Harald Nielsen
Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Harald Ingemann Nielsen | ||
Date of birth | 26 October 1941 | ||
Place of birth | Frederikshavn, Denmark | ||
Date of death | 11 August 2015 | (aged 73)||
Place of death | Klampenborg, Denmark | ||
Height | 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) | ||
Position(s) | Forward | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
1959–1961 | Frederikshavn fI | 50 | (44) |
1961–1967 |
Bologna | 157 | (104) |
1967–1968 |
Internazionale | 8 | (2) |
1968–1969 | Napoli | 10 | (2) |
1969–1970 | Sampdoria | 4 | (0) |
Total | 229 | (129) | |
International career | |||
1959–1960 | Denmark | 14 | (15) |
*Club domestic league appearances and goals |
Harald Ingemann Nielsen (26 October 1941 – 11 August 2015) was a Danish
Club career
Harald Nielsen was born in
In the top Danish league, Nielsen debuted for Frederikshavn against Boldklubben Frem in March 1960. Frederikshavn won 3–1, with Harald Nielsen scoring all three goals. The team finished the league in fifth place with Nielsen becoming league top scorer.
In 1961, Harald Nielsen moved abroad to play professionally for
International career
Harald Nielsen made his debut for the Denmark national team on 13 September 1959 against Norway in Oslo, as the youngest Denmark national team player ever. Only 17 years and 322 days old, he scored a single goal in the 4–2 win.
In the summer of 1960, he represented Denmark at the 1960 Summer Olympics football tournament in Rome.[2] Denmark finished runners-up and Nielsen was the leading goals scorer of the tournament with 6 goals.[3]
His international potential as a striker became obvious already on 10 May 1960, when he scored two goals in a Copenhagen XI game against the 1958 Brazilian world champions team, which two years earlier had another largely unknown 17-year-old Pelé making his debut on the world stage. The two would meet again playing for their respective club teams later in their careers, but in a strange twist of fates while Pelé was essentially banned from playing outside Brazilian team(s), Nielsen would be banned from playing on the Denmark national team. As the Danish Football Association did not allow professionals to represent the Denmark national team until 1971, Nielsen was banned from the national team at 19 years old when he joined Bologna, and would not play another national team match. This was a great frustration to Harald Nielsen, which he repeatedly voiced in interviews with Danish media.[4]
Outside football
Nielsen was a prolific entrepreneur who started numerous companies. Just after ending his career he started a firm together with his wife, former actress Rudi Nielsen, which imports Italian leather works to Scandinavia. Nielsen and Hansen met on the set of Far til fire med fuld musik in 1961 and married in 1963.
In the 1970s Nielsen became involved in professionalising
Harald Nielsen along with Alex Friedman founded – and became the first chairman of FC København A/S later
Career statistics
Club | Season | League | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Division | Apps | Goals | ||
Bologna
|
1961–62 | Serie A | 16 | 8 |
1962–63 | Serie A | 29 | 19 | |
1963–64 | Serie A | 31 | 21 | |
1964–65 | Serie A | 31 | 13 | |
1965–66 | Serie A | 29 | 12 | |
1966–67 | Serie A | 21 | 8 | |
Inter Milan | 1967–68 | Serie A | 8 | 2 |
Napoli
|
1968–69 | Serie A | 10 | 2 |
Sampdoria
|
1969–70 | Serie A | 4 | 0 |
Honours
Bologna
- Mitropa Cup (Coupe Centrale D'Europe): 1961–62; runner-up 1962–63
- Italian Serie A Championship: 1963–64
Denmark
- Rome 1960
Individual
- Årets Fund (Oldest Danish Sports Prize): 1959
- Danish Championship – Topscorer in the Tournament: 1960 (19 goals)
- Topscorer in the Olympic Football Tournament: Rome 1960(6 goals)
- First Danish Player of the Year: 1961
- Mitropa Cup Topscorer in the Tournament: 1961–62, 1962–63
- Caltex Sportsman Dell'Anno: 1963–64 on YouTube
- Serie A – Capocannoniere (Topscorer in the tournament): 1962–63 (21 goals), 1963–64 (19 goals)
- Cavaliere/Knight Order of Merit of the Italian Republic: 1992
- Sportens Ridderkors: 2002
- Nettuno d'oro: 2004
- Honorary President Rebild National Park Society: 2007
- First Honorary Member of F.C. Copenhagen: 2007
- Danish Football Hall of Fame: 2010
- Protektor F.C. Copenhagen Legends Club: 2014
Films
- Far til fire med fuld musik, Denmark, 1961 (in Danish)
References
- ISBN 9788770550727.
- ^ "Harald Nielsen". Olympedia. Retrieved 10 December 2021.
- ^ a b Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Harald Nielsen". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020.
- ISBN 9788702079357.
- ^ Calcio, morto Harald Nielsen: stella del super Bologna anni '60. Repubblica.it (12 August 2015). Retrieved on 4 April 2016.
- ^ Guld-Harald fik sin egen plads i Frederikshavn. TV2Nord.dk (26 October 2016).
Literature
- Joakim Jakobsen, "Guld-Harald: Topscorer, Idol, Rebel", Denmark, 2009, ISBN 9788702079357(in Danish)
- AA.VV. L’enciclopedia dei cento anni: 1909–2009 Bologna football club il secolo rossoblu, Bologna, Minerva Edizioni, 2009 (in Italian)
- John Lindskog, "Kaerlighed A/S – Historien om Guld-Harald og Rudi": Denmark, 2007, ISBN 9788770550727(in Danish)
- Fabrizio Calzia – Francesco Caremani, "Angeli e Diavoli RossoBlu", Italy, 2003 (in Italian)
External links
- Harald Nielsen national team profile at the Danish Football Association (in Danish)
- Harald Nielsen at IMDb
- 1960erne.dk profile (in Danish)
- Caltex Sportsman Dell'Anno 1963 on YouTube