• Name: Rasmus Thelander
  • Age: 21 (09.07.1991)
  • Position: Central Defender
  • Club: AaB
  • International Caps:
    • Denmark U20
      • 1 match
      • 0 goals
    • Denmark U19
      • 1 match
      • 0 goals
    • Denmark U18
      • 1 match
      • 0 goals
  • Value: £300.000 (transfermarkt.co.uk)



The short hair and the fit buddy will all the tattoos – not the typical Aalborg BK defender -  made some of Aalborg BK’s senior fans raise an eyebrow when their beloved club signed this talent. This week we keep an eye on Rasmus Thelander.

Despite the tough appearance, Thelander ensures the Aalborg fans that if they got to know him they would understand that he is not a big bully. However, the tough attitude might have played a role when the defender was sent off in his debut for the Danish U18 national team against Ukraine. The Danish team was standing very deep when a cross was sent into the box. As Thelander turned one of the Ukrainian striker was suddenly in front of him, and despite Thelander’s try to stop the striker fell.

“As the referee saw it I tackled the player, and he decided to give them a penalty. My thoughts were, “it’s my debut and I giving them a penalty!”, and I hadn’t seen it coming when the referee presented me with the red card.”

Thelander joined Aalborg on a free transfer in the summer 2012, but before that the defender went through quite a transfer saga. The defender started playing football in Herlev before he joined Akademisk Boldklub in the Danish 1. Division, where he became one of the players that should help the club in a rather difficult time.

“After 2010 where we kind of failed, the club started focusing on young players inclusive me. It was great because we were so many young players, and I had to take more responsibility qua my position in the defend,” the former AB player says.

After playing his way into the AB team, suddenly the Dutch Eredivisie club Roda JC was interested. Thelander was invited on a week’s trial, but already on the second day the Dutch’s decided to keep him for four extra days. The trial went more than well as the club decided to make an offer for Thelander after he scored a goal dribbling from one end to the other.

After a month of negotiating, the only thing missing was the medical check. However, before it would happen Roda had changed their manager and the deal ran out in the sand.

“My gut feeling told me that it was the place for me. I had been down there on a trial, and I was surprised by the quality; without being rude, I thought the players were on a higher level. I was ready to go from the Danish 1. Division to the Eresdivise and skip the Danish Superliga because I believed I could play myself on the team.  So I was disappointed when it didn’t happen,” the talent says.

Instead, it was Aalborg that became Thelander’s new club. According to the defender, AaB’s manager Kent Nielsen had contacted him several times within the last couple of weeks of his contract and expressed that he wanted him to join Aalborg.  Kent Nielsen says about his decision to bring Thelander to Aalborg:

”When we signed Thelander we had Nielsen [Lasse] and Kenneth Emil [Petersen] as our main central defenders, and we needed a talent as a backup. We had just lost Kjetil Wæhler, and of course we had to have more than just two central defenders, and as the economic is in AaB we decided to go for a young and talented player and Thelander goes under that category.”

While Thelander made 43 appearances for AB, he has so far only gotten 9 matches for Aalborg. However, the manager has an explanation for the lack of matches.

“It is very rare that we change in our central defends, so Rasmus Thelander is more of a future prospect on that position. Of course, if he plays better than one of the other he will take over the position, but it takes time,” Nielsen says.

Due to injuries and bans Thelander was set to play in the three first matches of the spring season, but for the first time in his Aalborg career Thelander became injured himself. However, the talented defender is ready to wait for his chance and is hoping that it will one day take him abroad and add some national matches to his c.v.