Ebbe Sand

Ebbe Sand (Danish pronunciation: [ˈepə ˈsænˀ]; born 19 July 1972) is a Danish Director of Football at Brøndby IF who is also a former professional footballer who played as a striker for Brøndby IF in Denmark and FC Schalke 04 in Germany. He was the German Bundesliga top scorer in 2001, and won the DFB-Pokal 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. At the 1998 World Cup, he scored the fastest-ever World Cup goal by a substitute – 16 seconds after entering the match.

Ebbe Sand
Sand in 2014
Personal information
Date of birth (1972-07-19) 19 July 1972
Place of birth Hadsund, Denmark
Height 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Playing position(s) Striker
Youth career
1977–1991 Hadsund BK
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1991–1992 Hadsund BK 17 (7)
1992–1999 Brøndby IF 135 (69)
1999–2006 Schalke 04 214 (73)
Total 366 (149)
National team
1998–2004 Denmark 66 (22)
Teams managed
2006–2007 Silkeborg IF (Head of Youth Development)[1]
2006 Silkeborg IF (Assistant Coach)[2]
2007 Silkeborg IF (Director of Football)[3]
2007 Silkeborg IF (Team Coach)[4]
2007 Silkeborg IF (Forward Coach)[5]
2008–2014 Denmark (Forward coach)[6]
2015–2019 Schalke 04 (Sports advisor)[7]
2019 Brøndby IF (Director of Football)[8]
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

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 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 Aalborg and raised in Hadsund, Denmark, he started playing for hometown club Hadsund BK alongside his twin brother Peter Sand. Moving to Copenhagen in order to study building engineering at the Technical University of Denmark, 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, 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.

National breakthrough

He scored 12 goals in 29 games in his 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 22 April 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 team.[9] 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 by Michael Laudrup, 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.

Club career 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.[10] 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 Euro 2000 tournament, before he was benched in the last game of a lacklustre Danish performance.

Sand with Schalke in 1999

The 2000–01 season was much more successful for Sand. Schalke finished second in the Bundesliga, after a goal from Bayern Munich four minutes into the added time, ruining Schalke's championship dreams. Despite this they qualified for the UEFA Champions League. They also won the DFB-Pokal. 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 DFB-Pokal 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 six and eight 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,[9] 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 eight 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.[11] 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 13 May 2006, scoring a goal in the 3–2 Schalke victory before being substituted to a standing ovation by the spectators.

Management career

After retiring, Sand joined Silkeborg IF in several roles before joining the Denmark National Team as a Forward coach. He then joined Schalke 04 in an advisory role before he was confirmed as the Director of Football of Brøndby IF on 31 October 2018, a job which he took over on 1 January 2019. Shortly after becoming the Director of Football at Brøndby IF, he sacked head coach Alexander Zorniger following a string of bad results.[12] On 10 July 2019, Brøndby IF announced, that they had hired Carsten V. Jensen as their new director of football and offered Sand a new position, which he had refused and therefore left the club.[13]

Career statistics

Club

Ref.[14][15]

ClubSeasonLeagueCupLeague CupEuropeOther[lower-alpha 1]Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Brøndby IF1992–93Superliga1000—00—10
1993–944110—10—61
1994–958200—00—82
1995–962912503381—4516
1996–9729731—102114311
1997–98332852—31104231
1998–99311944—81—4324
Total13569187333052118885
Schalke 041999–2000Bundesliga321422———3416
2000–01332264———3926
2001–022811642031—3916
2002–03336342053—4313
2003–0430821—20413810
2004–0528853—84214316
2005–063041021132—467
Total21473251861311062282104
Career total349142432594611583470189
  1. Appearances in Danish Supercup and UI Cup

International
National teamYearAppsGoals
Denmark 1998101
1999114
2000102
2001109
2002114
200370
200472
Total6622

