Mikkel Thygesen

Early career

Born in Copenhagen, Thygesen started playing youth football for Greve Fodbold and later Brøndby IF, before getting his senior debut with Danish 1st Division (second tier) club BK Frem in the 2002–03 season. He helped Frem win promotion to the Danish Superliga in his second season, and was a part of Frem's starting line-up in the top-flight Danish championship. He played 30 out of 33 possible matches and scored five goals, which saw Frem relegated at the end of the season.

Midtjylland

Thygesen decided to stay in the Superliga, signing for FC Midtjylland in the summer of 2004. Here, he quickly established himself in the starting line-up. Originally bought as a winger by Midtjylland, Thygesen made his breakthrough as a central midfielder, when he scored seven goals for the club in the first half of the 2006–07 season.

Borussia Mönchengladbach

On 9 January 2007, he was signed by Borussia Mönchengladbach in the German Bundesliga. Rumours had initially sent him to Alemannia Aachen, but they were unwilling to pay the transfer fee demanded by Midtjylland. He joined Mönchengladbach at their January training camp, which meant he had to drop the league national team tour. On 27 January 2007, he made his Bundesliga debut against Energie Cottbus, which Mönchengladbach lost 1–3. He made two appearances under head coach Jupp Heynckes, before the latter was fired, which meant that Thygesen had a hard time finding his way into the first team. Thygesen…

Thygesen made his debut for the Danish under-21 national team in November 2004, when he replaced Sebastian Svärd in the second half of the 2006 European Under-21 Championship qualification match against the Georgia under-21s. He scored a goal in the game, which the Denmark under-21s won 4–2. In May 2006, he was selected for the Danish squad at the 2006 European Under-21 Championship main tournament. On 15 November 2006, he got his debut for the senior Danish national team under national team manager Morten Olsen. Thygesen came on as a substitute for Christian Poulsen in the second half of a friendly match against the Czech Republic. Five days later, he was called up for the league national team, for the trip to the United States, El Salvador and Honduras in January 2007.

After four years at FC Roskilde, it was announced on 8 July 2019 that he had left the club. Two weeks later he announced, that he had retired and would continue at FC Helsingør as an assistant manager. Thygesen left the position in February 2023. On 4 September 2023, he was announced as new manager of FC Roskilde succeeding Jesper Håkansson. He guided the club to promotion to the Danish 1st Division, but on 10 October 2024, he resigned as manager of the club. On January 6, 2025, Thygesen was presented as the new manager of Danish 2nd Division side Nykøbing FC, where he signed a 2.5-year contract. In his first half season, his team finished last in the table and was thus relegated to the Danish 3rd Division.