Peter Bolesław Schmeichel MBE is a Danish retired professional footballer who played
as a goalkeeper, and was voted the "World's Best Goalkeeper" in 1992 and 1993. He is best
remembered for his most successful years at English club Manchester United, whom he captained
to the 1999 UEFA Champions League to complete the Treble, and for winning UEFA Euro 1992
with Denmark. Born in Gladsaxe, Copenhagen, Schmeichel was
famous for his intimidating physique tall and weighed about 105 kg during his playing
days), and wore specially made size XXXL football shirts. Unusual for a goalkeeper, Schmeichel
scored 11 goals during his career, including one for the national team. He is also the
most capped player for the Denmark national team, with 129 games between 1987 and 2001.
In addition to Euro 92, he played for his country at the 1998 FIFA World Cup and three
additional European Championship tournaments. He captained the national team in 30 matches.
He also represented Gladsaxe Hero, Hvidovre, Brøndby, Sporting CP, Aston Villa and Manchester
City in a career that lasted from 1981 until 2003.
The IFFHS ranked Schmeichel among the top ten keepers of the 20th century in 2000, and
in 2001, Schmeichel won a public poll held by Reuters, when the majority of the 200,000
participants voted him as the best goalkeeper ever, ahead of Lev Yashin and Gordon Banks.
In 2003, Schmeichel was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame in recognition
of his impact on the English game. In March 2004, he was named as one of the "125 greatest
living footballers", at the FIFA 100 celebrations. His son, Kasper, is also a professional football
goalkeeper.
Biography Early years
Born in Søborggård parish, Gladsaxe, Denmark to a Polish father and a Danish mother, Peter
Schmeichel held Polish citizenship until 1970 when he, his father, and his siblings became
Danish citizens. He inherited his second name – Bolesław – from his great-grandfather.
He spent his early years growing up in the town of Buddinge, Copenhagen, and began his
football career playing for a team in the adjacent suburb of Høje-Gladsaxe. His first
match came on 7 August 1972 at the age of 8. After a two-and-a-half-year unbeaten run,
Schmeichel was approached by Hero, a team from a few divisions above Høje-Gladsaxe
and with one of the largest youth football schemes in Denmark. Hero later merged with
Gladsaxe to form Gladsaxe-Hero BK, and Schmeichel was presented with the opportunity to play
for the Zealand FA's junior representative team.
Eventually graduating to the Gladsaxe-Hero senior squad, Schmeichel met his first mentor
in Svend Aage Hansen, the first team coach at the club, and later to become his father-in-law.
With Gladsaxe-Hero already relegated from the Danish Third Division with three games
to go, Hansen promoted Schmeichel and six others from the youth team for a match against
Birkerød. The team lost 1–0, but Schmeichel received mentions in local newspapers for
his personal performance. At the end of the season, Hansen explained to Schmeichel his
plan for the future, which involved Schmeichel spending two more seasons with Gladsaxe-Hero
before moving on to Hvidovre, playing for the Danish national team, and eventually having
a successful career abroad. Schmeichel admits that he had received an offer to play for
B1903's youth team, but he turned it down as the club "seemed a bit boring".
The following season Gladsaxe-Hero needed only to avoid defeat to Stubbekøbing to prevent
relegation from the Danish National League. In the end, Schmeichel played one of the games
of his career and Gladsaxe-Hero won the match. At the end of the game, Hansen's daughter,
Bente, ran onto the pitch and hugged Schmeichel. The two ended up going out as a couple, and
they eventually got married. Before becoming a professional footballer,
Schmeichel had to work a number of jobs to make ends meet. His first job came in the
dyeing department of a textile factory, but his concerns with the factory's policy on
safety eventually forced him to hand in his notice. He then spent 12 months as a cleaner
at an old people's home, before taking up an office job with the World Wildlife Fund.
He originally worked in the organisation's shops, but three weeks after he joined, the
store manager quit and Schmeichel was promoted to the position of sales manager. Soon after,
Schmeichel was called upon to do his four weeks of compulsory military service. However,
this coincided with Hvidovre's summer training camp in Portugal, which he was permitted to
go on with the proviso that he completed his military service the following month. Nevertheless,
the delicate organisational situation that arose between the WWF, the Danish defence
department and Hvidovre prompted Schmeichel to give up working for the WWF. A job with
his father-in-law's flooring firm came next, until he realised that his knees could not
support his 15 stone frame for eight hours a day, and he was offered a job with the advertising
firm owned by Hvidovre's chairman, Niels Erik Madsen. This was to be his last job outside
football, as he was offered a contract with Brøndby the following spring.
