Karl Aage Hansen

Amateur years

Karl Aage Hansen had a strong physique, and was a good dribbler with excellent technique, who played in the inside forward position. He had a lax approach to training, but kept in shape through team handball, decathlon, and doing gymnastics. He played handball for KFUM Handball and football for KFUM Boldklub. When he moved from KFUM Boldklub to play football for Akademisk Boldklub (AB), he moved from KFUM Handball to HG Handball, where most of his AB teammates played. Hansen won the Danish handball championship with HG and represented the Denmark men's national handball team. Hansen's preferred sport was football, and his move to top club AB was motivated by a greater possibility to get selected for the Denmark national football team. Hansen made his international debut on 20 June 1943, as Denmark won 3–2 against the Sweden men's national football team, the last international game during the German occupation of Denmark. With AB, Hansen won the Danish championship three times, namely in the 1942–43 and 1944–45 Danish War Tournaments, as well as the 1946–47 Danish 1st Division. He was called up to the first Danish national team assembled after the Second World War in June 1945, and only missed a single of Denmark's next 15 games until June 1947. In these 14 games, Hansen scored 13 goals and was likewise named team captain in 13 games. In the run-up to the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, Hansen missed a few international games due to injury. He returned…