Eigil Verner Nielsen, known simply as Verner Nielsen, (born May 14, 1931) is a Danish

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

 former association football player in the defender

Defender (association football)

Within the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to prevent the opposition from attacking....

 position, who played 26 games for the Denmark national football team

Denmark national football team

The Denmark national football team represents Denmark in association football and is controlled by the Danish Football Association , the governing body for the football clubs which are organized under DBU...

.

He was born in Nørresundby

Nørresundby

Nørresundby, a part of Aalborg Municipality, is a northern neighbourhood in Aalborg, north of the Limfjord, in Vendsyssel, in Denmark. The urban area has a population of 21,376 ....

, and was spotted by Knud Lundberg

Knud Lundberg

Knud Lundberg was a Danish multi-talented sportsperson, who most notably won a bronze medal with the Denmark national football team at the 1948 Summer Olympics. He represented the Danish national team in football , team handball and basketball, and he won the Danish national championship in all...

, coach of Copenhagen

Copenhagen

Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...

 club Akademisk Boldklub

Akademisk Boldklub

Akademisk Boldklub or AB is a Danish professional football club from Copenhagen,currently playing at the second highest level in Danish domestic football, the 1st Division.-History:...

 (AB) during a summer trip to northern Jutland

Jutland

Jutland , historically also called Cimbria, is the name of the peninsula that juts out in Northern Europe toward the rest of Scandinavia, forming the mainland part of Denmark. It has the North Sea to its west, Kattegat and Skagerrak to its north, the Baltic Sea to its east, and the Danish–German...

. Nielsen became the first player with no academic background to play for AB, where he gained popularity due to his fighting spirit and technique. He made his debut for the Danish national team in September 1955.

After ending his active career, he ran an auto repair shop, but continued to play football even after he turned 75.