Patrick Mtiliga

Patrick Mtiliga was born in Copenhagen to a Tanzanian father. He started playing youth football for Copenhagen club Boldklubben 1893 (B 93). He initially played as a striker or attacking midfielder. He made his senior debut for B 93 in the 1998–99 Danish Superliga season. After 13 league games for the club, he moved abroad to join Dutch club Feyenoord Rotterdam in the Eredivisie championship in the summer 1999.

Dutch years

He was initially loaned out from Feyenoord to feeder club Excelsior Rotterdam in the lower league Eerste Divisie, for an indefinite period of time. He established himself in the Excelsior first team squad during his first year at the club. He went on to play 4+1⁄2 seasons for Excelsior, helping the club win promotion for the Eredivisie in the 2001–02 season, though they were relegated again in the very next season. In the 2003–04 season, he secured himself a place in the Excelsior starting line-up, where he played 23 games. Halfway through the 2003–04 season, he was finally called into the Feyenoord squad. He finished the season playing 11 games in the Eredivisie for the club. The following year, his Feyenoord career came to a halt. He played 11 league games in his first full season for Feyenoord, as he incurred a serious hip injury in January 2005. As he recovered by January 2006, Feyenoord looked to loan him out again, while Mtiliga opted to spend the remainder of the season with the reserve team. In August 2006, Mtiliga moved on to Eredivise…

Mtiliga made his first appearance for Denmark at under-17 level in August 1997. Across Denmark's youth categories he earned 37 caps and scored four goals, including nine matches and one goal for the under-21 team. During his early years at Feyenoord, manager Ruud Gullit identified Mtiliga as a potential future senior international. Despite consistent form for NAC Breda, he later expressed frustration at being overlooked for selection during the spring of 2008. In November 2008 he received his first call-up to the senior national team from head coach Morten Olsen and made his debut in a friendly against Wales. He was not selected again immediately afterwards, something he later addressed publicly. In May 2010, Mtiliga was included in Olsen's provisional squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. His selection was regarded as a surprise in some quarters, though Olsen stated that Mtiliga's move to Málaga had strengthened his competitiveness at international level. On 28 May he was named in the final 23-man squad for the tournament. Although considered in competition with fellow left-back Simon Busk Poulsen, both were ultimately selected for the finals. Mtiliga did not feature in any of Denmark's matches during the tournament, as the team were eliminated in the group stage. On 6 December 2011, he was again called up by Denmark, this time for the national team's January 2012 tour of Thailand.

A half year after retiring at the end of 2017, Mtiliga was appointed as the sporting director of his former club B.93.

FC Nordsjælland

Danish Superliga: 2011–12