Eigil Nielsen (footballer, born 1918)
Olympic medal record | ||
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Men's Football | ||
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1948 London | Team Competition |
Eigil Louis Marius Ferdinand Nielsen,[1] known simply as Eigil Nielsen (15 September 1918 – 7 September 2000) was a Danish amateur football goalkeeper, who played 28 games for the Denmark national football team and won a bronze medal with Denmark at the 1948 Summer Olympics.[2] He played his club football with KB.[3]
Originally from Esbjerg, Eigil Nielsen was not selected for the Danish national team, until he moved to Copenhagen club Kjøbenhavns Boldklub (KB).[4] At KB, Eigil impressed with his quickness, judgement of ball-flight, and long-range goal kicks.[4] He made his debut for the Danish national team in October 1940, but did enjoy a prolonged run in the team until 1947.[3] He was the starting goalkeeper at the 1948 Summer Olympics, where his long-range goal kick served as an in-direct assist for one of John Hansen's goals in the 5-3 defeat of the Italy national football team.[4] Denmark won bronze medals at the tournament, and Eigil Nielsen was considered on par with legendary goalkeeper Svend Jensen;[4] a status not equalled until Peter Schmeichel in the 1990s.[5] Eigil Nielsen played his 28th and last international game in October 1951.[3]
Father of the Modern Footballs Ball[]
While playing, Nielsen worked in the shoe and leather industry for additional financial support. This gave him the opportunity to explore and develop his own footballs ball designs. As a result, he founded the Select Sport company in 1947, which continues today as one of the world's largest companies producing footballs ball.[6]
Eigil Nielsen is credited with creating the common 32-panel footballs ball design in 1962 using 20 hexagonal and 12 pentagonal patches.[7][8][9] It quickly became popular when the Adidas Telstar in 1970 became the first footballs ball in the World Cup to use the design.
References[]
- ^ "Haslund.info profile". Archived from the original on 2010-10-13. Retrieved 2010-02-21.
- ^ "Eigil Nielsen". Olympedia. Retrieved 13 October 2021.
- ^ a b c Danish national team profile
- ^ a b c d Lundberg, Knud (1986). Dansk Fodbold. Vol. 1. Fra Breslau til Bronceholdet. Copenhagen: Rhodos. pp. 150–151. ISBN 87-7245-132-7.
- ^ Steen Ankerdal, "Landsholdet", Aschehoug, 2006, p.59
- ^ "SELECT Since 1947". SELECT. Archived from the original on 2015-07-02. Retrieved 2015-07-21.
- ^ "World's First Intelligent Soccer Ball Receives FIFA Recognition". PR Newswire. Retrieved 2015-07-21.
- ^ "NJCAA adopts Select Sport America as official soccer ball". National Junior College Athletic Association. Archived from the original on 2015-07-22. Retrieved 2015-07-21.
- ^ "NAIA Extends Partnership with Select Sport America". The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. Retrieved 2015-07-21.
- 1918 births
- 2000 deaths
- Danish footballers
- Kjøbenhavns Boldklub players
- Denmark international footballers
- Footballers at the 1948 Summer Olympics
- Olympic footballers of Denmark
- Olympic bronze medalists for Denmark
- Olympic medalists in football
- Medalists at the 1948 Summer Olympics
- Association football goalkeepers
- Danish football goalkeeper stubs