| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Thomas Gravesen[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1976-03-11)11 March 1976 (age 49)[1] | ||
| Place of birth | Vejle, Denmark | ||
| Position | Midfielder | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Vejle | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1995–1997 | Vejle | 58 | (10) |
| 1997–2000 | Hamburger SV | 74 | (6) |
| 2000–2005 | Everton | 141 | (11) |
| 2005–2006 | Real Madrid | 34 | (1) |
| 2006–2008 | Celtic | 22 | (6) |
| 2007–2008 | →Everton (loan) | 8 | (0) |
| Total | 337 | (34) | |
| International career | |||
| 1995 | Denmark U19 | 3 | (0) |
| 1996–1997 | Denmark U21 | 11 | (4) |
| 1998–2006 | Denmark | 66 | (5) |
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Thomas Gravesen (Danish pronunciation:[ˈtsʰʌmæsˈkʁɑːwəsn̩]; born 11 March 1976) is a Danish former professionalfootballer who played as amidfielder.
Gravesen played as a professional in Denmark, Germany, England, Spain and Scotland forVejle Boldklub,Hamburger SV,Everton,Real Madrid andCeltic.
For theDenmark national team, Gravesen wascapped 66 times and scored five goals, from his debut in August 1998 until he ended his national team career in September 2006. He represented Denmark at the internationalEuro 2000,2002 World Cup andEuro 2004 tournaments.
He is the older brother of footballerPeter Gravesen.
Born inVejle,[1] Gravesen began his career in 1995 with hometown clubVejle Boldklub (VB) in theDanish Superliga, alongside a handful of youths making it through the VB youth scheme, including good friendKaspar Dalgas. At VB he played assweeper anddefensive midfielder, and after he won silver medals in the1996–97 Superliga season he moved to German teamHamburger SV in 1997.
Gravesen made a total of 94 appearances and six goals in three years with HSV.
Following theEuro 2000 tournament, Gravesen went to English clubEverton and quickly became a favourite amongst the fans. Gravesen played a key role in Everton's rise toward the top of the2004–05 Premier League table. With his contract due to expire in the summer of 2005, which would enable him to leave on afree transfer, Everton sold Gravesen to Real Madrid in January 2005 for a surprisingly low fee of £2.5 million.[2]
Gravesen was signed to fill a hole in Madrid's defensive midfield, a position somewhat different from his role at Everton.[3] He found immediate playing success at Real Madrid, scoring in one of his first games, a 4–0 win againstEspanyol.[4] However, Gravesen would eventually find himself benched. Following public outcry over his tough style of play and the sacking of Real coachVanderlei Luxemburgo and sporting directorArrigo Sacchi, who were in charge of acquiring Gravesen, he looked ready to leave Real Madrid in the winter transfer window of 2006. However, new coachLópez Caro would revive Gravesen's career at Real, picking him regularly, using him in the holding role in the new 4–1–4–1 formation Real adopted. Towards the end of the season, Gravesen once again found himself out of the team, and in May 2006 a number of clubs were reported to be interested in him.[5]
In August 2006, a scuffle erupted at a Real Madrid training session following a hard tackle by Gravesen on teammateRobinho.[6]Fabio Capello, the former Real Madrid manager, said about Gravesen: "The way he is, we won't have problems with him. He's just a little bit peculiar. I don't mess with him, he works well tactically. His behaviour is like this, and I don't like it, everything has to be done like he wants it to be done".[7] Gravesen looked likely to leave Real Madrid before the start of the2006–07 season, with his agentJohn Sivebæk confirming that a number of clubs – includingNewcastle United in England[8] andScottish clubCeltic[9] – were interested in signing the midfield maestro.[10][11]
On 28 August 2006, Gravesen attendedCeltic Park inGlasgow for amedical examination and, on 30 August, signed a three-year deal (with the option of a fourth) with the club, for a speculated fee of around £2 million. There was a period of uncertainty as to whether Gravesen would sign for Celtic after false rumours arose of a failed medical and of an eleventh-hour bid by Newcastle.[12]
He scored his first goal for Celtic against arch rivalsRangers on 23 September 2006. He then went on to score the firsthat-trick of his professional career[13] when Celtic won 3–1 againstSt Mirren on 12 November. After a promising start to his Celtic career, Gravesen was replaced in the starting line-up by Dutch midfielderEvander Sno. In April 2007, Celtic managerGordon Strachan denied rumours that Gravesen would leave the club to play for English clubSunderland,[14] but in May 2007 he declared his disappointment that Gravesen did not work harder to recapture his place in the starting line-up.[15]
On 18 August 2008, Celtic and Gravesen parted company.[16]
Gravesen re-signed forEverton on a season-long loan from Celtic on 29 August 2007. On his first game back for Everton, as a second-half substitute in the 2–1 win atBolton Wanderers, he took the corner thatJoleon Lescott headed the winner from. In his first European appearance of the season, in Everton's 3–1 victory overAEL atGoodison Park in the UEFA Cup group stage, Gravesen set up Everton's third goal, scored byVictor Anichebe. However, Gravesen failed to make as big an impact as many Everton fans had hoped. A rare highlight was scoring a penalty in the shootout following the UEFA Cup match againstFiorentina, although Everton would go on to lose the shootout whenPhil Jagielka missed the crucial spot-kick. After the last game of the 2007–08 season, managerDavid Moyes confirmed that Gravesen's contract would not be renewed and he would be returning to Celtic.[17]
On 27 January 2009, Gravesen announced his retirement from professional football after he failed to find a new club after being released by Celtic. On 12 September 2009, he stated in an interview withFourFourTwo that he had been approached by a number of clubs about a possible return to football, but nothing came of these approaches.