Professional career Brøndby
Despite the fifth best defence in the league, conceding 40 goals in 30 games, Schmeichel
and Hvidovre finished in 14th place and were relegated in 1985. After only a single season,
the club bounced right back to the 1st Division, but Schmeichel was lost by Hvidovre to Danish
runners-up Brøndby IF before the 1987 season. Winning the Danish league in his first year,
he joined a club which he helped turn into a success. He made his debut for the Danish
national team in May 1987, under national manager Sepp Piontek, and was selected for
the Euro 88 tournament, where he eventually became Denmark's starting goalkeeper.
In all, Schmeichel and Brøndby won four championships in five seasons. The climax of his Brøndby
career would come in the European 1991 UEFA Cup competition, which saw Schmeichel as an
important part of the team that reached the semi-finals. The club was eliminated by AS
Roma with a last-minute goal by Rudi Völler. Following the tournament, Schmeichel was voted
10th in "The World's Best Goalkeeper 1991" poll by the IFFHS.
Manchester United
Following his showings on the international scene, Manchester United bought him in 1991
for £505,000, a price which was described in 2000 by Manchester United manager Alex
Ferguson as the "bargain of the century." It was mainly because at the time, Schmeichel
was a relative unknown outside of Denmark, especially within the United squad members.
Schmeichel played the bulk of his career for United, eight years in total. With United,
Schmeichel won five FA Premier League titles, three FA Cups, one League Cup, and the UEFA
Champions League. Manchester United finished as runners-up in
Schmeichel's first season, but it was on the international stage that Schmeichel enjoyed
his biggest success that year. In the Danish national team under new national manager Richard
Møller Nielsen, Schmeichel was Denmark's starting goalkeeper at the Euro 92 tournament
which they won. He saved a penalty kick from Marco van Basten in the semi-final, and held
a cross with one hand in the final. He made a string of important saves during the tournament,
and was elected "The World's Best Goalkeeper 1992".
In the 1992–93 season, 22 clean sheets from Schmeichel helped United win the Premier League
championship for the first time in 26 years. Schmeichel was once again named "The World's
Best Goalkeeper" in 1993. In January 1994, Schmeichel fell out with Ferguson, as United
had squandered a 3–0 lead to draw 3–3 with Liverpool. The two had a row where Schmeichel
"said the most horrible things", and he was subsequently sacked by Ferguson. A few days
later, Schmeichel made an improvised apology to the other players. Unknown to him, Ferguson
was eavesdropping on this, and he let Schmeichel stay at Manchester United. Schmeichel and
United repeated the Premier League championship win at the end of the season.
Despite being a goalkeeper, he would run into the attack on corner kicks if his team was
behind. The sight of him going up for the corner was a great distraction to opposing
defenders. He scored a goal in this fashion, for Man United, in a 1995 UEFA Cup match against
Rotor Volgograd. He scored in the last minutes of the game, though United were eliminated
from the tournament on the away goals rule. Schmeichel played for Denmark at Euro 96 hosted
by England. The defending European Champions went out in the preliminary group stage, despite
delivering results equivalent to the Euro 92 tournament.
Following a February 1997 match against Arsenal, Schmeichel was accused of racism by Arsenal
striker Ian Wright. During the game, Schmeichel and Wright had a number of controversies,
and at the end of the game, the two players confronted each other on their way off the
pitch. After the game, news emerged of a police inquiry into a November 1996 match between
the two clubs, where it was alleged that Schmeichel had made a racist remark. After months of
politicising by The FA and The PFA, who wanted a "converted" Schmeichel as their posterboy
of the "Kick Racism out of Football" campaign, no evidence was found and the case was dropped.
Under new national manager Bo Johansson, Schmeichel was a part of the Danish squad at the 1998
FIFA World Cup. He was one of the leading members of the Danish campaign, which ended
in a 3–2 quarter-final defeat to Brazil. Schmeichel ended his Manchester United career
on the highest note, when Schmeichel and United won the Treble, the FA Premier League title,
FA Cup and UEFA Champions League, in the same season. In that year's FA Cup semi-final against
Arsenal, Schmeichel saved a penalty kick by Dennis Bergkamp in the last minutes of the
game, to send the game into extra time. In the absence of the suspended Roy Keane, he
captained United in the UEFA Champions League final in May 1999. German opponents Bayern
Munich had a 1–0 lead until the dying minutes of the game, when United received a corner
kick. Schmeichel ran into the attack attempting to cause confusion, and Teddy Sheringham scored
the equalising goal. A few seconds later, Ole Gunnar Solskjær scored the 2–1 winner
for United to ensure that Schmeichel's United career ended on the highest possible note.
