Peter Bolesław Schmeichel (born 18 November 1963) is a Danish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. During eight seasons at English club Manchester United, he won 15 trophies including five Premier League titles, three FA Cups, and captaining the club to victory in the 1999 UEFA Champions League final to complete the treble. Schmeichel also played for the Denmark national team, with which he won the UEFA European Championship in 1992. Regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time, he was voted the IFFHS World's Best Goalkeeper in 1992 and 1993, while the International Federation of Football History & Statistics ranked Schmeichel among the top 10 goalkeepers of the 20th century.
Born in Gladsaxe, Copenhagen, Schmeichel is tall and weighed close to during his playing days, and wore specially-made size XXXL football shirts. A fierce competitor, he often loudly criticised perceived mistakes by his defenders. Unusually for a goalkeeper, he scored 11 goals during his career, including one for the national team. He was also the most capped player for Denmark, playing 129 games between 1987 and 2001, until he was overtaken by Simon Kjær in 2023. In addition to Euro 92, he played for his country at the 1998 FIFA World Cup and three more European Championship tournaments. He captained the national team in 30 matches. He also represented Gladsaxe-Hero, Hvidovre, Brøndby, Sporting CP, Aston Villa and Manchester City in a career that lasted from 1981 until 2003 and yielded 24 trophies.
In 2001, Schmeichel won a public poll held by Reuters, in which the majority of the 200,000 participants voted him as the best goalkeeper in history, ahead of Lev Yashin and Gordon Banks. In 2003, Schmeichel was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame in recognition of his impact on the English game. In March 2004, he was named among the "125 greatest living footballers" on the FIFA 100 list. His son Kasper was also a professional goalkeeper, known for playing for Scottish side Celtic, the Premier League winning iteration of Leicester City and the Denmark national team.
Early life
Schmeichel was born in the Søborggård parish of Gladsaxe, Denmark, to Antoni Alexander "Tolek" Schmeichel (1933–2019), a Polish jazz musician, and Inger, a Danish nurse. He held Polish citizenship until November 1971 when he, his father, and his three sisters became Danish citizens.
Schmeichel inherited his middle name – Bolesław – from his great-grandfather. He spent his early years in the town of Buddinge, Copenhagen, and began his football career playing for a team in the adjacent suburb of Høje-Gladsaxe. His first match came on 7 August 1972 at the age of 8. After a two-and-a-half-year unbeaten run, Schmeichel was approached by BK Hero, a team from a few divisions above Høje-Gladsaxe and with one of the largest youth football schemes in Denmark. BK Hero merged with Gladsaxe BK in 1979 to form Gladsaxe-Hero BK, and Schmeichel was presented with the opportunity to play for the Zealand FA's junior representative team.
Before becoming a professional footballer, Schmeichel had to work a number of jobs to make ends meet. His first job came in the dyeing department of a textile factory, but safety concerns led to his resignation. He then spent 12 months as a cleaner at an old people's home, before taking up an office job with the World Wildlife Fund. He originally worked in the organisation's shops, but three weeks after he joined, the store manager left and Schmeichel was promoted to the position of sales manager. Soon after, Schmeichel was called upon to do his four months of compulsory military service. However, this coincided with Hvidovre's summer training camp in Portugal, which he was permitted to go on with the proviso that he completed his military service the following month. Nevertheless, the delicate organisational situation that arose between the WWF, the Danish defence department and Hvidovre prompted Schmeichel to give up working for the WWF. A job with his father-in-law's flooring firm came next, until he realised that his knees could not support his frame for eight hours a day, and he was offered a job with the advertising firm owned by Hvidovre's chairman, Niels Erik Madsen. This was to be his last job outside football, as he was offered a contract with Brøndby the following spring.
