Peter Schmeichel

Denmark's Peter Schmeichel is arguably the best goalkeeper in the history of the Premier League. He had a glittering career that lasted from 1981 until 2003 and is best remembered for his hugely successful time in the Premier League with Manchester United - with whom he won countless trophies - and for helping Denmark to win the European Championships in 1992. Schmeichel was born in Gladsaxe, a town on the outskirts of Copenhagen, and played for several local football teams before playing for Brøndby. It was Schmeichel's impressive performances with Brøndby that led to him being snapped up by Sir Alex Ferguson for Manchester United, the team Schmeichel supported as a boy. When he joined Manchester United in 1991, he was fairly unknown to the other players but left eight years later as a prominent club 'Great' with Ferguson having described his £505,000 signing as the "bargain of the century". Schmeichel's 6ft 3in height and imposing physique, prompting his 'Great Dane' nickname, were beneficial when conceiving the innovative 'star-jump save'. Although now a widely used move in goalkeeping, Schmeichel was reportedly the first to take on this technique with regularity, adopting skills from playing handball in Denmark. Generally considered one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time, Peter's success earned him 24 major trophies and he has been featured amongst the '125 Greatest Living Footballers' at the FIFA 100 celebrations and within the Football League 100 Legends. In 2001 Schmeichel was awarded an honorary MBE for his services to football. Following his retirement from football, Schmeichel has remained in the public eye, in both sport and television. Peter presented the Champions League coverage in Denmark for 8 years, hosted the World Cup show for Russia TV in 2018, has presented a variety of entertainment shows for TV2, TV3 Denmark and Discovery international and regularly appears as an analyst on the Premier League channel and for the BBC on 'Match of the Day'. His son, Kasper Schmeichel, followed in his father's footsteps and is also a professional goalkeeper, playing for Leicester City and Denmark.