In an unforgettable celebratory moment, Schmeichel was shown cartwheeling gleefully in his area
after Solskjær's winning goal. With his departure, Manchester United had
trouble finding a replacement for him, going through several high-profile goalkeepers including
Mark Bosnich, Massimo Taibi, Fabien Barthez, Tim Howard and Roy Carroll before finally
buying Edwin van der Sar, who Sir Alex Ferguson considered the best goalkeeper to have played
for the club since Schmeichel. Sporting CP
Schmeichel decided to leave English football at the end of the 1998–99 season, as the
gruelling 60-game season, which came with playing with a successful club, was threatening
to undermine his high standards at the age of 36. Seeking a slower pace of football,
he moved to Sporting Clube de Portugal, where he won the 1999–2000 Primeira Liga title
in his first season with the club, putting an end to the team's 18 years without a championship.
He scored his only goal for the Danish national team, a penalty kick against Belgium, in a
June 2000 warm-up match for Euro 2000. He represented Denmark at Euro 2000, where the
team was eliminated in the group stage. He announced his retirement from the national
team in February 2001, and played his final match two months later, captaining the side
in a 3–0 friendly win over Slovenia at Copenhagen's Parken Stadium; he was substituted in the
65th minute to a standing ovation, replaced by long-time back-up Peter Kjær.
His second year with Sporting was remarkable in that it was the first time in 14 years,
since his Hvidovre days, that Schmeichel's club had finished below second place in the
league. Schmeichel stated his wish to activate a contract option of a further year at Sporting
in January 2001, but eventually decided to leave the club when his contract expired in
June 2001. Aston Villa
Schmeichel returned to England with Aston Villa in July 2001, signing a one-year contract
with the option to extend it by a further year. On 20 October 2001, Schmeichel became
the first goalkeeper to score a Premier League goal, in a 3–2 defeat away to Everton; this
feat has only been repeated four times: by Blackburn Rovers' Brad Friedel on 21 February
2004, also from a corner kick; by Tottenham Hotspur's Paul Robinson from a free-kick on
17 March 2007; by Everton's Tim Howard on 4 January 2012; and by Stoke City's Asmir
Begović on 2 November 2013. Schmeichel left Aston Villa after one season after he fell
behind Peter Enckelman in the club's pecking order under new manager Graham Taylor, who
had replaced John Gregory in February 2002. Manchester City
Schmeichel played his last active year for Manchester City during the 2002–03 season.
Schmeichel's record in the Manchester derby is exceptional, in that he was never on the
losing side. During his nine years with Manchester United, they were unbeaten against Manchester
City, while in his single season with City, they won at Maine Road and drew at Old Trafford.
Retirement In December 1999, Schmeichel became the owner
of his childhood club Hvidovre IF, but withdrew from the club in June 2002.
Schmeichel worked as a pundit for the BBC after retiring, being a regular analyst on
Match of the Day until 2005. He then began hosting live UEFA Champions League matches
on Danish television channel TV3+, with Preben Elkjær and Brian Laudrup the studio pundits.
However, he still works occasionally as a pundit for the BBC.
Schmeichel's son, Kasper, plays as goalkeeper for Leicester City. Kasper made his debut
for the Danish national team against Macedonia in February 2013.
His popularity in Britain is perhaps best measured by Chesney Brown on the Manchester-based
soap opera Coronation Street, naming his former dog "Schmeichel".
He also took part in Soccer Aid, and played for the Rest of the World team, who lost 2–1
after he was substituted at half-time. Schmeichel was a contestant on the 2006 series of the
BBC's popular Saturday night TV programme Strictly Come Dancing, but was voted out by
the public on his 43rd birthday. He also appeared on The Weakest Link in the UK, but he was
voted off as the weakest link in the first round.
On 31 August 2007, an investor group including Schmeichel announced their intention to invest
250 million DKK in the football club Brøndby IF and make him sports director. This was
announced in a press conference in Danish at a hotel in Copenhagen. The offer fell through
when Brøndby failed to accept the offer within the group's deadline.
In February 2007, he became the host in a new quiz, on TV3 named 1 mod 100. In 2008,
he became the host of the European version of the Discovery Channel programme, Dirty
Jobs. He has also appeared several times as a pundit
on BBC's Match of the Day. Career statistics
Club
1Includes one UEFA Super Cup game. Also played 5 Charity Shield games.
Also played 3 Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira games.
International International goals
Honours Literature
Schmeichel, Peter [1999]. Schmeichel: The Autobiography. London: Virgin Publishing.
ISBN 0-7535-0444-8. References
External links Peter Schmeichel career stats at Soccerbase
Danish national team profile Peter Schmeichel at the Internet Movie Database