Thomas Delaney

Thomas Joseph Delaney (born 3 September 1991) is a Danish professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Borussia Dortmund and the Denmark national team.

Thomas Delaney

Delaney training with Werder Bremen in 2017
Personal information
Full name	Thomas Joseph Delaney[1]
Date of birth	3 September 1991
Place of birth	Frederiksberg, Denmark
Height	1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)[2]
Position(s)	Defensive midfielder
Club information
Current team	Borussia Dortmund
Number	6
Youth career
1993–2008	Copenhagen
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2008–2016	Copenhagen	172	(19)
2016–2018	Werder Bremen	45	(7)
2018–	Borussia Dortmund	51	(4)
National team^‡
2008–2009	Denmark U-18	3	(0)
2009–2010	Denmark U-19	11	(1)
2011	Denmark U-20	2	(0)
2010–2012	Denmark U-21	11	(0)
2013–	Denmark	50	(5)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 06:12, 28 November 2020 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 18 November 2020

Club career

Copenhagen

Delaney with Copenhagen in 2014

Delaney started playing youth football at Kjøbenhavns Boldklub, the reserve team of Danish club F.C. Copenhagen.[3]

Delaney made his debut for Copenhagen in an unofficial friendly in August 2008. After playing the first half of the 2008–09 season in the KB youth team, he was a part of the FCK squad in the Danish Cup that campaign. He made his official debut in the first leg of the semi-finals against Nordvest FC in April, where he substituted Hjalte Nørregaard in the middle of second half.[3] In the return leg two weeks later Delaney was among the starting eleven playing the first 60 minutes before he was substituted with Şaban Özdoğan.

In the summer break 2009, he was promoted to the first team squad together with Özdoğan. He scored on his continental debut on 22 July 2009, playing the full second leg in Copenhagen's Champions League second qualifying round victory over FK Mogren.[4][5] His first Superliga match was on 9 August 2009 against SønderjyskE replacing Atiba Hutchinson near the end of the match.[6] On 29 December 2011, signed a contract extension keeping him at Copenhagen until the end of 2014.[3] At the time, Delaney had the distinction of being the longest serving current player at the club, despite being only 20.[3]

On 6 July 2013, Delaney extended his contract with the club to 2015. At the same time, he got jersey number 8.[7] In the following season, he became a regular starter in his favorite position, including UEFA Champions League matches against Juventus F.C., Real Madrid and Galatasaray. On 23 January 2014, he again extended his contract, until 2017.[6] At the same time, he was officially named vice-captain of the team.[6] Half a year later, Delaney was promoted to club captain.

On 14 May 2015 he was named Man of the Match as his side won the Danish Cup final 3–2 after extra-time against fellow Superliga side FC Vestsjælland.[8][9]

On 27 September 2016, Delaney contributed to a comfortable 4–0 victory for his side with a left-footed half-volley from 30 yards against Belgian side Club Brugge KV[10] in the UEFA Champions League.[11] The goal came third in the vote for goal of the season in the UEFA Champions League.[12]

Werder Bremen

On 17 August 2016, Werder Bremen announced Delaney would be joining the club in January 2017.[13][14] On 18 February 2017, he scored his first goal for the club, a free kick, in Werder Bremen's 2–0 win away to Mainz 05 before being stretchered off the pitch with a suspected concussion. It was the club's first win of the new year following four straight defeats.[15]

On 1 April 2017, Delaney scored a hat-trick, the first of his career, in Werder Bremen’s 5–2 win away against SC Freiburg.[16]

Borussia Dortmund

On 7 June 2018, Delaney signed for Borussia Dortmund on a four-year contract. The transfer fee paid to Werder Bremen was reported as €20 million.[17][18]

International career

Delaney made his debut for the Denmark under-18 team in October 2008, and went on to play three matches in total. He played 11 games for the Denmark U-19 team.

On 11 August 2010, he made his debut for the Denmark U-21 team in a friendly against the Italy U-21 team.

Delaney made his debut for the senior national team on 15 October 2013 in a 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification match against Malta. In May 2018 he was named in Denmark’s preliminary 35-man squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.[19]

Personal life

Delaney was born in Denmark and spent his youth there. His father was also born in Denmark but has American citizenship due to his father (Thomas Delaney's paternal grandfather) being born in the United States.[20] Delaney also has Irish roots through his paternal great grandfather who moved from Ireland to America[21] in the 1840s during the Great Hunger.

