Preben Elkjær Larsen (Danish pronunciation: [ˈelˌkʰeˀɐ̯]; born 11 September 1957) is a Danish former professional footballer who played as a striker.

Amongst others, he played with Hellas Verona in Italy, helping the club to the only major title of its history, the 1985 Serie A. Additionally, Elkjær scored 38 goals for the Denmark national team in 11 years, being a leading figure for the Danish side under coach Sepp Piontek that played at the Euro 1984 and the 1986 World Cup (a first-ever appearance), often hailed as the golden generation of Danish football by their countrymen. Elkjær won the Bronze Ball award at the latter competition.

Widely regarded as one of the best forwards of the 1980s, Elkjær finished second in the Ballon d'Or awards in 1985, having been placed third the previous year, and going on to finish fourth in 1986. In Verona he is still remembered fondly, having earned the persisting nickname "Il sindaco" (the mayor) during his stint for the club. To this day, at least a few hundred voters in the city continue to write his name on their ballots at the mayoral elections. Renowned for his goal-scoring abilities and persona, he also remains one of the most popular sports personalities in his native Denmark. A well-known story in Copenhagen that is testament to his popularity, tells how during the celebrations of the Danish qualification for the 1986 World Cup, a graffiti tag emerged on a wall in Copenhagen, asking "What would we do if Jesus returned tomorrow?". Over night, another an answer had been sprayed on the wall replying "Then we'll move Elkjær out wide".

While playing youth football for Frederiksberg Boldklub, Elkjær made his debut for the Danish under-19 national team, in October 1975. He played a total 11 games and scored six goals for the under-19 national team, including three in three games at the 1975 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship.^[10]

Elkjær made his debut for the under-21s in June 1976,^[10] scoring nine times in as many games; this included three goals in the quarter-finals of the 1978 European Under-21 Championship against Bulgaria, though Denmark were eliminated on the away goals rule.^[10]

On 22 June 1977, aged 19 years and 284 days, Elkjær made his debut for the senior national team, scoring both goals in a 2–1 win against Finland. He played a prominent role in UEFA Euro 1984, scoring two goals in four games,^[10] which helped pave the way for his move to Italian football.^[11] During the tournament, Denmark played attractive attacking football, but went out at the semi-final stage, losing to Spain on penalties.^[10] Elkjær missed Denmark's last penalty kick attempt, sending the ball high over the goal.^[12]

Elkjær also represented Denmark at the 1986 FIFA World Cup as Denmark had qualified for that competition for the first time, eventually progressing from the group stage as winners, only to be once again knocked out by Spain.^[10] During the tournament, he scored four goals, including a hat-trick against Uruguay,^[10] being named the most dynamic and powerful striker of the tournament,^[13] and winning the Bronze Ball award as the third best player.^[14]

Euro 1988 was Elkjær's last tournament participation for him. On 14 June 1988, he played the last game for his country, aged 30 years and 277 days, as Denmark lost 2–0 to West Germany, finishing with three group stage defeats. In total, he played 69 international games, and scored 38 goals.^[10]

Elkjær is regarded as one of Denmark's all-time greatest forwards. A notorious smoker,^[5] his playing style was, however, not short of breath, being dominated by a rock-like determination.^[5] He never seemed to give up on a lost ball – from time to time resulting in a goal.

His style was an unorthodox combination of physical confrontations^[15] and great dribbling abilities.^[5] Described as "powerful and dynamic", Elkjær could hardly be stopped when going on his own,^[13] one of his trademarks. His aggression was matched by few,^[2] and whenever he would receive the ball with his back to the goal he would immediately turn with the ball and attempt to head for goal.

Elkjær's aggressive style of play paired well with the calmness and vision of the younger Michael Laudrup when they played side by side on the national team,^[13] and they were named the "most effective" attacking duo of the 1986 World Cup.^[13]

At Hellas Verona, Preben Elkjær was one of the few players in the Serie A that didn't have a specific role. Other than being expected to score goals, he was mostly given a carte blanche by coach Osvaldo Bagnoli.

Elkjær authored an autobiography, Guldkjær. He was nicknamed both "Guldkjær" and "Målkjær", Danish for, respectively, "Goldkjær" and "Goalkjær". In the book, he mostly recalls his stay in Italy with Hellas Verona.^[7]

Elkjær had several cars. One of them was a Porsche. He received the car as a token of gratefulness from the waiter at a restaurant after he helped Hellas Verona capture the Scudetto. ^[7] To this day, Verona's 1985 Scudetto is their only one.

After the 1984 Euros, where Denmark made it to the semi-finals, the Danish ministre of culture, Mimi Stilling Jacobsen, asked Elkjær to dance at a reception. He agreed.^[7]

After his retirement from playing, Elkjær took on the job as head coach of Silkeborg IF in the Danish Superliga in 1995.^[16]

In December 1996, he left the club to head TV sports channel TVS, a newly formed corporation between national TV stations DR and TV2, the Danish Football Association and telecompany Tele Danmark.^[17] The station was not a success, and was closed within a year of its opening.^{[citation needed]}

Additionally, he works as a UEFA Champions League pundit for Danish TV3+, alongside Michael Laudrup and host Peter Grønborg.^[18] In October 2019 he had an operation to remove a gallstone in Belgium.^[19]

1. FC Köln

• Bundesliga: 1977–78
• DFB-Pokal: 1976–77, 1977–78

Verona F.C.

• Serie A: 1984–85

Individual

• Danish Player of the Year: 1984
• Ballon d'Or: runner-up 1985,^[20] third place 1984^[21]
• Onze de Bronze: 1984
• Onze d'Argent: 1985
• FIFA World Cup Bronze Ball: 1986
• FIFA World Cup All-Star Team: 1986
• Danish Football Hall of Fame
• World Soccer The Greatest Players of the 20th century: The 100 Greatest Footballers of All Time^[22]