International goals
Scores and results list Denmark's goal tally first.
#DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.28 June 1998Stade de France, Saint-Denis Nigeria3–04–11998 World Cup
2.10 February 1999Stadion Poljud, Split Croatia1–01–0Friendly
3.27 March 1999Parken Stadium, Copenhagen Italy1–11–2Euro 2000 qualifier
4.28 April 1999Parken Stadium, Copenhagen South Africa1–01–1Friendly
5.17 November 1999Parken Stadium, Copenhagen Israel1–03–0Euro 2000 play-off qualifier
6.16 August 2000Tórsvøllur, Tórshavn Faroe Islands1–02–02000–01 Nordic Football Championship
7.11 October 2000Parken Stadium, Copenhagen Bulgaria1–01–12002 World Cup qualifier
8.24 March 2001Ta' Qali National Stadium, Attard Malta1–05–02002 World Cup qualifier
9.3–0
10.5–0
11.25 April 2001Parken Stadium, Copenhagen Slovenia3–03–0Friendly
12.2 June 2001Parken Stadium, Copenhagen Czech Republic1–02–12002 World Cup qualifier
13.6 June 2001Parken Stadium, Copenhagen Malta1–12–12002 World Cup qualifier
14.2–1
15.6 October 2001Parken Stadium, Copenhagen Iceland2–06–02002 World Cup qualifier
16.5–0
17.13 February 2002King Fahd International Stadium, Riyadh Saudi Arabia1–01–0Friendly
18.26 May 2002Kimiidera Park, Wakayama Tunisia2–12–1Friendly
19.21 August 2002Hampden Park, Glasgow Scotland1–01–0Friendly
20.12 October 2002Parken Stadium, Copenhagen Luxembourg2–02–0Euro 2004 qualifier
21.28 April 2004Parken Stadium, Copenhagen Scotland1–01–0Friendly
22.5 June 2004Parken Stadium, Copenhagen Croatia1–21–2Friendly

Honours

Club

Brøndby IF

Schalke 04

Individual

References
  1. "Sand: Min karriere er slut" (in Danish). bold.dk. 1 August 2006.
  2. "Ebbe Sand afviser trænerambitioner" (in Danish). b.dk. 26 October 2006.
  3. "Silkeborg: Viggo forlænger – Sand sportschef" (in Danish). bold.dk. 11 September 2007.
  4. "Ebbe Sand bliver teamchef" (in Danish). bold.dk. 22 May 2007.
  5. "Ebbe Sand angrebstræner i Silkeborg" (in Danish). bold.dk. 23 July 2007.
  6. "Ebbe Sand tilbage på landsholdet" (in Danish). bold.dk. 13 May 2008.
  7. "Ebbe Sand får rådgiverrolle i Schalke" (in Danish). bold.dk. 28 June 2015.
  8. "Selskabsmeddelelse nr. 12/2018 - Ebbe Sand ny sportsdirektør" (in Danish). brondby.com. 31 October 2018.
  9. Caruso, Jesper Dahl (29 June 2004). "Sidste sang fra Sand". Berlingske Tidende (in Danish).
  10. "Daniel Agger skifter til Liverpool" (in Danish). Danmarks Radio. 11 January 2006. Archived from the original on 17 February 2006.
  11. Hansen, Jens Gjesse (21 July 2005). "Sand stopper i Schalke næste år" (in Danish). Danmarks Radio. Archived from the original on 16 January 2006.
  12. "Brøndby fyrer Zorniger" (in Danish). Ekstra Bladet. 18 February 2019.
  13. Ebbe Sand: Ønsker klubben og fans alt mulig fremgang, brondby.com, 10 July 2019
  14. "Ebbe Sand". brondbystats.dk.
  15. "Ebbe Sand » Club matches". worldfootball.net.
  16. "Schalke 0-0 Pasching (Aggregate: 2 - 0)". uefa.com. Archived from the original on 12 December 2003. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
Sporting positions
Preceded by
Frank Rost		 Schalke 04 captain
2005–2006		 Succeeded by
Marcelo Bordon
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