Michael Laudrup (born June 15, 1964) is a Danish former professional football player. He is now manager of Spanish club Getafe CF. His most prominent run of football came with Spanish club FC Barcelona, with whom he won four straight La Liga championships, as well as the 1992 European Cup. He famously moved to arch rivals Real Madrid in 1994, with whom he won his fifth La Liga title in a row. He scored 37 goals in a total of 104 appearances for the Denmark national football team, which is only topped by Peter Schmeichel's 129 games. From November 1994, he captained his country for a total of 28 matches before his retirement in June 1998.In 1999 he was voted the Best Foreign Player in Spanish Football the previous 25 years and in April 2000 he was knighted, as he received the Order of the Dannebrog. In November 2003, to celebrate UEFA's Jubilee, he was selected as the Golden Player of Denmark by the Danish Football Association; their most outstanding player of the past 50 years. He was officially named the best Danish footballer of all times by the Danish Football Association in November 2006.
After ending his active career, he took up coaching, and became assistant manager of the Danish national team. He got his first manager job at former club Brøndby IF in 2002, who he guided to the 2005 Danish Superliga championship. He chose not to extend his contract with Brøndby IF in May 2006. In 2007 Brøndby IF decided to name a new lounge at the stadium "The Michael Laudrup Lounge" with the approval of Michael Laudrup.
Michael Laudrup is part of a family with three generations of footballers. He is the son of former Danish national team player Finn Laudrup and Michael's oldest son Mads Laudrup has been the team captain of various Danish youth national teams since January 2005, and his youngest son Andreas Laudrup was selected a part of the under-16 national team in March 2006.
Michael Laudrup has a younger brother, Brian Laudrup, who was also a professional football player. Brian Laudrup was a part of the trophy winning Danish national team at the 1992 European Championship (Euro 1992), but Michael did not play in that championship due to differences with the national team coach Richard Møller Nielsen. In 2004, both Laudrup brothers were named in the FIFA 100, a list of the 125 greatest living footballers chosen by Pelé as part of the celebration of FIFA's 100th anniversary.
A play-making midfielder, he was known as one of the most effective passers, as well as one of the most skillful and elegant players of the game and is still popular amongst fans. Michael Laudrup is the most technically accomplished football player to emerge from Denmark. He was ranked amongst the best players in Europe, and his talent was exceptional, with the French three time European footballer of the year award winner Michel Platini describing him as one of the most talented players ever, only lamenting his lack of selfishness causing him to score too few goals. His team mate in Real Madrid, Raúl has in an interview in April 2006 called Laudrup the best player he has ever played with. His team mate in Barcelona, Romário has stated the same and added that Laudrup in his opinion is the fifth best player in the history of the game (behind Pelé, Maradona, himself and Zinedine Zidane). It remains a mystery why he never won the best player of the world award. Laudrup was known as a gentleman on the field and never received a red card. He preferred to out-play his immediate opponent rather than knock him down.
He was hugely admired for his outstanding technique, elegance, deep passes and dribbling. His vision was second to none. Jorge Valdano, the Argentinian coach of Laudrup in Real Madrid, said "he has eyes everywhere". His trademark move — looking one way and passing the other — fooled countless opponents during his career. The Laudrup dribble was perhaps the best-known part of his game, as he quickly moved the ball from one foot to the other away from the defender. His outstanding skills were combined with an immense creativity. He always played the attack in the least obvious way leaving the defence stranded. This has led to the expression "Made in Laudrup", widely used in Spain about his unique play. Numerous teammates of Laudrup have said: "Just run, he will always find a way of passing you the ball".
In FC Barcelona he played alongside Hristo Stoichkov, who scored many goals from Laudrup's passes, like Iván Zamorano (who called Laudrup el genio, the genius) during Laudrup's time at Real Madrid. Throughout his career his number of assists was impressive and almost always the highest of his team.
Michael Laudrup provided many examples of his skills with the Danish national team. However there were periods where he failed to deliver the performances he consistently delivered at club level, where he had world class players all around him for most of his career. With Denmark, he sometimes appeared frustrated when his passes were not utilized properly. In the last couple of years there was even a discussion about whether there was room for both of the Laudrups in the national team! Outstanding as they were and even with some difference in their playing styles, it was rare to see both of them playing a good game.
