Latest news with #Midtjylland
Reuters
22-05-2025
- Sport
- Reuters
Denmark's 'Miracle Of Midtjylland' sends Canada crashing out
HERNING, Denmark, May 22 (Reuters) - Denmark's miraculous comeback from a goal down to beat superpower Canada in the Midtjylland town of Herning to reach the semi-finals of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) World Championship was a result so seismic that not even the Danish players could believe what they had done. A goal down with time running out, the Danes scored twice in the final three minutes on Thursday, including Nick Olesen's last-minute winner, to complete a stunning comeback that will live long in the annals of Danish sport. "It's completely surreal. I'm in a bubble right now, it feels like a dream. We've beaten, in my opinion, the best national team in the world. For every Danish ice hockey player, they have about a thousand," Danish captain Jesper Jensen Aabo told national broadcaster DR. "It shouldn't be possible, to be completely honest... I don't think there was anyone in this arena who believed it before the game but we believed in the locker room. We grabbed the tiny straw that was there, and we've made ice hockey history." The Canadians came into the game as overwhelming favourites but the Danes shredded their lofty reputation with strong defending and a never-say-die attitude. "It's hard to put into words. It's not so much about my goal, it's about the fact that we all fought our butts off for the whole 60 minutes. We beat Canada and that's the biggest thing in my career," winning goal-scorer Olesen said. "Hearing the roar that went through the hall when I scored, I can only repeat that it is probably the greatest thing I have experienced in my ice hockey career," he added. The reward for the Danes is a last-four game against Switzerland in Stockholm on Saturday, with Sweden facing Team USA in the other semi-final.
Daily Record
30-04-2025
- Sport
- Daily Record
Alexander Jensen watched Man Utd and Napoli as a ball boy and now Aberdeen star wants own crack at Europe
Alexander Jensen has been a ball boy when the likes of Napoli and Manchester United have come to town but now he wants to taste European football for real with Aberdeen. The Dane came through the ranks at Midtjylland and got a pitch-side watching top stars like Gonzalo Higuain and Marek Hamsik in their Europa League group campaign back in the 2015-16 season. The Danes ended up finishing second behind the Italians but above Club Brugge and Legia Warsaw. They progressed into the knockout round where they beat United and stars such as Juan Mata and Memphis Depay 2-1 at home but lost the return at Old Trafford. Jensen has never played in Europe before but he could help his Aberdeen side book their place for next season with a point at St Mirren , depending on other results. The defender said: 'I'm from Herning, so it's FC Midtjylland that was the team I followed in Europe. 'Back then, I was a ball boy in the Europa League. That was the first time I think I can remember European football. 'They actually played against Manchester United and they won that game. I was the ball boy. 'I think they were leading at a point and then we were very, very slow. 'The one (player) I remember was Depay, but I think maybe they switched some of the best players for that game. 'They then lost at Old Trafford. They also played, I think it was Napoli, and a team from Poland as well. 'It's always great players and I think it's a different atmosphere when you're playing in the league than in Europe and you felt that in the stadium as well.' Jensen's dream of playing for Midtjylland was crushed not longer after but he picked himself up and has managed to get back to the verge of European football via a journey from Velje to Frederica, Swedish club Brommapojkarna and then a move to Aberdeen in January. The 23-year-old explained: 'No, when you are under 15, I don't know how it is in Scotland, but in Denmark you're under 17, under 19 and then it's senior football. 'When you get to 15, Midtjylland wants you to sign a contract and I didn't get a contract there. So then I moved to Vejle instead and since then it has worked out in the end.' Aberdeen were in the European positions when Jensen joined although it is fair to say their form had collapsed. Thelin with his January additions has helped get them back into form and they sit fourth, jus behind Hibs on goal difference. Jensen admitted potential European football was definitely a lure. He said: 'The chance of Europe was an attraction of course. I also wanted to play for a top team in the league as well where you can play European football was also a part of that. "It would be great to secure that. So yes, it was also the possibility to play European football. 'I've never come close to playing in European football before. 'We weren't close in Sweden and in Denmark it was the second best, so there wasn't an opportunity to play Europe.' There is still so much for Aberdeen to play for over their remaining five games. They don't want just Europe but the possibility of guaranteed group stage football. That prize would be on offer to the Dons if they could beat Celtic in the Scottish Cup final or finish third in the Premiership. Jensen is very much focused on both. He said: 'It would be best to win (Scottish Cup) and finish third. 'But yeah, there's a lot of opportunities to play European football. European football is always what you're aiming for. 'It would be big to play European football.'
