Ronnie Ekelund

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Ronnie Ekelund
Personal information
Full name Ronnie Michael Ekelund
Date of birth (1972-08-21) 21 August 1972 (age 51)
Place of birth Glostrup, Denmark
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s)
Striker
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1988–1992 Brøndby 63 (13)
1992–1994
Barcelona B
 66 (10)
1992–1994 Barcelona[2] 1 (0)
1994–1995 → Southampton (loan)[3] 17 (5)
1995–1996 → Manchester City (loan)[3] 4 (0)
1996 → Coventry City (loan)[3] 0 (0)
1996 → Lyngby (loan)[4] 4 (0)
1996–1999 Odense Boldklub 44 (4)
1999–2000 Toulouse ? (?)
2000–2001 Walsall[3] 9 (1)
2001–2004 San Jose Earthquakes[5] 91 (11)
2005–2006 California Cougars (indoor)[6] 22 (11)
Total 258 (42)
International career
1987–1989 Denmark U17[1] 23 (10)
1989–1991 Denmark U19[1] 7 (0)
1990–1993 Denmark U21[1] 21 (3)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Ronnie Michael Ekelund (born 21 August 1972) is a Danish former professional

forward
.

He notably played in

Football League with Walsall before finishing his career in the United States with Major League Soccer side San Jose Earthquakes. Ekelund played 21 matches and scored three goals for the Danish under-21 national team and represented Denmark at the 1992 Summer Olympics football tournament. He was named 1988 Danish under-17 Talent of the Year
.

Following retirement, he briefly played indoor soccer for California Cougars before returning to San Jose Earthquakes for a period as their technical advisor.

Playing career

Brondby

Ekelund started his professional career with Danish club

Danish championship winning Brøndby team. He played a total 63 games for Brøndby in all competitions.[7]

Barcelona

His involvement in the

FC Barcelona B, the second-string team of the club. Due to league restrictions on the number of foreigners in the playing line-up, Ekelund had a hard time displacing stars like Michael Laudrup, Hristo Stoichkov and Romário in the Barcelona attack. He played a single league match during the 1993–94 season, coming on the field as a substitute and playing 33 minutes,[2]
before leaving the club.

Southampton

Ekelund went to England, to

transfer deal
.

Ekelund underwent brief

Lyngby FC, playing four games for the club in May 1996.[4]

Later career

Ekelund went back to Denmark on a permanent basis in 1996, when he moved to

Odense BK. He played two Superliga seasons for Odense,[4] before the club was relegated to the secondary Danish 1st Division
. He played one season for Odense in the 1st Division before moving on in the summer 1999.

He moved to French club Toulouse FC in Ligue 2. Ekelund helped Toulouse win promotion for the top-flight Ligue 1 championship, but the manager was fired and Ekelund left the club.[10] During a training session while on trial with English club

Bolton Wanderers in the second-tier Football League First Division, Ekelund suffered an injury which forced him out of the game for three months.[11] When he recovered, Ekelund signed with English team Walsall in the third-tier Football League Second Division in December 2000,[11] to play under manager Ray Graydon who Ekelund knew as a coach from his time at Southampton.[12] Ekelund played nine league games for Walsall, scoring once against Bournemouth.[13] He was offered a new contract by Graydon,[14] but decided to leave Europe
in 2001.

In April 2001, Ekelund transferred to US club

Chicago Fire. In 2004, the Earthquakes management team changed, and Ekelund was deemed surplus to requirements.[15] In four seasons with San Jose, Ekelund scored 11 goals (five of them penalty kicks
) and made 16 assists in the regular season. He also scored a goal and made four assists in the playoffs.

He left the team after the 2004 MLS season, and made the move to indoor soccer in 2005 joining the California Cougars,[5] coached by his good friend and former teammate Troy Dayak. During the 2005–06 season, Ekelund offered his experience to Southampton as a coaching staff member unsuccessfully. He joined the coaching staff of the Earthquakes in 2008 as Technical Advisor, helping with the day-to-day training of the team.[5]

International career

Ekelund made his name known when he debuted for the

Denmark under-21 national football team in June 1990.[1]

He represented the Denmark under-21 team in the 1992 Summer Olympics hosted at Barcelona,[1]

Personal life

Ronnie Ekelund and his wife own and operate a small company called Bébé au Lait, with Ronnie holding the CEO position at the company. Bébé au Lait develops and markets fashionable nursing covers for breastfeeding mothers. According to Bébé au Lait's website, Ronnie's wife invented the Hooter Hiders nursing cover because she wanted to nurse her child discreetly, while attending Ronnie's football games.

The View's Elisabeth Hasselbeck.[18] and Mira Sorvino[19]

Honours

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Ronnie Ekelund - Alle hold (Alle kampe) at Danish Football Association
  2. ^ a b F.C. Barcelona - Liga BBVA Squad - season 1993-1994 at LFP.es
  3. ^ a b c d Ronnie Ekelund at Soccerbase
  4. ^ a b c Ronnie Ekelund at DanskFodbold.com
  5. ^ a b c d e Earthquakes Staff/Front Office - Ronnie Ekelund - Technical Advisor Archived 19 February 2010 at the Wayback Machine at Major League Soccer
  6. ^ ALL-TIME FRANCHISE LEADERS Archived 29 January 2010 at the Wayback Machine at California Cougars
  7. ^ 1. holdsspillere i Brøndby IF at Brøndby IF
  8. ISBN 0330427423
    .
  9. ^ Neil Bramwell, Football: Ball's new game, The Independent, 25 September 1994.
  10. ^ a b Gensyn med Ronnie Ekelund at 90minutter.dk
  11. ^ a b (in Danish) Flemming Fjeldgaard, Ronnie Ekelund til Walsall, B.T., 2 December 2000.
  12. ^ (in Danish) Brian Haagen Andersen, Ekelund bundet til bænken, B.T., 22 December 2000.
  13. ^ "Bournemouth 2-2 Walsall". BBC. 17 February 2001. Retrieved 16 February 2010.
  14. ^ a b (in Danish) Lars Hendel, USA lokker Ronnie Ekelund, B.T., 27 February 2001.
  15. ^ (in Danish) Aleksandar Josevski, Ronnie Ekelund vraget i San Jose, B.T., 22 December 2004.
  16. ^ Arlas talentpriser 2009 - 1987 at Danish Football Association
  17. ^ Bebe au Lait website:Bébé au Lait: Past & Present
  18. ^ Elisabeth Hasselbeck's Baby Shower Bebe au Lait on The View
  19. ^ Photo Shows Mira Sorvino wearing a Bébé au Lait Nursing Cover Mira Sorvino on Celebrity Baby Blog

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ronnie_Ekelund&oldid=1174370573"