It was reported in December 2013 that Gravesen had been successful with investments and was living inLas Vegas.[18]
Gravesen debuted for the Danish national team in a 0–1friendly match loss to theCzech Republic on 19 August 1998. Gravesen was selected to play for Denmark at the2000 European Championship (Euro 2000) by coachBo Johansson, despite concern from Johansson that he was not "psychologically stable" enough.[19]
While at Everton, new Danish national team coachMorten Olsen fully supported Gravesen and made him one of his pivotal players in the2002 World Cup andEuro 2004 campaigns. His display in the 2002 World Cup qualifying game withIceland, where Gravesen scored two goals in a 6–0 win, was so impressive that American boxerMike Tyson asked for his shirt[3] and wore it throughout his stay in Denmark. He played all four of Denmark's matches at the 2002 World Cup, though Gravesen and his partner in the Danish midfield duo,Stig Tøfting, justified theirpit bull reputations when they ganged up to play a prank on teammateJesper Grønkjær at a World Cup training session.[20]
He missed the first group match at Euro 2004 as he was suspended due to asending off in the last qualifying match before the tournament but he played the remaining three games before Denmark were eliminated.
On 15 September 2006, Gravesen announced his decision to end his international career, deciding now to focus his efforts solely on Celtic.[21]
Gravesen previously dated Danish adult film starKira Eggers. He now lives in a gated community inLos Angeles, withAndre Agassi andNicolas Cage as two of his neighbours.[22][23]
| Club | Season | League | National Cup | League Cup | Continental | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Vejle | 1995–96 | Danish Superliga | 28 | 2 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 28 | 2 | ||
| 1996–97 | 30 | 8 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 30 | 8 | ||||
| Total | 58 | 10 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 58 | 10 | ||||
| Hamburger SV | 1997–98 | Bundesliga | 26 | 2 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 27 | 2 | ||
| 1998–99 | 22 | 3 | 2 | 0 | – | – | 24 | 3 | ||||
| 1999–2000 | 26 | 1 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 27 | 1 | ||||
| Total | 74 | 6 | 4 | 0 | – | – | 78 | 6 | ||||
| Everton | 2000–01 | Premier League | 32 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | 35 | 2 | |
| 2001–02 | 25 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 26 | 2 | |||
| 2002–03 | 33 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | 35 | 1 | |||
| 2003–04 | 30 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | – | 36 | 2 | |||
| 2004–05 | 21 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | 23 | 4 | |||
| Total | 141 | 11 | 8 | 0 | 6 | 0 | – | 155 | 11 | |||
| Real Madrid | 2004–05 | La Liga | 17 | 1 | 1 | 0 | – | 2[a] | 0 | 20 | 1 | |
| 2005–06 | 17 | 0 | 6 | 0 | – | 6[a] | 0 | 29 | 0 | |||
| Total | 34 | 1 | 7 | 0 | – | 8 | 0 | 49 | 1 | |||
| Celtic | 2006–07 | Scottish Premier League | 22 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6[a] | 0 | 29 | 6 |
| Everton (loan) | 2007–08 | Premier League | 8 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3[b] | 0 | 13 | 0 |
| Career total | 337 | 34 | 21 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 17 | 0 | 441 | 61 | ||
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Denmark | 1998 | 3 | 0 |
| 1999 | 2 | 0 | |
| 2000 | 8 | 0 | |
| 2001 | 6 | 2 | |
| 2002 | 12 | 0 | |
| 2003 | 10 | 3 | |
| 2004 | 11 | 0 | |
| 2005 | 8 | 0 | |
| 2006 | 6 | 0 | |
| Total | 66 | 5 | |
| # | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 October 2001 | Copenhagen, Denmark |  Iceland | 3–0 | 6–0 | 2002 World Cup qualifier |
| 2 | 4–0 | |||||
| 3 | 29 March 2003 | Bucharest, Romania |  Romania | 2–2 | 5–2 | Euro 2004 qualifier |
| 4 | 30 April 2003 | Copenhagen, Denmark |  Ukraine | 1–0 | 1–0 | Friendly match |
| 5 | 11 June 2003 | Luxembourg City, Luxembourg |  Luxembourg | 2–0 | 2–0 | Euro 2004 qualifier |
Celtic
Denmark squads | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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