 Sand withSchalke 04 in 1999 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | (1972-07-19)19 July 1972 (age 53) | ||
| Place of birth | Aalborg, Denmark | ||
| Height | 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) | ||
| Position | 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) | |
| International career | |||
| 1998–2004 | Denmark | 66 | (22) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 2020 | Denmark (caretaker) | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Ebbe Sand (Danish pronunciation:[ˈepəˈsænˀ]; born 19 July 1972) is a Danish former professionalfootballer who played as astriker forBrøndby IF in Denmark andFC Schalke 04 in Germany. He was theBundesliga top scorer in 2001 and won theDFB-Pokal in 2001 and 2002 with Schalke. On the international stage, he played for theDenmark national team at the1998 and2002 FIFA World Cup, as well as the2000 and2004 European Championships. At the 1998 World Cup, he scored the fastest-ever World Cup goal by a substitute – 16 seconds after entering the match.
Born inAalborg and raised inHadsund, Sand started playing for hometown clubHadsund BK alongside his twin brotherPeter Sand. Moving toCopenhagen in order to studybuilding engineering at theTechnical 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 asattacking 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.
Sand scored 12 goals in 29 games in his breakthrough season and helped Brøndby win theDanish 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 theDanish Cup, completingthe Double. Sand was first capped for theDenmark national football team on 22 April 1998 againstNorway, and following his great 1998 season, he was selected to play for Denmark in the1998 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 againstNigeria, his own most treasured goal for the national team.[1] 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 byMichael Laudrup, before he headed the ball to his right, past the NigerianTaribo West, and slotted the ball home in the lower left corner. It only took 16 seconds from his substitution to his goal, aWorld Cup record that still stands. Following his break through on the international stage, he was namedDanishPlayer of the Year. In 1998, Sand was diagnosed withtesticular cancer. He had the cancer removed and was back in action just a few weeks after the operation.
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 millionDEM in 1999, at that time the most expensive sale by a Danish club.[2] Sand's first season in Germany was successful, as he scored 14 goals, although Schalke only finished 13th in theBundesliga that year. After scoring four goals in the qualification matches, he played twice for Denmark at theEuro 2000 tournament, before he was benched in the last game of a lacklustre Danish performance.
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 theUEFA Champions League. They also won theDFB-Pokal. Sand scored 22 goals and tied withSergej Barbarez for the title of lead topscorer in Germany, and he once again won the DanishPlayer 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 the2002 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 theEuro 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 for2006 FIFA World Cup tournament if his form would allow it,[1] 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 clubSilkeborg IF.[3] He thereby turned down an offer from Schalke managerRudi Assauer to become his managerialprotégé at Schalke. For his last season at Schalke he was chosen asteam captain, even though stiff competition by fellow DaneSøren Larsen and German strikerKevin Kurányi relegated Sand's role to substitute player. He ended his Schalke career at the Bundesliga game withVfB Stuttgart on 13 May 2006, scoring a goal in the 3–2 Schalke victory before being substituted to a standing ovation by the spectators.
After retiring, Sand joined Silkeborg IF in several roles before joining the Denmark National Team as a forwards 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.[4] On 10 July 2019,Brøndby IF announced, that they had hiredCarsten V. Jensen as their new director of football and offered Sand a new position, which he had refused and therefore left the club.[5]