Club career
Early career: Gladsaxe-Hero and Hvidovre
Eventually graduating to the Gladsaxe-Hero senior squad, Schmeichel met his first mentor in Svend Aage Hansen, the first team coach at the club, and later to become his father-in-law. With Gladsaxe-Hero already relegated from the Danish third division with three games to go, Hansen promoted Schmeichel and six others from the youth team for a match against IF Skjold Birkerød. The team lost 1–0, but Schmeichel received mentions in local newspapers for his personal performance. At the end of the season, Hansen explained to Schmeichel his plan for the future, which involved Schmeichel spending two more seasons with Gladsaxe-Hero BK before moving on to Hvidovre (where he scored six league goals), playing for the Denmark national team, and eventually having a successful career abroad. Schmeichel admits that he had received an offer to play for B 1903's youth team, but he turned it down as the club "seemed a bit boring".
The following season, Gladsaxe-Hero needed only to avoid defeat to Stubbekøbing to prevent relegation from the Danish National League. In the end, Schmeichel played one of the best games of his career and Gladsaxe-Hero won the match. At the end of the game, Hansen's daughter, Bente, ran onto the pitch and hugged Schmeichel. The two ended up going out as a couple, and they eventually got married.
Despite having the fifth best defence in the league, conceding 40 goals in 30 games, Schmeichel and Hvidovre finished in 14th place and were relegated in 1985. After only a single season, the club bounced right back to the 1st Division, but Schmeichel left the club to join Brøndby.
Brøndby
Before the 1987 season, Schmeichel joined Brøndby, who finished as runners-up the previous season. In the five seasons that Schmeichel played with Brøndby, they went on to win the 1st Division four times. The climax of his Brøndby career would come in the 1990–91 UEFA Cup, which saw Schmeichel as an important part of the team that reached the semi-finals, keeping seven clean sheets in the competition. The club was eliminated from the tournament following a 2–1 away defeat to Roma with a last-minute goal by Rudi Völler.
Manchester United
thumb|upright|Schmeichel in July 1991, a few days after signing for Manchester United
Following his showings on the international scene, Manchester United signed Schmeichel on 6 August 1991 for £505,000, a price described in 2000 by Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson as the "bargain of the century." Schmeichel was virtually unknown outside Denmark at the time, especially within the United squad members. Manchester United finished as runners-up in Schmeichel's first season, and they also won the Football League Cup for the first time in the club's history. For his performances throughout the season, he was elected "The World's Best Goalkeeper of 1992" by IFFHS.
In the 1992–93 season, 22 clean sheets from Schmeichel helped United win the Premier League championship, the first time the club had won England's top trophy in 26 years. Schmeichel was once again named "The World's Best Goalkeeper" in 1993. In January 1994, Schmeichel fell out with Ferguson, as United had squandered a 3–0 lead to draw 3–3 with Liverpool. The two had a row where Schmeichel "said the most horrible things", and Ferguson considered selling him as a result. A few days later, Schmeichel apologised to his teammates for losing his temper. Ferguson overheard, and decided to retain Schmeichel.
Following a match against Arsenal in November 1996, Schmeichel was accused of racism by Ian Wright. During the game, Schmeichel and Wright had a number of controversies, and at the end of the game, the two players confronted each other on their way off the pitch. After the game, news emerged of a police inquiry into the incident, where it was alleged that Schmeichel had made a racist remark. In March 1997, the Crown Prosecution Service decided not to press any charges.
Schmeichel ended his Manchester United career on a high note, when the club won the Treble (the FA Premier League title, FA Cup and UEFA Champions League in the same season). In that year's FA Cup semi-final against Arsenal, Schmeichel saved a penalty kick by Dennis Bergkamp in the last minutes of the game (which Schmeichel revealed he was unaware of time), to send the game into extra time. Schmeichel cartwheeled gleefully in his area after Solskjær's winning goal.
