Martin Laursen

Youth career and Silkeborg

Born in Fårvang near Silkeborg, Laursen started playing football with local amateur club Horn/Fårvang. He started his senior career with nearby top-flight club Silkeborg in the Danish Superliga championship. Laursen made his Silkeborg debut in October 1995, under Silkeborg manager Preben Elkjær. Laursen helped steer Silkeborg to second place in the 1997–98 Superliga season, under new Silkeborg manager Sepp Piontek, as he played 22 games and scored one goal during that season. Laursen played 35 games and scored one goal for Silkeborg in the Superliga from his debut until his last game in June 1998.

Verona

After three seasons at Silkeborg, Laursen moved to Italy in August 1998, to play for Hellas Verona in the second-tier Serie B league. The contact with Verona was mediated by former Verona player and Silkeborg manager Preben Elkjær. Laursen was plagued by a knee injury for the majority of his first season at Verona, where the club won promotion to the top-flight Serie A championship. Laursen established himself in the Verona starting lineup during his second season in Italy. He became known as Lionheart Laursen among the Verona fans, describing his courage and great ability to time his headers. Seeking a high-profile move, Parma made a successful bid of 9,000 million Italian lire (€4,648,112) to sign half of the registration rights of Laursen in June 2000, in a deal including Parma-owned player Anthony Šerić remaining at Verona on…

While playing for Silkeborg, Laursen played one game for the Denmark under-19 national team in December 1996. He was called up for the Denmark under-21 national team in February 1997, and went on to play 14 games for the under-21s until June 1999. Laursen made his debut for the senior Denmark national team in a friendly match against Portugal in March 2000. He was a part of the Denmark squad at the UEFA Euro 2000, though he did not play a single game at the tournament due to injury. Laursen's breakthrough with the national team came at the 2002 FIFA World Cup, when he played full-time in all four Denmark games before elimination. Laursen scored his first goal for his country in September 2003, in the UEFA Euro 2004 qualification, an all-important goal in injury time of the penultimate qualification match. His goal levelled the game with Romania to 2–2, and kept Denmark in the race for a place at the final competition. Laursen and the Denmark team secured qualification when they drew the last game, thus winning their qualification group. Laursen played full-time in Denmark's four games at the tournament, playing impressively. After the March 2005 game against Kazakhstan, Laursen's national team career went on a hiatus, due to a knee injury. After his absence from the Danish national team for more than one and a half years, he was called up in November 2006, but had to withdraw from the team before the game due to yet another knee injury. In June 2007, Laursen returned to…

In September 2011, Martin Laursen took the job as head coach of Søllerød-Vedbæk in the Danish 2nd Divisions in order to start a managing career. He resigned on 14 June 2012 after steering the club clear of relegation.

International goals

Scores and results list Denmark's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Laursen goal.