Ebbe Sand

Infobox Football biography
playername= Ebbe Sand


fullname = Ebbe Sand
nickname =
dateofbirth = Birth date and age|1972|7|19|mf=y
cityofbirth = Hadsund
countryofbirth = Denmark
height =
currentclub =
position = Striker
youthyears = 1977-1992
youthclubs = Hadsund BK
years = 1992-1999
1999-2006
clubs = Brøndby IF
Schalke 04
caps(goals) = 136 (69)
214 (73)
nationalyears = 1998-2004
nationalteam = Denmark
nationalcaps(goals) = 66 (22)
pcupdate =
ntupdate =

Ebbe Sand (born July 19, 1972) is a Danish former professional football player who most notably played as a striker for FC Schalke 04 in Germany. He was the German Bundesliga top scorer in 2001, and he won the German Cup in 2001 and 2002 with Schalke. On the international stage, he represented the Denmark national football team at the 1998 and 2002 FIFA World Cup, as well as the 2000 and 2004 European Championships and he has scored the fastest World Cup goal by a substitute, when he scored after 16 seconds at the 1998 World Cup.In all, he was selected 66 times for the Danish national team and scored 22 goals, from his debut in 1998 until he decided to focus on playing for Schalke in 2004. When his contract with Schalke ran out in the Summer 2006, he moved back to Denmark to become head talent scout at Silkeborg IF. At his retirement in 2006, he was granted a testimonial match between the Danish national team and his former Danish club Brøndby IF.

Biography

Born in Hadsund in Denmark, he started playing for hometown club Hadsund BK alongside his twin brother Peter Sand. Moving to Copenhagen in order to study building engineering, he and his brother Peter decided to try their luck at Brøndby IF. After three years of playing only a few games as attacking midfielder, Ebbe Sand got a chance to play regularly in 1995 and he soon made a name for himself. His brother would never play for Brøndby, but played professionally for a number of other clubs. After a long stint at German giants Schalke 04, Sand has now been said to have been approached by Australian A-League club Perth Glory.

National breakthrough

He scored 12 goals in 30 games in breakthrough season and helped Brøndby win the Danish Superliga title. Brøndby matched that feat in both 1997 and 1998, with 1998 being an even better year for both Sand and Brøndby. Sand won the Danish Golden Boot as he scored 28 goals in 33 games and helped Brøndby win the Danish Cup, completing the Double. Sand was first capped for the Denmark national football team on April 22, 1998 against Norway, and following his great 1998 season, he was selected to play for Denmark in the 1998 FIFA World Cup.

He took part in all five Denmark matches at the World Cup, and scored his first goal for Denmark in the game against Nigeria, his own most treasured goal for the national teamJesper Dahl Caruso, "Sidste sang fra Sand", Berlingske Tidende, June 29, 2004] . Entering as a substitute, he ran into the blind spot of the defense, had the ball lobbed to him over the heads of the defenders, before he headed the ball to his right, past the Nigerian Taribo West, and slotted the ball home in the lower left corner. It only took 16 seconds from his substitution to his goal, a World Cup record that still stands. Following his break through on the international stage, he was named Danish "Player of the Year". In 1998, Sand was diagnosed with testicular cancer. He had the cancer removed and was back in action just a few weeks after the operation.

Moving abroad

Following the 1998 World Cup, Sand played one more season for Brøndby, in which he scored another 19 goals. He was then transferred to German club Schalke for 10 million DEM in 1999, at that time the most expensive sale by a Danish club. [da icon [http://www.dr.dk/Sporten/Fodbold/Int.fodbold/2006/01/11/100306.htm Daniel Agger skifter til Liverpool] , Danmarks Radio, January 11, 2006] Sand's first season in Germany was successful, as he scored 14 goals, although Schalke only finished 13th in the Bundesliga that year. After scoring four goals in the qualification matches, he played twice for Denmark at the 2000 European Championship (Euro 2000) tournament, before he was benched in the last game of a lack-lustre Danish performance.

The 2000-01 season was much more successful for Sand. Schalke finished second in the Bundesliga, after a goal from Bayern Munich 4 minutes into the added time, ruining Schalkes championship dreams. Despite this they qualified for the UEFA Champions League. They also won the German Cup. Sand scored 22 goals and tied with Sergej Barbarez for the title of lead topscorer in Germany, and he once again won the Danish "Player of the Year" award in 2001. Schalke won the German Cup again in 2002 and finished fifth in the league, with Sand tallying 11 goals. For the national team, he scored an impressive nine goals in ten qualification games for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, but he failed to impress at the final tournament, and was benched the last group match, although he did play three times.

His following years at Schalke would be less successful, as he only scored 6 and 8 goals in the next two seasons, respectively. For Denmark's run in the Euro 2004, Sand missed Denmark's final game due to injury, and he decided to retire from international football. He cited a desire to focus his last active years on playing for Schalke, though he would be ready to re-enter the Denmark team if it qualified for 2006 FIFA World Cup tournament if his form would allow it, though that never became relevant for either party. Initially in his last year of contract, he prolonged his stay at Schalke by a year, despite only scoring 8 goals in 2005. In July 2005, he announced the coming season as his last for Schalke and following seven years in Germany he would move to Denmark in order to work at Danish Superliga club Silkeborg IF. [da icon Jens Gjesse Hansen, [http://www.dr.dk/Sporten/Fodbold/Int.fodbold/2005/07/21/124203.htm Sand stopper i Schalke næste år] , "Danmarks Radio", July 21, 2005] He thereby turned down an offer from Schalke manager Rudi Assauer to become his managerial protege at Schalke. For his last season at Schalke he was chosen as team captain, even though stiff competition by fellow Dane Søren Larsen and German striker Kevin Kurányi relegated Sand's role to substitute player. He ended his Schalke career at the Bundesliga game with VfB Stuttgart on May 13 2006, scoring a goal in the 3-2 Schalke victory before being substituted to a standing ovation by the spectators.

Sand has now been said to have been approached by Australian A-League club Perth Glory.

Honours

*Danish Superliga: 1996, 1997 and 1998, with Brøndby IF
*Danish Cup: 1998, with Brøndby IF
*Danish "Player of the Year" : 1998 and 2001
*German Cup: 2001 and 2002, with FC Schalke 04
*German Bundesliga top scorer: 2001

References

External links

* [http://www.dbu.dk/lbase/playerInfo.aspx?playerid=1557 Danish national team profile]
*da icon [http://www.brondby.com/player.asp?sid=48&id=33 Brøndby IF partial statistics]
* [http://uk.sports.yahoo.com/fo/profiles/4489.html uk.sports.yahoo.com profile]
* [http://www.euro2004.com/tournament/players/player=23482/ Euro 2004 profile]