Brian Laudrup

Brian Laudrup (born 22 February 1969) is a Danish former professional footballer who played as a forward, winger, or midfielder. Today, he works for Viaplay, a Scandinavian media network, across its various TV sports channels, and also runs a football academy for marginalised youth. He comes from a footballing family: his father, Finn Laudrup, was a Danish international, and his older brother, Michael Laudrup, also played for Denmark.

Laudrup’s playing career was eventually cut short by injury. He began at Danish club Brøndby, where he won two Danish championships in the late 1980s. He then moved to clubs in Germany and Italy, winning the 1993–94 Serie A title and the 1994 UEFA Champions League with Milan. At Rangers, he was a key figure in their dominance of the Scottish Premier Division in the 1990s, winning three league titles. A brief spell at Chelsea brought him the 1998 UEFA Super Cup, followed by a short stint at Copenhagen in Denmark, before he finished his career at Ajax in 2000.

For Denmark, Laudrup earned 82 caps and scored 21 goals. He was a vital part of the national teams that won UEFA Euro 1992 and the 1995 Confederations Cup. He won the Danish Football Player of the Year award a then-record four times (later surpassed by Christian Eriksen, who won his fifth in 2018). FIFA ranked him the fifth-best player in the world in 1992, and Pelé included him among the top 125 greatest living footballers at the FIFA 100 ceremony in March 2004, alongside his brother Michael.

Laudrup was born in Vienna while his father was playing for Wiener SC. His father, Finn, was a former Danish international, and his brother Michael also became a Danish international.

Laudrup started his senior career at Brøndby, competing for a starting spot with fellow future Danish internationals Claus Nielsen and Bent Christensen. He formed a strong partnership with Nielsen and won the Danish First Division in 1987 and 1988. Halfway through the 1989 season, his contract expired, and he agreed to join German club Bayer Uerdingen. The transfer fee was reportedly around DKK 8 million, but a dispute arose between Brøndby and Laudrup’s father and agent, Finn, over how the fee was split. The Danish Football Union ruled that Brøndby was owed about DKK 3.9 million, but the Laudrups paid roughly DKK 3.3 million and refused to pay the rest. The case was settled in March 1990.

Laudrup joined Uerdingen to play with less pressure, leaning on fellow Dane Jan Bartram, who was already at the club. He scored six goals in 34 Bundesliga matches during the 1989–90 season and impressed enough for club and country to be named Danish Player of the Year. German magazine kicker rated him the league’s second-best forward in the “international class” category, behind Werder Bremen’s Wynton Rufer. Sport Bild hailed him as the season’s best signing, ahead of high-profile names like Uwe Bein, Stefan Kuntz, and Thomas Strunz. Feeling the club’s executives would not strengthen the team, Laudrup sought a move in summer 1990.

Bayern Munich bought Laudrup for DM6 million in May 1990, making him the most expensive Bundesliga player at the time. In his first season, he scored nine goals in 33 games as the club finished second and reached the semi-final of the 1990–91 European Cup. He was highly rated by experts and popular with the German public. In a kicker reader poll for favourite players (“das Idol ’90”), Laudrup won with four times as many votes as runner-up Klaus Allofs. In a Sport Bild poll of 156,000 readers, he finished fourth overall among 900 candidates, behind only world champions Andreas Brehme, Lothar Matthäus, and Rudi Völler, and ahead of stars like Thomas Häßler, Jürgen Klinsmann, and Matthias Sammer. Among Bundesliga players alone, he took first place.

Laudrup started the 1991–92 season well but suffered a cruciate ligament injury in his right knee in August 1991. While he watched from the stands, the team collapsed. In December 1991, he criticised new Bayern executives Franz Beckenbauer and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge for creating chaos through public criticism of younger players. He returned in February 1992 and played the last 15 matches as Bayern finished tenth. Despite the injury-hit season, he was again named Danish Player of the Year and finished fifth in the FIFA World Player of the Year poll.

Laudrup’s reputation grew, and he fulfilled a lifelong ambition by moving to Serie A, then arguably the world’s top league, to sign for Fiorentina. The team started the 1992–93 season brilliantly, playing open, flowing, attacking football in the first part of the campaign.