With England playing Denmark in the Nations League tomorrow, Part One of my look at West Ham’s Danish Connections focuses on a former Hammers right-back.
Lars Jacobsen was born in Odense, Denmark, on 20th September 1979 and began his professional career with local club Odense in the 1996/97 season. After 112 league appearances, and having won the Danish second tier title in 1999 and the Danish Cup in 2002, the right-back moved to Hamburg in the summer of 2002. He returned to Denmark in January 2004, signing for Odense’s rivals FC Copenhagen. Whilst in the Danish capital, he won the title in 2004, 2006 and 2007 and also made his full international debut for Denmark in a 2-0 friendly victory against Israel in 2006. He returned to Germany in the summer of 2007, signing for Nurnberg with whom he had an injury-hit spell.
After one season, the 28-year-old Jacobsen was on the move again, this time to England. He joined David Moyes’ Everton on a free transfer in late August 2008, turning down moves to France, Norway and Spain. He dislocated his shoulder whilst on international duty and did not make his debut for the Toffees until 21st March 2009, in a 2-1 defeat against Portsmouth at Fratton Park. His only full 90 minutes came in a 3-1 win over West Ham on 16th May 2009, a game which saw Radoslav Kovac score his first goal for the Hammers. Two weeks later, Jacobsen made his last appearance for Everton as a half-time substitute in the FA Cup Final against Chelsea, a match the Toffees would lose 2-1. He made six appearances for Everton, without scoring.
After spending the 2009/10 season at Blackburn, the 30-year-old Jacobsen signed for Avram Grant’s West Ham United on summer transfer deadline day in 2010 and made his debut in a 3-1 defeat to Chelsea at Upton Park on 11th September 2010. Jacobsen had joined a struggling West Ham side and played 12 consecutive matches which yielded only one win – albeit against Tottenham – and two clean sheets. A heel injury kept Jacobsen out for two months either side of Christmas – by the time he returned the Hammers were in trouble that they ultimately couldn’t escape from. Jacobsen made his final appearance in claret and blue as a substitute under caretaker manager Kevin Keen in a 3-0 home defeat to Sunderland on 22nd May 2011, with the Irons already relegated. After 26 appearances for West Ham United, Jacobsen was released following the Hammers’ relegation to the Championship and he returned to FC Copenhagen in the summer of 2011.
Jacobsen netted his only international goal in a 4-1 European Championship qualifying win in Cyprus in October 2011. He had been part of Denmark’s squad at the 2010 World Cup and was also in the Danes’ Euro 2012 squad. He won 81 caps in total for his country between 2006 and 2015. He won the Danish Cup for a second time in 2012 and the Danish league title for a fourth time in 2013. Jacobsen moved to France in the summer of 2014, signing for Guingamp. Jacobsen, now 40, retired from football in the summer of 2016.