Nils Middelboe

Nils Middelboe was one of the first stars of Danish football and a fair sportsman. Born in the southern part of Sweden to a Danish father and a Swedish mother, he moved to København (Copenhagen) with his parents as a 4-year-old. He only became a Danish citizen in 1910, years after he began to represent Denmark internationally. Nils Middelboe started his career as a player for Københavns Boldklub (KB) in 1902 playing alongside his older brothers Kristian and Einar. One year later, he was included in the club’s first team as a half-back, which played in the local first division. Between 1904 and 1913 he won four Københavns Boldspil-Union (Copenhagen Football Union, KBU) championships and the first ever Danish championship, when it was introduced in 1913.

Although he was still a Swedish citizen, Nils Middelboe was selected to play for Denmark at the 1908 Olympic Games in London, his international début. After two hands-down victories against the two French teams, Denmark lost 2-0 to Great Britain (England) in the final and won silver. Middelboe played in all three games scoring three times against the teams from France including Denmark’s first official goal in the match against France’s B-team. At the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm, Denmark had a bye in round one and defeated Norway and the Netherlands convincingly to reach the final. Here they lost 4-2 to Great Britain (England) winning Olympic silver. Middelboe played in all three matches for the Danish team and scored once against Norway. He was also a part of the team at the 1920 Olympics at Antwerpen and played in Denmark’s only match against Spain. In total, he played 15 international matches from 1908-20 scoring 7 goals and leading the team in ten matches as captain.

In 1913, Nils Middelboe signed a contract with Newcastle United F.C. but switched to Chelsea F.C. before ever playing for Newcastle. He moved to London and played for Chelsea until 1923 without turning professional. Already in his first match with Chelsea, he was named team captain. As the club’s first non-British player he went on to play 175 games including 41 in Division One, but only scored one goal (in 1919 against Preston North End F.C.). Subsequently, he played for two amateur clubs, London Corinthians (1922-24) and London Casuals F.C. (1924-26), and was a member of the boards and playing committees of these clubs. He ended his playing career in 1926 and spent one year as a director of Clapton Orient and then lectured on football at the request of the Football Association (FA).

In addition to football, Middelboe was also a track and field athlete and became Danish champion in the triple jump (1910, 1911) and 4x100 metres and set national records in the triple jump and the 800 metres. Nils was also a keen bandy and tennis player.

After graduating from Frederiksberg Latin- og Realskole (later Frederiksberg Gymnasium) in 1905, Middelboe earned a law degree from the University of København in 1913. He then lived in England until 1936. There, he worked for the British Bank of Northern Commerce until 1917 and later for the banking company Frederick Huth & Company, where he was promoted to head of the currency department in 1927. In order not to interfere with his banking duties, he did not have to travel to Chelsea’s away matches.

Nils Middelboe returned to Denmark in 1936 to become secretary and coach of KB making the team the Danish football champion in 1940. The club made him an honorary member and honoured him by playing against Chelsea on the occasion of KB’s 70th anniversary in 1946. From 1938-59 he was director of the KB-Hallen, a multi-purpose arena in København. In addition, he gave lectures and courses throughout the country and was on coaching committee of the DBU from 1942-64.

Nils Middelboe married the Englishwoman Margaret Ada Comins in London in 1917. The couple had three sons. Middelboe was inducted into the Football Hall of Fame in 2014. He published his autobiography in 1944 titled KB-Chelsea, og hjem igen.