New York Times
06-04-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Kristoffer Olsson on rare brain injury and amnesia: ‘I don't remember my parents and son being there'
'With a strong wolf mentality, you won our hearts. A true warrior from Central Jutland. All the best in the future. Thank you for everything, Kris. The superman of Midtjylland.' Danish champions Midtjylland paid an emotional farewell on Saturday to Sweden midfielder Kristoffer Olsson, who was in the squad that won the club's first Superliga trophy in 2015 and, against all odds, carried their fourth onto the pitch on the final day of last season. Advertisement That the 29-year-old was present, let alone capable of leading the celebrations, was nothing short of miraculous. On February 20 last year, Olsson was found unconscious in his home in Herning, Denmark, while his parents and four-year-old son, Jamie, were visiting from Norrkoping, Sweden. He was taken to Aarhus University Hospital, where he was placed on a ventilator and subsequently diagnosed with an acute brain illness. An extremely rare inflammatory condition in his blood vessels caused several blood clots to form on both sides of his head, placing him in a coma and robbing him of the ability to speak, walk and eat. His family and two of Midtjylland's executives were gathered around his bed for the first week as they watched Olsson battle for his life. He survived and has defied all expectations and timelines since. After seven weeks, he regained his motor function and verbal abilities. After 13 weeks, he hauled the cartoonishly large league trophy to the podium. After six months, he was released home and, after seven months, he was back training. Thirteen months on from that traumatic day, he has chosen to exit his contract and return to Allsvenskan club IFK Norrkoping, whose academy he played for from 11 until Arsene Wenger signed him for Arsenal as a 16-year-old, in pursuit of a return to competitive football. It is the same determination and fortitude that sees Olsson alive today and able to recount, what he can, of an illness that threatened his life and left a two-month black hole. Here, he tells The Athletic his story. 'I don't remember anything (of that day),' Olsson says from the kitchen counter of the house at which he fell ill. 'The first thing I remember after (the illness struck) is in April.' Olsson relies on pictures from his phone to get a sense of the days and weeks that preceded his sickness. In February 2024, Denmark's Superliga season was resuming after its winter break, so Olsson used a few days' rest to visit his son, who lives with his ex-partner in Norrkoping, the city where he grew up. His son was sick but so, too, was Olsson and he realises retrospectively that he looked ill in the pictures of them together. Advertisement He returned to training the next week but he had to pull out of a session during the warm-up and missed the 1-0 defeat against Brondby on February 18. His parents, Lena and Mats, arrived from Norrkoping with his son the night he fell ill. 'My parents have told me I was tired and said I had to sleep,' he says. 'I went to bed but after one or two hours, I got up and was sleeping on the sofa. They said maybe it was better to sleep in the bed so I went. Jamie was sleeping with them but they woke up and came in my room around 5am. 'They saw I had vomited everywhere in the room and all over myself. They hadn't heard anything. They were like, 'Hello Kris, hello' (slapping his face). My heart was beating but I was just lying there with my eyes closed.' An ambulance arrived and took Olsson to the hospital in Aarhus, around 50 miles east of Herning, with his father in tow, while his mum protected his son from reality by saying his father had a bad stomach. 'I don't remember that my parents and my son were here but I was lucky that they were. No one at the club would have missed me the day after, as we were off,' says Olsson. Midtjylland broke the news to the squad and club staff a week before a crucial match against Aarhus on February 25. They then released a statement confirming his condition the following week, ruling out self-harm as the cause of his absence after speculation mounted. After a week, Olsson woke up and slowly regained consciousness but it was unclear what quality of life he would return to. After almost a month, he was slowly taken off ventilation and moved to the nearby Hammel Neurocentre, on the outskirts of Aarhus, which specialises in advanced rehabilitation of neurological disorders. He did not require surgery but underwent extensive rehab to regain his motor and verbal functions. He required extensive support to walk at first, but by April 10, he was back on his feet. It is an experience he only understands through pictures and his parents' notes, which he read again this week and found the entry 'bloodproppar i hjarnan' — 'blood clots in the brain'. He sometimes has to pause his narration to piece together the timeline. 