Delaney is red-green colour blind.[22]

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 22 December 2020[23]

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			Cup		Europe		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Copenhagen	2008–09	Danish Superliga	—		2	0	—		—		2	0
	2009–10	Danish Superliga	9	0	3	0	3	1	—		12	1
	2010–11	Danish Superliga	16	1	2	0	2	0	—		20	1
	2011–12	Danish Superliga	19	1	1	0	7	0	—		27	1
	2012–13	Danish Superliga	21	1	3	0	8	0	—		32	1
	2013–14	Danish Superliga	32	3	5	0	6	0	—		43	3
	2014–15	Danish Superliga	27	2	5	1	10	0	—		42	3
	2015–16	Danish Superliga	29	5	5	1	4	0	—		38	6
	2016–17	Danish Superliga	19	6	0	0	11	2	—		30	8
	Total		172	19	26	2	51	3	—		249	24
Werder Bremen	2016–17	Bundesliga	13	4	—		—		—		13	4
	2017–18	Bundesliga	32	3	4	0	—		—		36	3
	Total		45	7	4	0	—		—		49	7
Borussia Dortmund	2018–19	Bundesliga	30	3	2	0	6	0	—		38	3
	2019–20	Bundesliga	11	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	14	0
	2020–21	Bundesliga	7	0	2	0	5	0	1	0	15	0
	Total		48	3	4	0	14	0	1	0	67	3
Career total			265	29	34	2	65	3	1	0	365	34

International

Statistics accurate as of match played 18 November 2020.[24]

Denmark
Year	Apps	Goals
2013	1	0
2014	0	0
2015	4	0
2016	9	0
2017	9	4
2018	11	0
2019	9	1
2020	7	0
Total	50	5

Scores and results list Denmark's goal tally first.[25]

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	1 September 2017	Parken Stadium, Copenhagen, Denmark	Poland	1–0	4–0	2018 FIFA World Cup qualification
2.	4 September 2017	Vazgen Sargsyan Republican Stadium, Yerevan, Armenia	Armenia	1–1	4–1
3.				3–1
4.				4–1
5.	5 September 2019	Victoria Stadium, Gibraltar	Gibraltar	4–0	6–0	UEFA Euro 2020 qualification

Honours

Copenhagen

• Danish Superliga: 2009–10, 2010–11, 2012–13, 2015–16, 2016–17
• Danish Cup: 2011–12, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17

Borussia Dortmund

• DFL-Supercup: 2019

Individual

• Arla’s Talent Award: 2009[3]
• Danish Cup Fighter: 2015
• F.C. Copenhagen Player of the Year: 2015, 2016[26]

References

1. "UEFA Nations League 2019: Booking List before League phase Matchday 5" (PDF). UEFA. 6 November 2018. p. 8. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
2. "THOMAS DELANEY".
3. "Contract Extension for Delaney". FCK. 29 December 2011. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
4. "Misery for Mogren in Copenhagen". UEFA. 15 July 2009. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
5. "Mogren 0-6 Copenhagen". Sky Sports. 22 July 2009. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
6. "Delaney signs new contract". FCK. 24 January 2014. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
7. Thomas Delaney forlænger til 2015, F.C. Copenhagen, 6 July 2013
8. "FC Vestsjaelland - FC Kobenhavn". FCK. 14 May 2015. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
9. "FCK beat Vestsjælland to win Danish Cup". UEFA. 14 May 2015. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
10. "Delaney stunner helps Danish champions canter to victory - beIN SPORTS".
11. uefa.com (27 September 2016). "UEFA Champions League 2016/17 - History - København-Club Brugge – UEFA.com".
12. UEFA.com. "Observers' choice: goals of the #UCL season".
13. "Thomas Delaney to move to Werder in the winter". Werder Bremen. 17 August 2016. Archived from the original on 18 August 2016. Retrieved 17 August 2016.
14. Walsh, Jonathan (17 August 2016). "Delaney delight at Werder move". VAVEL. Retrieved 17 August 2016.
15. "Bremen bounce back at Mainz". Bundesliga. 18 February 2017. Retrieved 18 February 2017.
16. "Thomas Delaney treble boosts Werder Bremen". Bundesliga. 1 April 2017. Retrieved 1 April 2017.
17. "Delaney wechselt für 20 Millionen Euro zum BVB". kicker Online (in German). 7 June 2018. Retrieved 7 June 2018.
18. "Borussia Dortmund verpflichtet Thomas Delaney" (in German). 7 June 2018. Retrieved 7 June 2018.
19. "Revealed: Every World Cup 2018 squad - 23-man & preliminary lists & when will they be announced?". Goal. Retrieved 17 May 2018.
20. DELANEY DISCUSSES AMERICAN ROOTS, Yanks Abroad, 11 April 2012
21. Croke, Ruaidhrí. "Thomas Delaney: Dane with Irish name has eyes only for Russia". The Irish Times. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
22. "World Cup 2018: Why millions of fans see the football like this". BBC.com. 10 July 2018. Retrieved 11 July 2018.
23. "Thomas Delaney". Soccerway. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
24. Thomas Delaney at National-Football-Teams.com
25. "Delaney, Thomas". National Football Teams. Retrieved 2 September 2017.
26. "Årets spiller..." (in Danish). F.C. Copenhagen Fan Club. 2006. Retrieved 2 January 2008.

External links

• Danish national team profile (in Danish)
• Thomas Delaney at Soccerway
• F.C. Copenhagen profile (in Danish)
• Thomas Delaney on Twitter
• Profile at Football-Lineups.com