1
13.	Stefan Schmidt	Midfielder	75	DEN	0
21.	Thomas Rasmussen	Midfielder	77	DEN	2
26.	Mike Jensen	Midfielder	88	DEN	0
12.	Giovanne Rector	Striker	82	RSA	0
15.	Ruben Bagger	Striker	72	DEN	0
17.	Morten Rasmussen	Striker	85	DEN	0
19.	Peguero Jean Phillippe	Striker	81	HTI	10
25.	Hannes Sigurdsson	Striker	83	ISL	6