Sporting CP
Schmeichel decided to leave English football at the end of the 1998–99 season, as the gruelling 60-game season, which came with playing with a successful club, was threatening to undermine his high standards at the age of 36. Seeking a slower pace of football, he moved to Sporting CP in Lisbon, where he signed a two-year contract. In his first season with the club, he won the 1999–2000 Primeira Liga title, putting an end to the team's 18 years without a championship. At the end of the 1999–2000 season, Schmeichel and Sporting CP agreed to terminate his contract with a free transfer back to Manchester United verbally agreed. However, Sir Alex Ferguson called the deal off due to turning an eye to the "future", Fabien Barthez. The contract issue with Sporting CP was quickly resolved and he continued for a second season in Portugal.
His second year with Sporting was the first time in 14 years, since his Hvidovre days, that Schmeichel's club had finished below second place in the league. Schmeichel stated his wish to activate a contract option of a further year at Sporting in January 2001, but eventually decided to leave the club when his contract expired in June 2001.
Aston Villa
Schmeichel returned to England with Aston Villa in July 2001, signing a one-year contract with the option to extend it by a further year. On 20 October 2001, Schmeichel became the first goalkeeper to score a Premier League goal, in a 3–2 defeat away to Everton; Schmeichel left Aston Villa after one season after he fell behind Peter Enckelman in the club's pecking order under new manager Graham Taylor, who had replaced John Gregory in February 2002.
Manchester City
In 2002, Schmeichel moved to Manchester City on a free transfer. The move was described as a "shock" given his former allegiance to United, with manager Kevin Keegan stating he only needed 20 minutes to convince him to join City. During his only season with the club, City went unbeaten in the Manchester derby, meaning during his career he never was on the losing side; during his nine years with Manchester United, they were unbeaten against Manchester City, while in his single season with City, they won at Maine Road and drew at Old Trafford.
In the final derby to be played at Maine Road, caught live on television as the two teams were about to come out of the tunnel, United's Gary Neville refused to shake Schmeichel's hand before City went on to win the game 3–1. Speaking in 2018, Neville said "When you look back now and you're 43, like I am, there's two things about that. One, he left Man United at the age of whatever he was, 35, and he said he was retiring, basically to go abroad. At the time when he came back, he played for Manchester City. You can't play for Manchester City. I'm a United fan and I can't play for Manchester City, I can't play for Leeds and I can't play for Liverpool. That's just written in stone. You just don't play for those clubs, irrespective of what happens. He'd won the treble with United in '99, said that he was retiring...he should have carried on playing for United for the next two or three years if that was the case. We struggled for a keeper between Peter and Edwin."
Schmeichel announced his retirement from football in April 2003, with City replacing him with fellow veteran keeper David Seaman.
International career
Schmeichel made his debut for the Denmark national team in May 1987, under national manager Sepp Piontek, and was selected for UEFA Euro 1988, where he eventually became Denmark's starting goalkeeper, after initially serving as a back-up to Troels Rasmussen in Denmark's opening 3–2 defeat to Spain; Denmark lost both of their remaining two matches 2–0 to West Germany and Italy, however, and were eliminated in the first round of the competition. Schmeichel also made several decisive saves in the final, and even held a cross with one hand, keeping a clean sheet in his nation's 2–0 victory over Germany.
In November 1993, Schmeichel and Denmark failed to qualify for the 1994 FIFA World Cup in the United States, as they were tied on points and goal difference with the Republic of Ireland, and went out on goals scored. Under national manager Bo Johansson, Schmeichel was a part of the Danish squad at the 1998 FIFA World Cup, during which he overtook Morten Olsen as the most-capped player for Denmark. He was one of the leading members of the Danish campaign, which ended in a 3–2 quarter-final defeat to Brazil. He represented Denmark at Euro 2000, where the team was eliminated in the group stage. He announced his retirement from the national team in February 2001, and played his final match (his 129th international appearance) He kept a clean sheet in the match.
Style of play
Schmeichel has been described by pundits, as well as both former and current goalkeeping colleagues as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time, and also as Denmark's greatest goalkeeper ever, and has been described as a modern, talented and complete goalkeeper, who also stood out for the longevity of his career.