Rasmus Thelander

Rasmus Thelander

Thelander in 2014 with AaB
Personal information
Date of birth	(1991-07-09) 9 July 1991 (age 32)
Place of birth	Copenhagen, Denmark
Height	1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)
Position(s)	Centre-back
Team information
Current team	AaB
Number	26
Youth career
	Herlev
	AB
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2009–2012	AB	41	(3)
2012–2015	AaB	53	(4)
2015–2017	Panathinaikos	26	(1)
2017–2018	Zürich	22	(0)
2018–2019	Vitesse	9	(0)
2019–2022	AaB	74	(5)
2022	Ferencváros	3	(0)
2022–	AaB	34	(4)
International career
	Denmark U18	1	(0)
	Denmark U19	1	(0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 17 April 2024

Rasmus Thelander (born 9 July 1991) is a Danish professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Aalborg BK.

Club career

AB

Thelander began his career as a senior footballer in 2010 for Akademisk Boldklub (AB) in Danish 1st Division, the second-tier league in Danish football. ^[1]

AaB

In the summer of 2012, Thelander signed a two-year contract with the Danish Superliga club AaB. ^{[2] [3]}

Thelander played his first season in AaB primarily as a substitute. ^[4] In the 2013–14 season he made his Superliga breakthrough, as defender Lasse Nielsen left for the Dutch team NEC Nijmegen, thus leaving a spot open in the centre of defense. ^[5] Afterwards, Thelander would play each league game through the rest of the season and help his club win the first Danish double.

Thelander scored two goals in the 4–2 ^[6] victory over Copenhagen in the Danish cup final and won the Danish Cup Fighter of the Year (årets pokalfighter). ^[7]

Panathinaikos

Thelander signed a deal with the Greek team Panathinaikos on 2 July 2015. ^{[8] [9]} According to several Greek press sources he was offered a four-year contract having been recommended to Panathinaikos by René Henriksen, a former player with the club. Thelander had been courted in the previous season when he helped lead AaB win the double. ^{[10] [11]}

Αfter a pre-season injury, he made his debut against Levadiakos on 23 September 2015. On 3 October 2015, during his third appearance with the club he scored his first goal in a 1–0 away win against Skoda Xanthi, with a header after a corner kick.

On 26 July 2017, Thelander was the fifth footballer (after Michael Essien, Stathis Tavlaridis, Jens Wemmer and Niklas Hult) in eight months to file an appeal against Panathinaikos for payments' delay. In his appeal, he claimed an amount of €510,000 that covered the following year's contract as well. ^[12] On 14 August 2017, the committee of the Greek Football Federation's financial disputes gave him the amount of €450,000. ^[13]

FC Zürich

On 15 August 2017, Thelander signed a two-year contract with Swiss club FC Zürich. ^[14] He won the 2017–18 Swiss Cup with Zürich.

Vitesse

On 17 May 2018, it was announced that Thelander would join Dutch side Vitesse on a three-year deal in July 2018. ^[15] On 26 July, he made his first appearance for Vitesse, starting in the first leg of their UEFA Europa League qualification round against Viitorul Constanța. ^[16] On 23 August, news broke that Thelander had broken his ankle, keeping him off the field for some months. ^[17] However, due to a quick recovery, he made his comeback in the first team on 3 November in a 1–0 loss against PSV Eindhoven. He made just 13 appearances in his sole season in Arnhem.

Return to AaB

On 22 August 2019, Thelander moved back to AaB on a three-year contract. ^[18]

Ferencváros

On 23 May 2022, Thelander joined Hungarian club Ferencvárosi TC. ^[19] On 18 November 2022, Ferencváros terminated Thelander's contract due to family reasons. ^[20]

Third spell with AaB

On the same day, Thelander signed with AaB on a four-year deal. ^[21]

Career statistics

As of match played 23 April 2019. ^[22]

