Kasper Schmeichel

Kasper Peter Schmeichel (born 5 November 1986) is a Danish professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Scottish Premiership club Celtic and the Denmark national team. Schmeichel began his career with Manchester City, but had loan spells with Darlington, Bury and Falkirk before he made his first-team debut. Although Schmeichel appeared to have made the City number 1 shirt his own at the start of the 2007–08 season, the emergence of Joe Hart resulted in Schmeichel being loaned to Cardiff City. The signing of Republic of Ireland international Shay Given in 2009 meant that Schmeichel fell even further down the pecking order at City, and he was allowed to link up with former manager Sven-Göran Eriksson at Notts County. He spent only one season with the Magpies as, while it was a very successful one for the club and the player himself, changes to the club's financial position made his departure necessary and his contract was terminated by mutual consent. Schmeichel joined Leeds United in 2010, but again, his tenure at the club would only last one season before he was the subject of a transfer to Leicester City, where he would again work under Eriksson. Schmeichel went on to make 479 competitive appearances for Leicester over 11 years, during the most successful era in the club's history, winning the Championship in 2014, the Premier League in 2016, and both the FA Cup and FA Community Shield in 2021. Schmeichel signed with Scottish side Celtic in July 2024. Schmeichel played seventeen games for Denmark under-21s. He was called up to the Denmark national team for the first time in 2011, and was part of their squad at UEFA Euro 2012, but did not make his senior debut until 2013. He has since made over 100 international appearances, and represented his country at the 2018 FIFA World Cup, Euro 2020, the 2022 World Cup and Euro 2024.