Steen Blicher (footballer)

{{Short description|Danish footballer (1923–2018)}}

{{Distinguish|Steen Steensen Blicher (footballer)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2024}}

{{Infobox football biography

| name = Steen Blicher

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| birth_date = {{Birth date|1923|11|22|df=yes}}

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| death_date = {{death date and age|2018|10|24|1923|11|22|df=yes}}[https://dødsannoncer.afdoede.dk/dodsfald/steen-steensen-blicher/54333287 Steen Blicher's obituary] {{in lang|da}}

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| position = Midfielder

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| clubs1 = KFUM's Boldklub

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| clubs2 = Akademisk Boldklub

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| nationalyears1= 1951–1952

| nationalteam1= Denmark

| nationalcaps1= 8

| nationalgoals1 = 0

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Steen Blicher (22 November 1923 – 24 October 2018) was a Danish amateur footballer who played in the left half-back position. Blicher played eight games for the Denmark national football team,[http://www.dbu.dk/landshold/landsholdsdatabasen/PlayerInfo/2881 Danish national team profile] and was the captain of the Danish team at the 1952 Summer Olympics.{{cite Sports-Reference |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/bl/steen-blicher-1.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200418060706/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/bl/steen-blicher-1.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=18 April 2020 |accessdate=30 May 2012}}{{cite web|url=https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/24627 |title=Steen Blicher |work=Olympedia |access-date=6 November 2021}}

Blicher was a technically limited player, who more than compensated through an immense fighting spirit. He played his club football in Copenhagen with KFUM's Boldklub and later Akademisk Boldklub (AB). In AB, his favorite half-back position was occupied by Danish international Ivan Jensen, and Blicher played some matches as a left winger. When Ivan Jensen turned professional following the 1948 Summer Olympics, Blicher replaced him as the AB left half-back.{{cite book |title=Dansk Fodbold |last=Lundberg |first=Knud |author-link= Knud Lundberg|volume=1. Fra Breslau til Bronceholdet |year=1986 |publisher=Rhodos |location=Copenhagen |isbn=87-7245-132-7 |pages=60–61 }} Blicher was a part of the AB team which won the Danish Championship in 1947,{{cite book |title=Dansk Fodbold |last=Lundberg |first=Knud |author-link= Knud Lundberg|volume=1. Fra Breslau til Bronceholdet |year=1986 |publisher=Rhodos |location=Copenhagen |isbn=87-7245-132-7 |page=219 }} as well as 1951 and 1952.{{cite book |title=Dansk Fodbold |last=Lundberg |first=Knud |author-link= Knud Lundberg|volume=2. Trange tider og olympisk sølv |year=1987 |publisher=Rhodos |location=Copenhagen |isbn=87-7245-181-5 |pages=193–195 }}

Blicher made his debut for the Danish national team on 12 May 1951, in a 1–3 defeat to the Scotland national football team. In the last warm-up game before the 1952 Summer Olympics, the Danish team captain, Knud Lundberg, was removed from the position, and Blicher was assigned the position.{{cite book |title=Dansk Fodbold |last=Lundberg |first=Knud |author-link= Knud Lundberg|volume=2. Trange tider og olympisk sølv |year=1987 |publisher=Rhodos |location=Copenhagen |isbn=87-7245-181-5 |pages=37–38 }} As Lundberg was Blicher's captain at AB, it was an awkward appointment, but Blicher led the team well through example. Denmark was eliminated by the Yugoslavia national football team in the quarter-finals by 3–5, which was Blicher's last international game.