'They told my parents to keep a diary so they could write things for themselves, but then so I could read it. I can look back at it. It was a big thing for them when I moved my finger for the first time. It is crazy. They haven't properly told me (how scared they were) maybe to protect my feelings but I have understood that.' Advertisement Olsson had to comprehend the initial shock of waking to discover that instead of training for a title run-in, he was having to rebuild his body. 'I was not there mentally. When I woke up, I told them, 'Of course I can walk',' he says. 'In the beginning, every night I was thinking, 'This is just a nightmare, I hope I wake up from this'. I went to bed but the next day (I realised) it was not a nightmare. Then the same thing the next day.' He had trouble understanding the passage of time and comprehending what he had been through for the first two months. Doctors told him it could take patients years to recover, but his fitness levels gave him a better chance of healing quicker. In a way, amnesia has shielded him from some of the distress as he is oblivious to how grave his situation appeared in the weeks he was supported by a ventilator. That was how his sister placated his loss of memory but it was also the moment it dawned on him how painful it must have been for his loved ones to see him comatose, particularly his son, who was kept from the hospital until Olsson was in a better condition. 'When I saw him (his son) the first time after everything, it was probably one of the best hugs I have ever had. I was not 100 per cent in my head and body, so I couldn't hold him as I didn't want to drop him. I did some video calls with him and he was saying, 'Dad, are you good now in your stomach?'. 'Maybe when he is 13 or 14, he will find out what happened and then I will talk and tell him everything about it.' Olsson returned home in August and gradually returned to training, splitting three days at a rehab facility and two days at Midtjylland for the rest of 2024. A post shared by Kristoffer Olsson (@krisolsson95) His illness was a shock to his team-mates but the club's director of football, Peter Sand, says they used Olsson's fighting spirit as a source of motivation in the final few months of the season. Minutes before a game away to Copenhagen in May, manager Thomas Thomasberg showed the players a video from Olsson. It fuelled a seismic 2-1 victory and was so moving that it is still talked about as one of the defining moments of the season. Advertisement The crowning moment came on May 26 when Olsson arrived in a golf buggy, waving his scarf around his head after a dramatic final day of the season saw them pip Brondby to the title by a single point. He was able to deliver the silverware and hoist it aloft alongside former Brentford defender Henrik Dalsgaard. 'It's such an inspiring story how Kristoffer has fought his way back,' says Sand. Doctors have given him the all-clear to continue playing after reviewing recent brain scans, though he did have one scare at the start of the year. 'I came home and felt tired after one of our (fitness) tests,' Olsson says. 'I went to bed but then I needed to vomit and (the memory of that day) came back. That is the one and only time. 'I called straight away and Kristian Nielsen (Midtjylland vice director of football) came and picked me up. We (visited the specialists) and they could see there was no problem. When they said that, I felt free in my head the next morning. I have learned now that if I don't feel 100 per cent in my head or body, I'm not going to train.' Cognitively, Olsson feels he is back to normal but regaining his sharpness is an ongoing process. 'Physically, I had some problems. When I first trained, if I was running and someone pushed me a little, I fell down, so I worked a lot on my balance and core.' Doctors told him the condition tends to affect the extremities of one's body but Olsson considers himself fortunate. 'My little finger on my right hand,' he says, laughing about how it manifests. 'Better that it is in my fingers than toes because imagine the kicks in football. And it was also lucky it was my right hand as I'm left-handed.' Olsson rejoined the squad in January and hoped for a return to competitive action on the anniversary of his illness, but that date passed. He was informed before the latest international break that he would not be part of the Sweden squad. 'I feel better each week and am taking it step by step but then I'm not allowed to train with the team,' he says. 