Rune Pedersen (footballer)

Infobox Football biography
playername = Rune Pedersen
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1979|10|9
cityofbirth = Copenhagen
countryofbirth = Denmark
height =
currentclub = Lyngby BK
clubnumber = 1
position = Goalkeeper
years = 2000-2003
2003
2003-2005
2005-2007
2007-
clubs = F.C. Copenhagen
Modena F.C.
Aarhus GF
Nottingham Forest
Lyngby Boldklub
caps(goals) = 32 (0)
0? (?)
25 (0)
19 (0)
22 (0)
nationalyears = 1995
1995-1996
1996
2000-2001
nationalteam = Denmark under-16
Denmark under-17
Denmark under-19
Denmark under-21
nationalcaps(goals) = 02 (0)
06 (0)
01 (0)
08 (0)
pcupdate = 20 April 2008
ntupdate =

Rune Pedersen (born October 9, 1979) is a Danish professional footballer He plays as goalkeeper. He has played 17 matches for various Danish youth national teams.

Biography

Born in Copenhagen, Rune Pedersen started his career off at clubs in his hometown. He played youth football with Hvidovre IF, before moving to Kjøbenhavns Boldklub (KB), the reserve team of F.C. Copenhagen (FCK) in the top-flight Danish Superliga championship. While at KB, he was called up for a number of national youth team matches. He got his first team debut for FCK in August 2000, when he replaced the injured Michael Stensgaard. Pedersen played well, and in November 2000, he was called up for the Denmark under-21 national team.

He went on to win two Superliga championships with FCK, but never fully established himself as FCK's starting goalkeeper. He saw competition from a number of goalkeepers, including Swedish international goalkeeper Magnus Kihlstedt and Norwegian international goalkeeper Thomas Myhre. After two and a half years with FCK, he rejected a contract offer from the club in January 2003. He trained with English club Chelsea FC, but did not get a contract offer. Instead, he was sold to Italian club Modena F.C. in the Serie A championship. Pedersen only spent half a year with the club, before he was released in the summer 2003, after claiming he did not enjoy life in Italy.

He trained with an English club once again, this time Portsmouth F.C., but finally moved back to Denmark to play for Aarhus GF (AGF) in August 2003. Initially a substitute for the three years younger Steffen Rasmussen, Pedersen made his AGF debut in April 2004, and was subsequently kept as starting goalkeeper. During the 2004-05 season, Rune Pedersen and five other players were fined for partying on a night where the team lost to Aalborg BK. He denied paying the fine, and even though the club later dropped the claim, Rune Pedersen was finished in AGF.

He linked up with English side Nottingham Forest during their pre-season tour of Denmark in preparation for the 2005-06 season and whilst on trial won himself a two year contract at the City Ground. After starting the season as first choice keeper the return to fitness of Paul Gerrard and the arrival of Russell Hoult on loan from West Bromwich Albion relegated Pedersen to third choice goalkeeper. The departure of manager Gary Megson, Hoult returning to West Brom and further injury to Paul Gerrard presented Rune with the another chance. Pedersen performed well in the eyes of many Forest fans and contributed to a resurgence in form which saw Forest climb to within two points of a play-off berth by the end of the season.

The appointment of Colin Calderwood as the new manager of Nottingham Forest in June 2006 and the arrival of Southampton goalkeeper Paul Smith limited Rune to just a handful of appearances during the 2006-07 season. His contract was not renewed by the English club and consequently he became a free agent on 30 June 2007. Rune has since signed with Danish Superliga club Lyngby BK.

Honours

*Danish Superliga: 2001 and 2003

External links

* [http://www.dbu.dk/lbase/playerInfo.aspx?playerid=4253 Danish national team profile]
* [http://www.fck.dk/saesonen/statistik/spillerstatistik/?search=1&play_playerid_fk=126 F.C. Copenhagen statistics]
*da icon [http://www.agf.co.dk/docs/Holdet/SpillerProfil.asp?id=625 AGF profile]
* [http://www.soccerbase.com/players_details.sd?playerid=15871 Soccerbase career statistics]