Brian Laudrup

Brian Laudrup (, born 22 February 1969) is a Danish former professional footballer who played as a winger, forward or as a midfielder, and was regarded as one of the most talented players of his generation.

He currently works as a football commentator, pundit and analyst on Kanal 5 and 6'eren.

Laudrup manages a football academy for marginalised youth.

During his playing career which eventually stalled due to injury, Laudrup represented a number of European clubs.

He started with Danish club Brøndby, winning two Danish championships in the late 1980s.

He won the 1987 and 1988 Danish First Division with the club.

Halfway through the 1989 season, Laudrup's contract with Brøndby expired, and he agreed to join German club Bayer Uerdingen.

The transfer fee was thought to be around DKK 8 million, the partition of which Brøndby and Brian's father and agent Finn Laudrup disagreed about.

The Danish Football Union ruled in favor of Brøndby's claims of around DKK 3.9 million, but the Laudrups paid around DKK 3.3 million, and insisted on not paying the remainder.

He scored 6 goals in 34 matches during the 1989–90 Bundesliga season, and impressed so much for both club and country that he was named Danish Player of the Year.

Laudrup's performances in the Bundesliga were widely praised.

At kicker's biannual ranking of Bundesliga players, Laudrup was rated the league's second-best forward in the second highest category, international class, after Werder Bremen's New Zealander, Wynton Rufer.

German sports magazine Sport Bild hailed Laudrup as the 1989–90 season's best signing, ahead of high-profile names including Uwe Bein, Stefan Kuntz and Thomas Strunz.

He was a vital part of the Rangers team which dominated the Scottish Premier Division in the 1990s, winning three championships, among others.

The case was eventually settled in March 1990.

Laudrup joined Uerdingen in order to play in a club with relative little pressure, and also looked to lean on fellow Dane Jan Bartram, who was already at the club.

As he felt the Uerdingen executives would not strengthen the Uerdingen team, Laudrup sought to leave the club in the summer of 1990.

Laudrup's great performances in the Bundesliga and for Denmark attracted Bayern Munich for his signature, who purchased him for a DM6 million transfer fee in May 1990, making him the most expensive Bundesliga player at the time.

In his first season, Laudrup scored 9 goals in 33 games as the club finished in second place.

Laudrup was also part of the Bayern squad that reached the semi-final of the 1990–91 European Cup.

Laudrup was highly rated among the experts, but he was also very popular in large parts of the German population.

In a vote that gave kicker-readers the opportunity to choose their favourite players at individual places and the most popular player, known as "das Idol '90", was won by Laudrup with four times as many votes as Klaus Allofs in second place.

By a vote of Sport Bild that 156,000 readers participated in, he received 24,245 votes and was elected the fourth best performer out of 900 candidates among German legionnaires abroad and all players in the 1.

and 2. Bundesliga.

Only the popular world champions Andreas Brehme, Lothar Matthäus and Rudi Völler received more votes.

Laudrup finished ahead of high-profile stars like Thomas Häßler, Jürgen Klinsmann, Andreas Möller, Thomas Doll, Jürgen Kohler, Karl-Heinz Riedle and Matthias Sammer, and so entirely on Bundesliga players, Laudrup took first place.

Laudrup was a consistent performer in his first five matches of the 1991–92 season but suffered a cruciate ligament injury in his right knee in August 1991.

Laudrup watched from the stands as the team collapsed in a disastrous season.

In December 1991, Laudrup said new Bayern executives Franz Beckenbauer and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge were creating chaos in the team through their public criticism of the younger Bayern players.

Despite the injury-hit season, Laudrup still finished the 1991–92 season being named Danish Player of the Year again for the second time, and finished fifth in the FIFA World Player of the year poll.

Laudrup also played 82 matches and scored 21 goals for the Denmark national team, and was a vital part of the Danish teams which won UEFA Euro 1992 and the 1995 Confederations Cup.

Laudrup won the Danish Football Player of the Year award a record four times.

He was named by FIFA as the fifth-best player in the world in 1992 and was named by Pelé as one of the top 125 greatest living footballers at the FIFA 100 ceremony in March 2004, alongside his older brother Michael Laudrup.

Brian Laudrup was born into a football family – his father Finn Laudrup was a former Danish international, and his brother Michael Laudrup also became a Danish international.

Brian Laudrup was born in Vienna when his father was playing for Wiener SC.

Laudrup began his senior career with Brøndby in Denmark.

At Brøndby, he competed with later Danish internationals Claus Nielsen and Bent Christensen for a place in the starting line-up, and formed a great partnership with Nielsen.

He returned to the team in February 1992 and played the last 15 matches of the season as Bayern finished in tenth position.

He then played for German and Italian clubs, winning the 1993–94 Serie A as well as the 1994 UEFA Champions League title with Milan.

He won the 1998 UEFA Super Cup in his brief stint with English club Chelsea, and had a brief spell with Copenhagen in Denmark, before ending his career with Ajax in 2000.