'So I need to find somewhere to train as being in the gym and training myself all the time is not football.' Advertisement Olsson was not planning on leaving Midtjylland. His girlfriend, Alice, whom he met in 2023 before his illness but has come into his life fully since October, had just moved to Herning to be with him last month. But he and Midtjylland came to an agreement that allows him to realise his ambition of a comeback near his family. With 47 caps for Sweden, the queue of interested clubs from his homeland was lengthy. However, his last competitive game came in December 2023 and there were obvious concerns about his health and his conditioning. FC Midtjylland og Kristoffer Olsson har i gensidig forståelse ophævet kontrakten, så han kan vende hjem til Norrköping og tage næste skridt i sin rejse tilbage mod livet som fodboldspiller. 🇩🇰 🇬🇧 — FC Midtjylland (@fcmidtjylland) March 29, 2025 'When people say, 'Can he play football again?', maybe, but maybe not at the same level. 'Can he run again?'. Maybe, but maybe not as fast as before',' says Olsson. 'My strength tests three weeks ago are better than they were before I got sick and the running is also kind of similar. 'The football, I've got it. Now it is important I get in my head that my brain is going to work faster. That is why I am going to train with Norrkoping. I need to get that feeling of someone running to press me. I'm not going to put pressure on myself but just give me a few weeks because the touch, technically, I have.' Olsson will start training with Norrkoping without a salary in the hope of earning a contract in the summer but patience has never been Olsson's strongest virtue. He first joined Midtylland on loan in 2014 and his form earned him a senior international call-up in January 2015. However, he fractured his fibula in his first training for Sweden and was out for three months — but he took the cast off his leg quicker than advised. It did not stop him from going on to win the league title and the European Under-21 Championship with Sweden later that year. Advertisement Olsson had moved to Arsenal in 2011 as a promising youngster and before spells in Sweden with AIK, Russia with Krasnodar and Belgium with Anderlecht. He became a fixture of Sweden's midfield from 2019 and played every game in their run to the last 16 of Euro 2020. He returned to Midtjylland in 2022. 'I was so lucky that when I got sick, I was here at a club who knows me and with so many good hospitals around us. It was good timing, if it can be good timing. 'Midtjylland means a lot to me and as you can see from the pictures and the supporters, they have this song that 'everyone loves Kris' in Midtjylland and I can feel that. When I got sick, they were singing, 'Our Swedish superman'. So, yeah, I am a superman.' The sentiment was made clear at half-time on Saturday during Midtjylland's game against Brondby. Olsson was given a rousing reception as he soaked up a lap of honour 'I wanted to enjoy everything. It was hard because the speaker started talking about one year on. I was taking deep breaths but then I looked around the stadium and even the Brondby fans were standing and applauding. 'It is hard for me to talk about as it is a feeling I have never had before. I have never had a proper goodbye to any club because in football, you pack your bags one day and then you are gone tomorrow. It is an emotional feeling but also a really good feeling because when something ends, something new starts.' Olsson flew home on Tuesday to start a new chapter of his life, living in the same city as his son, girlfriend and parents, who he has been away from since he left for London as a boy. A post shared by Kristoffer Olsson (@krisolsson95) 'Football has been everything for me but now it's like how it should be,' he says. 'It's about life. I have got my life back and now life is better than it was before. I love Jamie so much and it is going to be fantastic to be close to him. 'I am looking forward to that first game. Not only the first pass or shot, it is the thing when you are in the changing room with your team-mates ready to get going. I miss that feeling before you go in the tunnel. I miss it so much. Advertisement 'My dream is to be a better player than before I got sick. I will be a better version of myself mentally as well as a footballer.' Other players may have taken such a health scare as a sign to call time on their careers. Olsson, who turns 30 at the end of June, sees it differently. '(The) type of player (I am) gets better because you become cleverer with experience. I can at least play 10 years more.' Rather than representing the end, could this illness mark the halfway point of his career and see him return in 'superman' form? 'Exactly,' smiles Olsson.
