This week’s Their Pitch podcast guest, Danish Stine Larsen, started her career as a defender. She played as one during her years in Denmark’s youth teams before she was converted into an attacker during her years in Brøndby. Ahead of the UEFA Women’s Euro 2017 in the Netherlands she was picked as an attacker for Denmark.
In Denmark’s first match of the tournament she started and played as one of the forwards but, surprise, surprise, in the rest of the tournament she was playing as a centre back due to injuries within the Danish squad. Sweden’s red and white neighbours were extremely successful and got all the way to the final but, there they had to see themselves beaten by the hosts. Still, that was one of Denmark’s best performances ever and they were hugely greeted and welcomed back home in Denmark, with the silver medals around their necks.
Since then, Larsen is back in the attack for Denmark and today she plays for BK Häcken in Sweden and in the Damallsvenskan, where she came together with the Danish national teammate Mille Gejl in the summer 2021. Gejl, describes Larsen like this:
- Stine is enormously dedicated and hard-working which she has proven through both during her time when being injured long-term and after that; she came back even stronger and every day she seems to be 100 percent determined to get even better every day.
As a player, she is strong in duels and especially in the air, because her timing and vision in the game make it hard for the opponent.
Her ability to hold the ball with an opponent in the back is impressive, while at the same time she is a master at getting the ball in situations where it was thought not possible.
She is a genuine team player and you know she will always give everything she’s got. The same goes off the pitch, where she always has a happy smile to offer, and her very positive attitude reflects on others. Before I got to know Stine, I thought she was a very structured person, but then she surprised me by being a very clumsy/confused person - in a good way.
Although Stine and I may have been on the same team, we have not played many match minutes together. Despite that, we have still been fortunate to celebrate a Danish league title together, and have had many good experiences together in Denmark and now in Sweden.
A big profile in Brøndby
Stine Larsen got a real breakthrough back home in Denmark during the 2015 season where she was awarded as “young talent of the year” after a very strong season with Brøndby IF. That same year, she became art in Brøndby’s club house when an artist painted a mural painting of her when she was 19 years old.
She moved to France to play for FC Fleury 91 in the Division Feminine in the summer 2019 after making it back to the pitch after a nasty ACL-injury. One year later, she joined WSL newcomers Aston Villa before she joined BK Häcken a year later.
Larsen is a very unique footballer in many ways. In Aston Villa she could end up playing multiple positions across the pitch during a full 90 minutes match; starting as a winger in the attack but finishing a match as the right-hand side full back.
Upon arriving at BK Häcken she looked to be a great complement to Stina Blackstenius for the second half of the 2021 season but she was probably brought in to also play an important part when Blackstenius left.
Larsen made her senior national team debut back in 2015, where she started in a friendly match against New Zealand that was a 1-1 draw. Till now, she has earned 62 caps in the Denmark shirt and she has also scored 21 goals.
Ball carrying forward with the ability to head home
Nowadays, Stine Larsen plays a one of the wingers in the Danish attack and head coach Lars Søndergaard’s 3-4-3 formation. In Häcken she did alternated between positions in the attack last season but this year she has been used as the centre forward more consistent.
Her heatmap (see the graphic above from Wyscout) from the current season of the Damallsvenskan accompanied by a spider graphic from the platform Playmaker just to show her profile as a player compared to her time in the Women’s Super League and in Aston Villa.
xT = Expected Threat
In order to make a straight comparison without a further explanation to it than the fact that Larsen played many different positions in Aston Villa; let’s take a look at both her heatmap and her spider from Playmaker, based on her time in the English league.
If you have seen Stine Larsen play, you would know that she is very good at taking care of penalties but, also in order to be a great threat inside the box, always ready to go for goal with a strong header. It’s no surprise that her first goal playing for BK Häcken was with a diving header.
Who is the footballer Stine Larsen?
In Transfer Lab, Larsen ranks 87 in the player profile: ‘Striker - All Round looking back at the past 12 months.Comparing to all forwards in the Damallsvenskan her qualities show in her aerial abilities (headers - open play attacking non-shot) (83) but also when it comes to ball carrying (85)
Larsen’s strengths can also be found looking at touches in box styrkor (76) and expected goals- shots open play (92). Her ball carrying abilities also reflect on her ability to dribble where she ranks 78.
This Danish forward will most likely play a part in this summer’s upcoming event, the UEFA Women’s Euro in England. This time, it’s hard to imagine Larsen playing anywhere but in the attack. It’s going to be exciting to see if Denmark can repeat any of the success they had in the Netherlands back in 2017. Sweden’s neighbours are in what people call “The group of death” and they are going to have to win against Germany, Spain and Finland in order to reach the knockout stage.