Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Brian Paldan Jensen | ||
Date of birth | 8 June 1975 | ||
Place of birth | Copenhagen, Denmark | ||
Height | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) | ||
Playing position | Goalkeeper | ||
Club information | |||
Current team
|
Crusaders | ||
Number | 21 | ||
Youth career | |||
1990–1993 | B.93 | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
1993–1997 | B.93 | 2 | (0) |
1997–2000 | AZ | 1 | (0) |
1997–1998 | → Hvidovre (loan) | 1 | (0) |
2000–2003 | West Bromwich Albion | 46 | (0) |
2003–2013 | Burnley | 271 | (0) |
2013–2014 | Bury | 36 | (0) |
2014–2015 | Crawley Town | 20 | (0) |
2015–2017 | Mansfield Town | 28 | (0) |
2017– | Crusaders | 0 | (0) |
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 15:59, 3 November 2016 (UTC). |
Brian Paldan Jensen (born 8 June 1975) is a Danish professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Crusaders. He has played more than 300 English league games since 2000 for Burnley and West Bromwich Albion.
Jensen started his career with Danish lower-league club B.93, before joining Dutch Eredivisie club AZ Alkmaar in 1997. He made his senior breakthrough with West Bromwich Albion, playing a total 50 games for the club. He joined Burnley in 2003, and has since played more than 300 games in all competitions, helping the club win promotion for the top-flight Premier League in 2009.
Born and raised in the Nørrebro district of Copenhagen, Jensen began playing football as a defender in the youth team of B 93. As the youth team goalkeeper lacked height, the keeper job was given to the "biggest and dumbest" player of the team, according to Jensen himself. He was a substitute to goalkeeper Jan Hoffmann at the B 93 senior team.
His goalkeeping talent caught the attention of Dutch outfit AZ when he was named best goalkeeper at a youth tournament in the Netherlands. He was loaned out from Alkmaar to Danish club Hvidovre IF for eight months, while finishing his electrician education, before going to play as a full-time professional for Alkmaar in February 1998. Jensen managed one appearance in the Eredivisie championship in his time at Alkmaar, serving exclusively as a substitute for Dutch international keeper Oscar Moens.