Yahoo
31-03-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Olsson given emotional goodbye by Midtjylland after brain illness
Sweden's Kristoffer Olsson (L) and Poland's Robert Lewandowski battle for the ball during the UEFA EURO 2020 Group E soccer match between Sweden and Poland at St. Petersburg Stadium. Swedish footballer Kristoffer Olsson, who suffered a serious brain illness, was given an emotional send-off by FC Midtjylland on Sunday after mutually agreeing to terminate his contract with the Danish club. Igor Russak/dpa Swedish footballer Kristoffer Olsson, who suffered a serious brain illness, was given an emotional send-off by FC Midtjylland on Sunday after mutually agreeing to terminate his contract with the Danish club. Advertisement The 29-year-old intends to move closer to his family in his hometown of Norrköping in Sweden. Over a year ago, Olsson was diagnosed with an extremely rare inflammation of the cerebral blood vessels, which had caused multiple small blood clots in his brain. In the half-time interval during Sunday 2-0 defeat against Brøndby, Midtjylland fans serenaded Olsson one last time. The visibly emotional player greeted the crowd and even received a gift basket from supporters. "I continue to dream of being a footballer, to be able to train fully and feel that I can contribute to the team," said the 47-time Sweden international, who now plans to work on a potential comeback at his youth club, IFK Norrköping. Advertisement "I feel progress every week, and I am hungrier and more motivated than ever." At the end of February last year, Olsson suddenly lost consciousness and was taken to Aarhus University Hospital. He was kept on artificial ventilation for an extended period while medical experts searched for a diagnosis for his acute brain illness. He was later transferred to a rehabilitation centre for neurological conditions, where he gradually regained his motor and verbal abilities.
Yahoo
30-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
A new destination in Sweden for soccer player recovering after acute brain condition
A new destination in Sweden for soccer player recovering after acute brain condition HERNING, Denmark (AP) — Sweden midfielder Kristoffer Olsson has mutually agreed to terminate his contract with FC Midtjylland, a little more than a year after being diagnosed with an acute brain condition. The 29-year-old Olsson has been rehabilitating after losing consciousness at his home on Feb. 20 last year and being diagnosed with several small blood clots in the brain as a result of an extremely rare blood-vessel inflammation. Advertisement Midtjylland said the midfielder is returning to Norrköping in Sweden, where he will be close to his family and he can 'pursue the ambition of returning to life as a footballer.' 'It's not just a story about sports, but about human strength when life hits unreasonably hard,' Midtjylland deputy football director Kristian Bach Bak said. 'He has shown us all what courage means in practice.' In a club statement, Olsson said he had 'great gratitude' for the Danish club he joined in 2022 for a second spell. 'The club, the people, everyone around me — they were there from the first second,' Olsson said. 'FC Midtjylland is not just a football club, it's a place that takes care of people.' Advertisement Olsson will train with IFK Norrköping, the club where he made his breakthrough. 'First and foremost, I still dream of being a football player. To be able to train fully and feel that I contribute to a team,' he said. 'Every week I feel progress, and I'm hungrier and more motivated than ever. To have the opportunity to do it at home in Norrköping, close to my family and friends, means a lot.' Olsson has played 47 times for Sweden. At club level, he has also played for Anderlecht in Belgium, Krasnodar in Russia, AIK in Sweden and in the youth teams at English club Arsenal. ___ AP soccer:
