Sports in the United States aren’t limited to Americans and many of the stars in the country’s top leagues hail from abroad.
Denmark has had athletes represent them over the years and this lists names four of the most notable.
Andreas Emil Knappe
The 30-year-old is a former offensive tackle in the NFL who also played at the collegiate level in the US, having suited up for the University of Connecticut.
Andreas Emil Knappe was the first Danish player to join an NFL team since kicker Morten Anderson did so in the early 80s.
He played handball in his youth and was an archer on the Danish national team too – before he tired of it.
He took up football at the age of 18 on a friend’s recommendation and, after playing for a local team, joined the Triangle Razorbacks of the Danish American Football Federation.
He was part of the team that won the 2011 Mermaid Bowl.
Knappe would later attend camps in the United States, where he would catch the eye of UConn coach Paul Pasqualoni.
He redshirted his first season, playing on the defensive line. Knappe played one game in 2013 and followed that up with 10 outings in 2014, starting the last seven of those at right tackle.
The Dane was named to the 2014 American Athletic Conference All-Academic team at the end of the season.
He started all 25 games of the next two seasons, getting himself on the watchlist for the Wuerffel Trophy, an accolade presented to the best FBS player who couples remarkable athletic achievement with community service.
Knappe went on to sign for the Atlanta Falcons and the Washington Football Team. He was waived by both organizations before joining the Indianapolis Colts’’ practice squad in December of 2017.
The last NFL team he signed for was the Denver Broncos, in 2018. He was waived the following year.
Frans Nielsen
This Denmark-born athlete was drafted by the New York Islanders in the third round of the 2002 NHL Entry Draft, having played in the Swedish Elitserien. He signed a two-year deal with the Islanders in 2006.
He made his NFL debut in January of the following year after starting the AHL season with the team’s affiliate, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers.
Nielsen almost broke the Sound Tigers’ record for most consecutive games with points, with nine, three shy of said record before being recalled.
Nielsen led the NHL with short-handed goals in the 2010/11 season, with seven, scoring two penalty shot goals in three-on-five shorthanded situations. He signed a four-year, $11 million deal with New York in 2012.
He has since departed from the NHL, doing so in 2021, but remains the league’s most successful player of all time when it comes to shootout scoring percentages.
He scored a goal in a shootout even before he was credited with his first official NHL goal, which would have made him a pretty safe bet in such situations with Caesars New York today.
Nielsen, who also played for the Detroit Red Wings in the NHL, now plies his trade with Eisbären Berlin of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga.
Lars Eller
This Dane is still playing in the NHL and currently suits up for the Washington Capitals. He was drafted by the St. Louis Blues as the 13th overall pick in 2007 before joining the Montreal Canadiens.
Nicknamed “The Tiger,” Eller played in Montreal for six seasons ahead of a trade to Washington in 2016.
He would help the team win the Stanley Cup two years later, scoring the winning goal against the Vegas Golden Knights to become the first person born in Denmark to win the trophy. He scored seven goals and 18 points in 24 playoff games that year.
Morten Andersen
Morten Andersen, mentioned above, played in the NFL for 25 years. The former placekicker, dubbed “The Great Dane,” played from 1982 to 2007, most notably for the New Orleans Saints and Atlanta Falcons.
He currently holds the record for most games played (382) and ranks second in field goals with 565 and points scored with 2,544.
Andersen is the Saints' all-time leading scorer, having notched 1,318 whilst playing in New Orleans.
He had declared his desire to become the first NFL player to play until the age of 50 but retired two days after he would have become the oldest player to ever appear in an NFL game if he had played for a team at the time.
The record is held by George Blanda, who played his last pro game on January 4, 1976, at the age of 48 years and 109 days.
The Great Dane was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2017. He’s one of only two placekickers (Jan Stenerud the other) to be inducted into football's HOF.
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