Sporting Kansas City Goalkeeper Jimmy Nielsen to Go Out a Hero

Sporting KC goalkeeper Jimmy Nielsen kicks the ball against the Real Salt Lake in the first half of the 2013 MLS Cup at Sporting Park. (Denny Medley, USA TODAY Sports)

For the past four years, Jimmy Nielsen guarded the Sporting Kansas City net, but on Monday he decided to go out on top, two days after winning the MLS Cup Championship in a penalty shootout. The 36-year-old Danish goalkeeper has been the sole player between the posts for the last 100 times that Sporting KC stepped onto a pitch.

Nielsen’s career spans 19-years. It started in 1994 with Millwall F.C. in England, even though he did not play. He was a U-17 and U-20 Danish national player during his earliest years meaning that he had high potential and talent from the start. His started getting playing time in 1995 where he spent the 13 years with AaB Aalborg in the Danish Superliga, where he won a championship in 1999, and was recognized as the Danish Goalkeeper of the Year in 1998 and 2004.

He spent some time in England with Leicester City, and then two years with Danish club Vejle, before finally landing at Sporting KC in 2010.

While in America, Nielsen was apart of the Best XI and the Goalkeeper of the Year in 2012. He was also an All-Star in 2010 and 2012. Nielsen is Sporting KC’s all-time leader in games played and games started (128 both), minutes played (11,497), wins (57), ties (32), winning percentage (.575), and shutouts (45). Nielsen has been a major factor in one of the best defenses in the MLS over the past few years.

Nielsen also has a very nice MLS record to call his own. Of all goalkeepers with 1,000 regular season minutes played, Nielsen has the all-time record for Goals-Against Average (GAA) allowing just 0.99 in all games, and 1.03 during road games. In fact, he led the MLS in 2013 with 0.88 GAA.

As a fan of Sporting KC, I have to say that it sucks that “The White Puma” is leaving — he was a phenomenal keeper — but at the same time, I don’t blame him for going. After his dramatic performance in the MLS Cup Final, where he battled through a broken rib, he now gets to ride off into the sunset as a champion and hero.