Torben Piechnik

Torben Piechnik
Personal information
Full name	Torben Piechnik
Date of birth	(1963-05-21) 21 May 1963
Place of birth	Hellerup, Denmark
Playing position	Defender
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps^†	(Gls)^†
1980–1987	Kjøbenhavns BK	175	(?)
1988–1989	Ikast fS	43	(3)
1990–1992	B 1903	67	(8)
1992	FC Copenhagen	7	(0)
1992–1994	Liverpool	17	(0)
1994–1999	AGF Aarhus	113	(9)
National team
1991–1996	Denmark	15	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (goals)

Torben Piechnik (born 21 May 1963) is a Danish former professional football player who was a defender. He made a total of 15 appearances for the Danish national team, which he represented in the 1992 European Championship and 1996 European Championship.

Biography

Born in Hellerup, Piechnik started his senior career with Kjøbenhavns Boldklub (KB) in the top-flight Danish 1st Division. He joined Ikast fS in 1988, and played two seasons for the club. In 1990, he joined B 1903, and in November 1991 he won his first Danish senior cap. He was part of the Danish national squad which won the 1992 European Championship. He started the tournament as a substitute, but when Henrik Andersen suffered an injury in the semi-finals, Piechnik replaced him in the final, for which he earned praise.^[1]

After the tournament, he followed the majority of the B 1903 players into the merging FC Copenhagen (FCK) club. Having played just seven league games for FCK, he was signed for English FA Cup holders Liverpool by manager Graeme Souness in September 1992, just weeks after the inception of the new Premier League. He joined a struggling Liverpool side, and had a hard time adapting to the English game.^[1]^[2] Piechnik made 16 first-team league appearances for Liverpool in the 1992-93 season, but only managed one in the whole of the 1993-94 season. When Graeme Souness was replaced by new manager Roy Evans in January 1994, Piechnik sensed that he was no longer part of the club's plans, and requested a transfer. His lack of success in Liverpool later earned him a selection in the Liverpool Echo's Merseyside Lost 11, a selection of players which the newspaper considered the biggest fiascos in the history of Liverpool and Everton.^[3]

He transferred to AGF Aarhus in Denmark at the end of the season. He won the 1996 Danish Cup with AGF, and was called up to represent Denmark at the 1996 European Championship. He played the last of his 15 international matches at that tournament, before ending his national team career. He would play on for another three years at AGF, before retiring in 1999.

He has worked as both a real estate agent and masseur, while still playing "Old Boys" football in Denmark.^[1]^[2]

Honours

Danish Cup: 1996
1992 European Championship

References

1 2 3 Hugh Larkin, Whatever Happened to: Torben Piechnik (Liverpool) at SquareFootball.net
1 2 Torben Piechnik, WHY DANISH DAN WILL BE THE MAN FOR REDS, Liverpool F.C., February 9, 2006
↑ "Top Ten: Players who made us both laugh and cry". Liverpool Echo. 21 February 2009. Retrieved 21 May 2014.

External links

Danish Football Hall of Fame

Teams: Danish Dynamite team (1980–89, represented by coach Piontek and captain M. Olsen); Euro 1992 team (June 1992, represented by coach R.M. Nielsen and captain L. Olsen)

Coaches: Sepp Piontek (1979–1990); Richard Møller Nielsen (1990–1996)

Players: Middelboe (1908–1920); S. Nielsen (1908–1919); P. Nielsen (1910–1925); S. Hansen (1911–1920); C. Hansen (1918–1921); Jørgensen (1925–1939); E. Nielsen (1940–1951); Lundberg (1943–1956); Præst (1945–49); Pedersen (1953–64); H. Nielsen (1959–60); Røntved (1970–82); Simonsen (1972–86); Arnesen (1977–87); Elkjær (1977–88); Lerby (1978–89); M. Laudrup (1982–98); B. Laudrup (1987–98); Schmeichel (1987–2001)

Denmark squad – UEFA Euro 1992 Winners (1st Title)

1 Schmeichel 2 Sivebæk 3 K. Nielsen 4 Olsen (c) 5 Andersen 6 Christofte 7 Jensen 8 Mølby 9 Povlsen 10 Elstrup 11 Laudrup 12 Piechnik 13 Larsen 14 Frank 15 Christensen Arensøe 16 Krogh 17 Christiansen 18 Vilfort 19 P. Nielsen 20 Bruun Coach: R.M. Nielsen

Denmark squad – UEFA Euro 1996

1 Schmeichel 2 Helveg 3 Rieper 4 Olsen 5 Høgh 6 Schjønberg 7 B.S. Nielsen 8 Thomsen 9 Beck 10 M. Laudrup (c) 11 B. Laudrup 12 Piechnik 13 Larsen 14 Risager 15 E.B. Andersen 16 Høgh 17 A. Nielsen 18 Vilfort 19 Tøfting 20 Laursen 21 S. Andersen 22 Krogh Coach: R.M. Nielsen

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