Casper Ankergren

Football player infobox2
playername = Casper Ankergren
fullname = Casper Ankergren


dateofbirth = birth date and age|1979|11|9
cityofbirth = Køge
countryofbirth = Denmark
height = height|m=1.91
currentclub = Leeds United
clubnumber = 1
position = Goalkeeper
years = 1998-2001
2001-2007
2007
2007-
clubs = Køge BK
Brøndby IF
→ Leeds United "(loan)"
Leeds United
caps(goals) = 44 (0)
86 (0)
14 (0)
47 (0)
nationalyears = 1995
2000
nationalteam = Denmark U17
Denmark U21
nationalcaps(goals) = 02 (0)
03 (0)
pcupdate = 11:33, 4 October 2008 (GMT)
ntupdate =

Casper Ankergren (born 9 November, 1979) is a Danish professional football player. He plays as a goalkeeper for English club Leeds United. He has played three matches for the Danish under-21 national team.

Biography

Ankergren started his career with Køge BK in the secondary Danish 1st Division, and represented Denmark at various youth levels. In January 2001, he moved to Brøndby IF in the top-flight Danish Superliga championship. He made his debut in October 2001, and thus played a single match as Brøndby won the 2001-02 Superliga title. Ankergren got his breakthrough with Brøndby following the retirement of club legend Mogens Krogh in December 2002. He played the second half of the 2002-03 season, and helped the club win the 2003 Danish Cup.

For the 2003-04 season, Brøndby bought merited goalkeeper Karim Zaza who became their first choice keeper and Ankergren spent the season as backup keeper. At the start of the 2004-05 season, Zaza suffered an injury and Ankergren went on to play the entire season as Brøndby's starting goalkeeper, even after Zaza had recovered. Ankergren finished the season setting a league record 18 clean sheets in 32 games, and helped Brøndby win the Double of both the 2004-05 Superliga and 2005 Danish Cup titles.

He started the 2005-06 season in the Brøndby goal, but at the winter interval, Zaza was once again promoted to first choice keeper. However, Zaza left the club in the summer of 2006, and Ankergren signed a new three-year contract with the club. Brøndby had a disappointing start to the 2006-07 season, sitting in seventh place at the winter break. However, Ankergren was called up to the Danish national team by national manager Morten Olsen in October 2006, where he served as a backup goalkeeper for Jesper Christiansen. When Brøndby bought former Danish international goalkeeper Stephan Andersen in the January 2007 transfer window, Ankergren announced his decision to leave the club.

In January 2007, he signed a loan deal with English club Leeds UnitedSky Sports (31/01/2007). [http://home.skysports.com/list.aspx?hlid=445177&plid=29678&clid=2&cpid=10 "Leeds land Danish keeper"] SkySports.com (accessed 6th Mar 2007)] , who were battling relegation in the Football League Championship. He signed for the remainder of the 2006-07 Football League season, with an option for Leeds to buy him at a fixed transfer fee at the end of the season. Ankergren established himself as a firm favourite with the Leeds fans, putting in a number of match saving saves and performances. His popularity was further increased during the 1-0 victory over Luton Town when he made his second penalty save since joining Leeds. An injury temporarily forced him out of the side with another Leeds loanee goalkeeper Graham Stack taking his place, although Casper retook his place in the side once he regained match fitness. Ankergren soon made it publicly known that he would like to continue his stay at Leeds past his loan spellSky Sports (22/02/2007). [http://home.skysports.com/list.aspx?hlid=450076&plid=29678&clid=2&cpid=10 "Casper eyes Whites stay"] SkySports.com (accessed 6th Mar 2007)] ; whilst Leeds' manager Dennis Wise stated he would like to keep Casper at the club.

Ankergren transferred to Leeds for an undisclosed fee from Brondby, signing a three year contract on 6 August 2007cite news
title = Leeds boosted by keeper signing
url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/l/leeds_united/6934534.stm
publisher = BBC Sport
date = 2007-08-07
accessdate = 2007-08-07] . Ankergen has been first choice goalkeeper in the 2007-08 season. On October 8th 2007 he won his first award for Leeds, being named Coca Cola League One Player of the Month for September due to his great goalkeeping displays. In the first 18 games of the season, he kept 10 league clean sheets, and went on to keep the Number 1 jersey for another 23 games. Over this short period of time, the Dane has proven to be popular with Leeds fans, keeping a string of clean sheets under current manager, Gary McAllister.

Casper played in Leeds' first match at the new Wembley Stadium, the 1-0 playoff-final defeat to Doncaster Rovers. He pulled off a string of impressive one-handed saves to keep his side in the match.

Casper took part in Leeds' Pre Season tour of Ireland for the 08/09 season but had to give way on occasions to give both David Lucas and Alan Martin First Team experience. He started the first four games of the full season but failed to keep a clean sheet as his team conceded 6 goals. He was dropped for the Carling Cup tie against Crystal Palace in favour of David Lucas. Leeds went on to win 4-0. Ankergren also missed out in the following 2-2 draw with Bristol.He was also dropped for the 5-2 win over Crewe again in the favour of David Lucas

Honours

*Danish Superliga: 2002, 2005
*Danish Cup: 2003, 2005
*English Coca Cola League One Play-off finalist: 2008

Notes

External links

*soccerbase|id=28882|name=Casper Ankergren
* [http://www.dbu.dk/lbase/playerInfo.aspx?playerid=4221 Danish national team profile]
*da icon [http://www.brondby.com/player.asp?sid=29&id=33 Brøndby IF profile]
* [http://resol.dr.dk/sportservice_person.aspx?personid=290511 Career stats] by Danmarks Radio