Sand briefly managed theDenmark national team on 11 November 2020, asKasper Hjulmand was sidelined withCOVID-19. In his only match in charge, Sand led Denmark to a 2–0 victory overSweden.[6][7]
| Club | Season | League | Cup | League Cup | Europe | Other[a] | Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Brøndby IF | 1992–93 | Superliga | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 1 | 0 | ||
| 1993–94 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | — | 1 | 0 | — | 6 | 1 | ||||
| 1994–95 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 8 | 2 | ||||
| 1995–96 | 29 | 12 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 8 | 1 | — | 45 | 16 | |||
| 1996–97 | 29 | 7 | 3 | 1 | — | 10 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 43 | 11 | |||
| 1997–98 | 33 | 28 | 5 | 2 | — | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 42 | 31 | |||
| 1998–99 | 31 | 19 | 4 | 4 | — | 8 | 1 | — | 43 | 24 | ||||
| Total | 135 | 69 | 18 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 30 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 188 | 85 | ||
| Schalke 04 | 1999–2000 | Bundesliga | 32 | 14 | 2 | 2 | — | — | — | 34 | 16 | |||
| 2000–01 | 33 | 22 | 6 | 4 | — | — | — | 39 | 26 | |||||
| 2001–02 | 28 | 11 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 1 | — | 39 | 16 | |||
| 2002–03 | 33 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 3 | — | 43 | 13 | |||
| 2003–04 | 30 | 8 | 2 | 1 | — | 2 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 38 | 10 | |||
| 2004–05 | 28 | 8 | 5 | 3 | — | 8 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 43 | 16 | |||
| 2005–06 | 30 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 13 | 2 | — | 46 | 7 | |||
| Total | 214 | 73 | 25 | 18 | 6 | 1 | 31 | 10 | 6 | 2 | 282 | 104 | ||
| Career total | 349 | 142 | 43 | 25 | 9 | 4 | 61 | 15 | 8 | 3 | 470 | 189 | ||
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Denmark | 1998 | 10 | 1 |
| 1999 | 11 | 4 | |
| 2000 | 10 | 2 | |
| 2001 | 10 | 9 | |
| 2002 | 11 | 4 | |
| 2003 | 7 | 0 | |
| 2004 | 7 | 2 | |
| Total | 66 | 22 | |
| No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 28 June 1998 | Stade de France,Saint-Denis, France |  Nigeria | 3–0 | 4–1 | 1998 World Cup |
| 2 | 10 February 1999 | Stadion Poljud,Split, Croatia |  Croatia | 1–0 | 1–0 | Friendly |
| 3 | 27 March 1999 | Parken Stadium,Copenhagen, Denmark |  Italy | 1–1 | 1–2 | Euro 2000 qualifier |
| 4 | 28 April 1999 | Parken Stadium, Copenhagen, Denmark |  South Africa | 1–0 | 1–1 | Friendly |
| 5 | 17 November 1999 | Parken Stadium, Copenhagen, Denmark |  Israel | 1–0 | 3–0 | Euro 2000 play-off qualifier |
| 6 | 16 August 2000 | Tórsvøllur,Tórshavn, Faroes |  Faroe Islands | 1–0 | 2–0 | 2000–01 Nordic Football Championship |
| 7 | 11 October 2000 | Parken Stadium, Copenhagen, Denmark |  Bulgaria | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2002 World Cup qualifier |
| 8 | 24 March 2001 | Ta' Qali National Stadium,Attard, Malta |  Malta | 1–0 | 5–0 | 2002 World Cup qualifier |
| 9 | 3–0 | |||||
| 10 | 5–0 | |||||
| 11 | 25 April 2001 | Parken Stadium, Copenhagen, Denmark |  Slovenia | 3–0 | 3–0 | Friendly |
| 12 | 2 June 2001 | Parken Stadium, Copenhagen, Denmark |  Czech Republic | 1–0 | 2–1 | 2002 World Cup qualifier |
| 13 | 6 June 2001 | Parken Stadium, Copenhagen, Denmark | Malta | 1–1 | 2–1 | 2002 World Cup qualifier |
| 14 | 2–1 | |||||
| 15 | 6 October 2001 | Parken Stadium, Copenhagen, Denmark |  Iceland | 2–0 | 6–0 | 2002 World Cup qualifier |
| 16 | 5–0 | |||||
| 17 | 13 February 2002 | King Fahd International Stadium,Riyadh, Saudi Arabia |  Saudi Arabia | 1–0 | 1–0 | Friendly |
| 18 | 26 May 2002 | Kimiidera Park,Wakayama, Japan |  Tunisia | 2–1 | 2–1 | Friendly |
| 19 | 21 August 2002 | Hampden Park,Glasgow, Scotland |  Scotland | 1–0 | 1–0 | Friendly |
| 20 | 12 October 2002 | Parken Stadium, Copenhagen, Denmark |  Luxembourg | 2–0 | 2–0 | Euro 2004 qualifier |
| 21 | 28 April 2004 | Parken Stadium, Copenhagen, Denmark | Scotland | 1–0 | 1–0 | Friendly |
| 22 | 5 June 2004 | Parken Stadium, Copenhagen, Denmark | Croatia | 1–2 | 1–2 | Friendly |
Brøndby IF
Schalke 04
Individual
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Schalke 04 captain 2005–2006 | Succeeded by |
Denmark squads | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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