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			Cup		Europe		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
AB	2009–10	Danish 1st Division	2	0	1	0	—		—		3	0
	2010–11	Danish 1st Division	16	1	0	0	—		—		16	1
	2011–12	Danish 1st Division	23	2	1	0	—		—		24	2
	Total		41	3	2	0	—		—		43	3
AaB	2012–13	Danish Superliga	11	1	2	0	—		—		13	1
	2013–14	Danish Superliga	26	1	4	2	2 [lower-alpha 1]	0	—		32	3
	2014–15	Danish Superliga	16	0	2	0	12 [lower-alpha 2]	0	—		30	0
	Total		53	2	8	2	14	0	—		75	4
Panathinaikos	2015–16	Superleague Greece	18	1	3	0	0	0	—		21	1
	2016–17	Superleague Greece	8	0	2	0	0	0	—		10	0
	Total		26	1	5	0	0	0	—		31	1
Zürich	2017–18	Swiss Super League	22	0	4	1	—		—		26	1
Vitesse	2018–19	Eredivisie	9	0	1	0	3 [lower-alpha 1]	0	—		13	0
Career total			151	6	20	3	17	0	0	0	188	9

1. Appearance(s) in UEFA Europa League
2. Four appearances in UEFA Champions League, eight in UEFA Europa League

Honours

AaB

• Danish Superliga: 2013–14
• Danish Cup: 2014

FC Zürich

• Swiss Cup: 2017–18

Individual

• 2014 Danish Cup Fighter of the year (årets pokalfighter)

References

1. "Rasmus Thelander profil". tablesleague.com. Retrieved 20 May 2014.
2. "Thelander skifter til AaB" (in Danish). Ab-fodbold.dk. 14 June 2012. Retrieved 20 May 2014.
3. "AaB henter Thelander" (in Danish). bold.dk. 14 June 2012. Retrieved 20 May 2014.
4. "Rasmus Thelander". worldfootball.net. Retrieved 20 May 2014.
5. "Lasse Nielsen solgt til Nijmegen" (in Danish). Berlinske. 30 January 2014. Retrieved 20 May 2014.
6. "AaB vandt The Double: Slog FCK 4-2 i pokalfinalen" (in Danish). Berlinske. 15 May 2014. Retrieved 20 May 2014.
7. "Rasmus Thelander blev årets pokalfighter" (in Danish). Jydskevestkysten. 15 May 2014. Retrieved 20 May 2014.
8. "AaB beskræfter: Thelander Solgt" (in Danish). www.bold.dk. 3 July 2015.
9. "AaB Sælger Thelander til Panathinaikos F.C." (in Danish). www.aabsport.dk. 3 July 2015.
10. "Anbefalet af René Henriksen: AaB'er tæt på skifte til græsk storklub" (in Danish). www.bt.dk. 28 June 2015.
11. Συμφωνία με Τελάντερ ο Παναθηναϊκός (in Greek). www.sport24.gr. 28 June 2015.
12. Προσφυγή και από τον Τελάντερ κατά του ΠΑΟ (in Greek). www.documentonews.gr. 26 July 2017.
13. "450.000 ευρώ στον Τελάντερ ο Παναθηναϊκός" (in Greek). www.sdna.gr. 14 August 2017.
14. "FC Zürich verpflichtet Rasmus Thelander". fcz.ch. Retrieved 15 August 2017.
15. "Rasmus Thelander tekent driejarig contract (video)". SBV Vitesse Official Site. 17 May 2018. Retrieved 17 May 2018.
16. "FC Viitorul Constanta – Vitesse (26. juli 2018)". bold.dk. 26 July 2018. Retrieved 26 August 2019.
17. "Thelander lang uitgeschakeld door enkelbreuk". De Gelderlander. 23 August 2018. Retrieved 26 August 2019.
18. "Thelander tilbage i AaB". AaB Sport. 22 August 2019. Retrieved 26 August 2019.
19. ANNOUNCEMENT: WE HAVE STRENGTHENED OUR DEFENSE!, fradi.hu, 23 May 2022
20. "Családi okok miatt távozik Rasmus Thelander". www.fradi.hu (in Hungarian). Retrieved 19 November 2022.
21. "Thelander i AaB til 2026". aabsport.dk (in Danish). Retrieved 19 November 2022.
22. "R. Thelander". Soccerway. Retrieved 26 July 2018.

External links

• Rasmus Thelander at Soccerway
• Rasmus Thelander at WorldFootball.net
• nordjyske.dk (in Danish)