 Vilfort at Værløse Stadion in 2006 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Kim Vilfort | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | (1962-11-15)15 November 1962 (age 63) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Valby, Denmark | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Position | Midfielder | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Youth career | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Skovlunde IF | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 1979–1981 | Skovlunde IF | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1981–1985 | BK Frem | 73 | (42) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 1985–1986 | Lille | 24 | (1) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 1986–1998 | Brøndby | 340 | (77) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Total | 437 | (120) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| International career | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1982–1983 | Denmark U21 | 6 | (2) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 1983–1996 | Denmark | 77 | (14) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Kim Vilfort (Danish pronunciation:[ˈvilfɒːt]; born 15 November 1962) is a Danish retired professionalfootballer who played as amidfielder. He is the head talent scout atBrøndby IF.
His 17-year professional career was mainly associated with Brøndby IF, for which he played in 470 official games – being the club's top scorer in history – and won ten major titles.
Vilfort played for more than one decade withDenmark, and earned 77caps. He was an essential figure in the nation'sEuro 1992 conquest, and represented the country in threeEuropean Championships.
Born in the Copenhagen-quarter ofValby, Vilfort started playing football as a boy in Skovlunde IF, usually as astriker. He moved toBoldklubben Frem in 1981, appearing in fourtop division seasons with the club.
After spending the1985–86 campaign in France withLille OSC – only oneLigue 1 goal, club finished in tenth position – Vilfort returned to his country and signed fordefending championsBrøndby IF, where he would play out the rest of his career as anattacking midfielder; in the1986–87 European Cup, the first-everEuropean competition participation for the team, he scored two goals to help them reach the third round.
1991 was an outstanding year for Vilfort: he helped Brøndby reach thesemi-final in theUEFA Cup, appeared in 55 league games in the1991 Danish Superliga and the1991–92 Danish Superliga combined –the latter had been recently created – and scored nine times, going on to be named both Brøndby'sPlayer of the Year andDanishPlayer of the Year.
From 1996 to 1998, veteran Vilfort won a further two Danish championships with Brøndby. His contract expired on 1 June 1998 after the last game of the1997–98 campaign, where he scored the winning goal (a flying header) in a 1–0 win againstOdense BK; at the time, onlyBjarne Jensen had played more games than him for the club (556), and he would only be overtaken byPer Nielsen more than one decade later. His 78 league goals were second only toBent Christensen, but he ranked first in overall goals scored for the organization, at 110.
Following his retirement at nearly 36, Vilfort became the head of Brøndby's youth system, where his sons Mikkel and Kasper would also play. The club's home ground,Brøndby Stadium, was nicknamed by its fansVilfort Park.[1]
Vilfort made his debut for theDenmark national team on 5 October 1983, in a 1–0 defeat againstPoland for the1984 Summer Olympicsqualification. He played twice for the national team atUEFA Euro 1988, in an eventual group stage exit.
In theEuro 1992 tournament in Sweden, Vilfort was a nuclear unit for the Danes, being one of the few offensive players in the team's otherwise defensive strategy. He played four of five matches in the competition, having to leave training camp to visit hisleukemia-stricken 7-year-old daughter whose condition was deteriorating, thus missing the group stage decider againstFrance (2–1 win).[2]
Vilfort was twice sent by his family to rejoin his teammates in time to play, and appeared in the semifinal victory against theNetherlands (scoring in thepenalty shootout)[3] and again inthe final againstGermany (scoring the second goal) for the 2–0 shock triumph;[4] Line Vilfort died shortly after the tournament.[5]
After Denmarkmissed qualification for the1994 FIFA World Cup, Vilfort represented the nation atEuro 1996. Following the 3–0 group stage loss toCroatia on 16 June, the team was eliminated and the 33-year-old ended his international career to concentrate on Brøndby.
Brøndby
Denmark
Individual
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