Carl Hansen (The Little Shoemaker) was signed in 1921 after a tour of Denmark and became the first foreigner to score in an old firm game.
Probably the first Scandanavian to play in Scotland.
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Carl Vilhelm "Skoma'r" Hansen, simply known as
Carl "Skoma'r" , was a
Danish football (soccer) player and manager. He played in the
forward position, and won the
Danish championship with
Boldklubben 1903 before moving abroad to play for
Scottish club
Rangers F.C. as the first professional player in
Danish football history.
With Rangers, he won four
Scottish championships. Hansen played seven games and scored three goals for the
Denmark national football team, and was a part of the Denmark team at the
1920 Summer Olympics. As a manager, he managed a number of Danish teams and won the Danish championship with
AB.
Skoma'r was a nickname he got after his father's profession as a shoemaker (da:
Skomager), and he was most commonly known in Denmark as
Carl Skoma'r. He was the older brother of Danish international
Henry Hansen.
Club career
Born in
Copenhagen, Hansen made himself an early reputation as a dangerous striker in the Copenhagen club
Boldklubben 1903 (B 1903), playing in the amateur-only
Danish championship from 1915 to 1921. He helped B 1903 win the first Danish championship in club history in 1920. B 1903 played professional
Scottish side
Rangers F.C. at
Idrætsparken in the spring of 1921.
The Danes lost although the match 2-1, but Rangers were impressed by the Danes. In particular, they were impressed by Hansen, who was notable for his excellent attacking play and the attitude of a dignified professional. In autumn 1921, Hansen signed a contract with Rangers and became the first Danish professional footballer in the history of
Danish football. He cost
Rangers a fee of twenty pounds.
Hansen was very popular in
Glasgow, and was referred to as "The Great Little Dane" and "The Little Shoemaker", and was the first foreigner who scored in an
Old Firm match. He helped Rangers win the
Scottish championship in 1923, 1924 and 1925. His stay in Scotland, however, was relatively short.
A broken leg ended his career after only four seasons with Rangers. When he returned to Denmark, he served a mandatory two-year quarantine, before he was allowed by the
Danish Football Association to play amateur football in Denmark once again. He played one season for his old club B 1903, until he retired in 1928.
International career
Hansen made his debut for the
Denmark national football team in June 1918. As a B 1903 player, he was included in the Danish team for the
1920 Summer Olympics in
Antwerp, but he did not play any games at the tournament.
Moving to Rangers spelled the end of Hansen's national team career, as the
Danish Football Association did not allow professionals to play for the national team until 1971. Because of this rule, Hansen only played seven matches and scored three goals, including two goals in his debut against
Sweden. In October 1918, he scored his third and last goal when Denmark beat
Norway 4-0.
Managerial career
He trained the junior team of
AB with great success in the 1930s; a team including later Danish international
Knud Lundberg. Hansen coached the senior AB team to the 1937 Danish championship, before he returned to B 1903. He joined B 1903 as a professional trainer, at a time when it was customary in Danish football for the coach to work as an amateur. He coached the club from 1943 to 1948.
In 1952, Hansen was asked to train the
Danish national football team at the
1952 Summer Olympics in
Helsinki, but he was not allowed to travel with the team for the tournament. Denmark reached the quarter-finals of the 1952 Olympics. He coached
BK Frem in 1962.
Concentration camp
During the
World War II, Hansen was arrested in 1943 and sentenced to four months imprisonment for having harassed a German. He spent four months in prison and in a German
concentration camp in
Neumünster. This later affected his nervous system greatly.
