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Peter Boleslaw Schmeichel (born November 18, 1963 in Gladsaxe, Denmark) was a Danish footballer, playing as a goalkeeper. He retired from playing football in April 2003.

Schmeichel is Denmark's most capped player, with 129 games and 1 goal, retiring from international football in April 2001. At his peak he was arguably the world's best goalkeeper. A charismatic keeper with presence and excellent shot-stopping skills, Schmeichel was one of the key members of the Danish national team which won Euro 92. He also played for his country at Euro 96, the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000.

He scored his odd goal, a penalty kick, in a friendly match 2-2 draw against Belgium, 3 June 2000.

Playing Career

Schmeichel's first professional team was Hvidovre IF. He then went to Brøndby. Manchester United bought him in 1991 for £550,000 and he played for them for the bulk of his career, eight years in total, enjoying great success. With United Schmeichel won 5 FA Premier League titles, 3 FA Cups, the UEFA Champions League, and a League Cup. He was famous for frequently shouting at defenders, especially Steve Bruce, although the two remain firm friends.

The finest moment came in 1999, when Schmeichel won the Treble (the Premier League title, FA Cup and Champions League), captaining the team in the Champions League final on May 26, 1999 against Bayern Munich, his last game for the club. Schmeichel later moved to Sporting Lisbon, where he won the Portuguese league title in 1999/2000, then returned to the Premiership to Aston Villa in 2001/2. On October 20 2001, Schmeichel became the first goalkeeper to score a Premiership goal, netting in a 3-2 defeat away to Everton, a feat only repeated once, by Blackburn Rovers' Brad Friedel on February 21, 2004. His last season was for Manchester City during the 2002/3 season.

Civil Career

After a short stint as club owner of childhood club Hvidovre IF, Schmeichel is now the host of live Champions League-matches at Danish television channel TV3+ with Preben Elkjær and Brian Laudrup.

He has a son, Kasper Schmeichel, who plays as goalkeeper for Manchester City, and who was called up for the Danish U-19 squad in August 2003. Today Peter has a career working as a pundit for the BBC. His popularity in Britain is perhaps best measured by Les Battersby on the soap Coronation Street naming his family's dog (a Great Dane) 'Schmeichel'.

On March 4, 2004, Peter Schmeichel was named as one of the 125 greatest living footballers, at the FIFA 100 celebrations.

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