Kasper Schmeichel

Kasper Peter Schmeichel (born 5 November 1986) is a Danish professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Belgian Pro League club Anderlecht and the Denmark national team.

Schmeichel began his career with Manchester City, but had loan spells with Darlington, Bury and Falkirk before he made his first-team debut.

Kasper Schmeichel was born on 5 November 1986 in Copenhagen, Denmark.

He is the son of Bente and former Denmark international goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel, and is of Polish descent through his paternal grandfather.

Schmeichel grew up in Denmark during his early years but spent most of his childhood living in England due to his father's playing career.

Kasper is a native speaker of both Danish and English, the latter of which he speaks with a Northern-English accent.

He attended Hulme Hall Grammar School in Cheadle Hulme, Stockport, Greater Manchester, and he also attended Saint Julian's School in Portugal while his father played for Sporting CP in Lisbon.

When Alex Bruce, son of Kasper's father's former Manchester United teammate Steve Bruce, joined Kasper at Leeds United, the move saw the two players re-unite after both had previously played football together on the streets as children after school.

Schmeichel started playing organised football in Portugal in 2000, while his father was part of Sporting CP.

He played one season in the Estoril youth academy, in which he managed to win a championship.

Commenting on his early footballing years, Schmeichel remarked: "Before [Estoril], it wasn't that serious. I have to admit that when I was very small, football did not interest me that much. It was mostly in short periods that it was fun, and then I had enough. So it only started to take shape when I was 12-13 years old".

In 2001, Schmeichel moved to Denmark where he attended Oure Efterskole, an efterskole or voluntary independent residential school for young people finishing their primary education.

Schmeichel joined Manchester City in September 2002 on a long-term contract, which covered schoolboy, scholar and professional terms.

He joined League Two side Darlington on a loan deal in January 2006, where he made his professional first-team debut against Peterborough United at the Darlington Arena on 14 January 2006.

Darlington won the game 2–1, with Schmeichel conceding a goal to Peterborough striker James Quinn.

He gained his first clean sheet three days later against Grimsby Town.

He made two further appearances before returning to Manchester City.

One month after returning to Manchester City he was loaned out again, this time to Bury in February, where he made 15 appearances in a three-month loan spell.

He returned to Bury for a further three months the following season.

Although Schmeichel appeared to have made the City number 1 shirt his own at the start of the 2007–08 season, the emergence of Joe Hart resulted in Schmeichel being loaned to Cardiff City.

Schmeichel joined Scottish Premier League side Falkirk on loan from January 2007 until the end of the 2006–07 season.

He was named man of the match against Rangers on 18 February 2007.

He also saved a Craig Beattie penalty in a 1–0 win over Celtic on 18 March 2007.

He revealed in May he would have liked his loan at Falkirk extended, and the club expressed an interest in signing him.

Schmeichel made his Manchester City debut against West Ham United in August 2007.

He played against City's rivals and his boyhood team Manchester United on 19 August 2007 and kept a clean sheet in City's 1–0 home win.

Schmeichel saved a penalty from Arsenal's Robin van Persie on 25 August 2007 at the Emirates Stadium.

Despite City losing 1–0 to Arsenal he was named man of the match.

He played the first seven of Manchester City's games in the 2007–08 Premier League, keeping clean sheets against Manchester United, West Ham, Aston Villa and Derby County, conceding only five goals.

He signed a new four-year deal with City in September 2007.

The signing of Republic of Ireland international Shay Given in 2009 meant that Schmeichel fell even further down the pecking order at City, and he was allowed to link up with former manager Sven-Göran Eriksson at Notts County.

He spent only one season with the Magpies as, while it was a very successful one for the club and the player himself, changes to the club's financial position made his departure necessary and his contract was terminated by mutual consent.

Schmeichel joined Leeds United in 2010, but again, his tenure at the club would only last one season before he was the subject of a transfer to Leicester City, where he would again work under Eriksson.

He was called up to the Denmark national team for the first time in 2011, and was part of their squad at UEFA Euro 2012, but did not make his senior debut until 2013.

Schmeichel went on to make 479 competitive appearances for Leicester over 11 years, during the most successful era in the club's history, winning the Championship in the 2013–14 season, the Premier League in 2015–16, FA Cup in 2020–21 and the FA Community Shield in 2021.

Schmeichel played seventeen games for Denmark under-21s.

Schmeichel said in an interview with Euroman in 2014: "At Oure, I was part of an environment and met a coach who made me want to develop even more as a goalkeeper".

Schmeichel, at the time, was described as hard-working and dedicated by coach Bo Pedersen.

While enrolled at Oure, Schmeichel trialled with Brøndby IF, but would instead move to Manchester City after another successful trial.

He represented his country at the 2018 FIFA World Cup, UEFA Euro 2020 and 2022 FIFA World Cup.