Jákup Mikkelsen

Jákup Nolsøe Mikkelsen (born 14 August 1970 in Klaksvík) is a Faroese former football goalkeeper who last played for ÍF Fuglafjørður. He made 522 league appearances in representing six clubs in a career spanning 25 years, also representing his country at international level.

Jákup Mikkelsen
Personal information
Full name Jákup Nolsøe Mikkelsen
Date of birth (1970-08-14) 14 August 1970
Place of birth Klaksvík, Faroe Islands
Height 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Playing position(s) Goalkeeper
Youth career
KÍ Klaksvík
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1991–1994 KÍ Klaksvík 75 (3)
1995–2001 Herfølge BK 136 (2)
2001–2003 Molde FK 11 (0)
2003–2004 Partick Thistle 5 (0)
2004 KÍ Klaksvík 23 (0)
2005–2007 B36 Tórshavn 97 (0)
2008–2009 KÍ Klaksvík 56 (0)
2010–2014 ÍF Fuglafjørður 118 (0)
2016 ÍF Fuglafjørður 1 (0)
Total 522 (5)
National team
1995–2012 Faroe Islands 73 (0)
Teams managed
2009 KÍ Klaksvík (player manager)
2015 ÍF Fuglafjørður
2016 ÍF Fuglafjørður
2016–2017 ÍF Fuglafjørður
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

A regular member of the Faroe Islands national football team between 1995 and 2013, Mikkelsen won 73 caps, and in playing against Iceland on 16 August 2012 aged 42 years and one day, became the oldest goalkeeper ever to play an international match, the record that has since been surpassed by Colombian Faryd Mondragon.[1]

Mikkelsen is currently a schoolteacher and goalkeeping coach for the Faroe Islands national team. He also sat in the city council of this native town of Klaksvík for one election period. In his youth, he worked as a postman in Klaksvík.

Club career

Mikkelsen started at KÍ Klaksvík, where he sometimes was used as an outfield player, before moving abroad to play for several years in Denmark and Norway. After a short spell at Scottish side Partick Thistle[2] he returned to the Faroe Islands. In the 1999/2000 season, he only missed 2 games in Herfølge BK's title winning season, hence becoming the first ever Faroese to win a league championship in any other country than Faroes and he played both games against Rangers in their 2000/2001 Champions League qualifying round and 4 more games in the UEFA Cup that season. He played 136 matches for Herfølge BK. After playing for Herfølge for 5 years Mikkelsen and his team won the Danish Championship.[3]

In early 2010 Mikkelsen signed a deal with Faroese football club ÍF Fuglafjørður.[4]

Having made 118 league appearances for the club, Mikkelsen retired from playing football in November 2014 aged 44, stating that his advanced age had made it impossible for him to continue.[5]

In 2016, Mikkelsen made a brief return to playing with ÍF, keeping a clean sheet in a 2–0 win at B68 Toftir on 18 September, and appeared on the substitutes' bench on a further five occasions.[6]

International career

He was a part of the squad as a reserve goalkeeper already as 18 years old in the summer of 1988, when Faroes played their very first international game after becoming full members of FIFA, losing 1-0 to Iceland in Akranes. However, Mikkelsen only made his debut for the Faroe Islands in July 1995 friendly match against Iceland and has since earned 72 caps.[7] He was on the bench as early as in August 1988, when the Faroes played their first match since becoming a member of FIFA, in a friendly against Iceland in Akranes. [8]

Although having retired after the 2010 World Cup qualification, he was called up out of retirement for the Euro 2012 qualifying matches against Slovenia and Northern Ireland in October 2010, because of an injury to Gunnar Nielsen.[9]

Individual honours
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References
  1. Sportal.fo, IFFHS forsetin: Jákup er tann elsti (The president of IFFHS: Jákup is the oldest)
  2. News.BBC.co.uk
  3. Sportal.fo, 15 ár siðani fyrsta Herfølge-dystin (15 years since the first match for Herfølge.) in Faroese
  4. IF.fo, Jákup Mikkelsen er okkara (in Faroese, the headline means: Jákup Mikkelsen is ours)
  5. Faroe Islands football news November 2014
  6. B68 vs. ÍF - 18 September 2016 - Soccerway
  7. Football.fo, Landsliðsleikarar 1988 - 2012 (Players of the Faroe Islands national football team from 1988 to 2012
  8. Faroe Islands - Record International Players Archived 5 November 2007 at the Wayback Machine - RSSSF
  9. Sportal.fo, Jákup Mikkelsen verjir føroyska málið! (in Faroese)
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