Half a year after leaving Milan
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Simon Kjaer hangs up his football boots at the age of 35. The long-time captain of the Danish national team confirmed this in an interview with “TV 2 Sports“. “Now was really the right time to close this chapter,” explained Kjaer six months after his contract with AC Milan ended. He “couldn’t have imagined a better ending.”
Kjaer left his youth club FC Midtjylland at the age of 19 and successfully tried his hand abroad. His path led to four of the five top leagues; in addition to Milan, he was active for VfL Wolfsburg, AS Roma, Atalanta Bergamo, FC Sevilla and LOSC Lille as well as Fenerbahce. In 2021/22 he celebrated the championship with the Rossoneri – the only title of his career. However, due to a torn cruciate ligament, he was only able to play in the first half of the season.
Kjaer played 132 international matches for Denmark (five goals), only Christian Eriksen (32) appeared more often for the national team. Many people remember the central defender above all for his courageous intervention after Eriksen’s collapse at the 2021 European Championship. At that time, Kjaer immediately rushed to help, shielded him from view and cameras together with the team, and also lovingly looked after Eriksen’s partner. The captain led the team to the semi-finals, after which he was named Footballer of the Year in his home country for the second time since 2009. In total, he took part in the World and European Championships three times with Danish Dynamite.
“It’s not a decision that I made after the summer, but one that I thought about in the year before the European Championships,” said Kjaer, who has spent a lot of time with his family over the last six months and is already getting used to his new job used to life. There were offers to play in the five biggest leagues and also internationally, but they weren’t the right fit. “I could see that my time in Milan might be coming to an end. What would happen then? There were a lot of things that meant that after the European Championships it was like: Let’s see what’s next, but if it’s not first and foremost the right thing for my family, and then the sporting aspect, then that’s it. I don’t regret anything. In that sense, I don’t miss anything.”
He hasn’t felt the need to tell anyone anything yet. “I think I’m at peace with myself. Looking back, I could have easily made it even bigger and made an even bigger stop after Milan. But I have no need for that. That’s also the reason why we’re here in January – because it wasn’t important to me that I get such a big farewell,” explained Kjaer, who announced his retirement from the national team last August.