Mikkel Duelund

Early career

Duelund was born in Aarhus and started playing football at the age of two in Virup IF. From the time he was two years old, until he was eight years old, he played first for Vejlby-Risskov Idrætsklub (VRI) and then for Hjortshøj-Egaa Idrætsforening (HEI). At the age of eight, he moved to IK Skovbakken, where he played for three years. At the age of 11, Duelund joined the AGF academy; the most renowned in the city. He subsequently had offers from several other clubs, but at the age of 14 he chose to move to FC Midtjylland.

Midtjylland

Duelund began his professional career with Danish Superliga side FC Midtjylland. In 2013, he took part in a trial with Eredivisie club PSV Eindhoven but ultimately remained with Midtjylland's youth team. During his time with the U19 group, Duelund won the Top Goalscorer and Player of the Season awards as the side were crowned Danish champions. In 2014, he was named by The Guardian as one of 40 best young talents in World Football. Following his form at youth level Duelund was promoted to the first-team, making his league debut in March 2015 against Hobro IK, coming on as a second-half substitute for Petter Andersson. By the end of his debut season he had helped the club to its first ever Superliga title. As a result of his showings in 2015 Duelund won the DBU U19 talent of the year-award. In the year that followed he made a goalscoring debut in the Champions League against Lincoln Red Imps before later debuting in…

In June 2017, Duelund was one of two 19-year-olds named in Denmark's squad for the UEFA European Under-21 Championship in Poland. He featured twice at the tournament, including a start in a 3–0 loss to eventual champions Germany, before Denmark were eliminated during the group stages. He got his debut for the Denmark League XI side in a friendly against Jordan on 15 January 2018, where he scored one goal in Denmark's 2–3 loss.

Club

As of match played 13 March 2023

In February 2016, ahead of the Midtjylland's Europa League game against Manchester United, Duelund stated he was a lifelong fan of the Premier League club and named Wayne Rooney as his footballing idol.