Poul Pedersen

Who is Poul Pedersen?

Poul Ebbesen Pedersen, simply known as Poul Pedersen, is a Danish retired amateur football player, who won a silver medal with the Denmark national football team at the 1960 Summer Olympics. He was the first player to reach 50 caps for the Danish national team, scoring 17 national team goals in the process. On the club level, Pedersen played his entire career for Aarhus club AIA.

Pedersen played the position of inside forward for AIA but was moved out as an outside winger when representing the Danish national team. He was a box-to-box midfielder, often making last-ditch saves as a defender before sprinting the length of the field to participate in attacking moves. He was a quick player with great sportsmanship. Pedersen made his debut for the senior Danish national team in a 1952-55 Nordic Football Championship game against the Sweden national football team on June 21, 1953. In his sixth national team game on July 3, 1955, Pedersen scored his first two international goals, as Denmark beat the Iceland national football team 4-0 in a friendly match. By 1958 he had become national team captain, a position he governed in 16 games before Poul Jensen was made captain in 1960.