Lasse Vibe


Lasse Vibe is a Danish professional footballer who plays as a forward or winger for FC Midtjylland. After beginning his career in his native Denmark, he came to prominence in Sweden with IFK Göteborg and has also played in England and China. Vibe is a former Denmark international and captained the 2016 Denmark Olympic team.

Club career

AGF

A forward, Vibe began his career in his native Denmark with local club AIA-Tranberg, before moving to AGF in 2001. He returned to AIA-Tranberg for a spell in 2003, before returning to AGF the following year. He progressed through AGF's youth system to become captain of the youth team and on 8 August 2005 it was reported that he had signed a two-year professional contract. A persistent knee injury hindered Vibe's progression from the youth to the reserve team during the 2005–06 Danmarksserien season. After a successful recovery, he made his professional debut on the final day of the 2006–07 1. division season in a 3–1 defeat to Hobro IK, though the result was irrelevant as promotion to the Superliga was already secured. On 28 June 2007, Vibe signed a new two-year contract.
Vibe failed to feature for the first team during the 2007–08 season and had to wait until 23 August 2008 to make his next appearance, which came in a DBU Pokalen second round match versus Viby IF. He came on as a 54th-minute substitute and scored his first goal for the club two minutes later, before adding another in injury time to cap an 8–0 win. Vibe departed the club in December 2008, with sporting director Brian Steen Nielsen admitting that he needed to move on for the sake of his career.

FC Fyn

In December 2008, Vibe signed a contract with 2. division West club FC Fyn, effective from 1 January 2009. He hit the ground running, scoring seven goals in 13 games in the second half of the 2008–09 season and he won the first silverware of his career when Fyn won the division title, which sealed promotion to the 1. division. Vibe began his first full season of first team football as a regular, but ended the 2009–10 campaign with just seven goals from 31 appearances as Fyn finished safely in mid-table. He departed the club after the season and scored 14 goals in 44 appearances during 18 months at the Odense Atletikstadion.

FC Vestsjælland

In February 2010, it was reported that Vibe had signed a contract with 1. division club FC Vestsjælland, effective 1 July 2010. He scored 12 goals in 29 appearances during his debut season, in which the Vikings finished in mid-table. He scored six goals in 15 games in the first half of the 2011–12 season before departing the club in December 2011.

SønderjyskE

In December 2011, Vibe moved up to the Superliga to sign for SønderjyskE. He had to wait until March 2012 to make his debut and played the opening 66 minutes of a 1–0 defeat to Brøndby IF, before being substituted for Bjørn Paulsen. He came into form in mid-April and scored five goals in a six-match spell. He finished the 2011–12 season with six goals from 15 appearances. Vibe made 34 appearances and scored 13 goals during the 2012–13 season and departed the club in June 2013, despite having signed a new three-and-a-half year contract in December 2012. Vibe made 49 appearances and scored 19 goals during 18 months at the Haderslev Fodboldstadion.

IFK Göteborg

Vibe moved to Sweden to sign for Allsvenskan club IFK Göteborg in June 2013. He scored his first goal for the club in a 4–0 Svenska Cupen second round win over Lunds BK on 22 August. He was denied his first Swedish silverware after an injury time Guillermo Molins goal secured a 3–2 victory for Malmö FF in the 2013 Svenska Supercupen. Vibe finished the 2013 season with 18 appearances, four goals and helped Göteborg to third place in the table and qualification for the Europa League.
Vibe was in prolific goalscoring form during the 2014 season, scoring 29 goals in 36 appearances and finished the season as the Allsvenskan's top scorer. He was nominated for the 2014 Danish Player of the Year award, but lost to Tottenham Hotspur's Christian Eriksen. Vibe scored 13 goals in 23 appearances during the opening five months of the 2015 season and scored 7 goals during Göteborg's victorious 2014–15 Svenska Cupen campaign, which included the opening goal in a 2–1 win over Örebro SK in the final on 17 May 2015. He left the club on 24 July 2015, after having scored 46 goals in 77 appearances for the Angels.

Brentford

On 24 July 2015, it was announced that Vibe had moved to England to sign a three-year contract with Championship club Brentford for a €1.3 million fee. The departure of forward Andre Gray on 21 August opened up a place in the starting lineup for Vibe, albeit as a winger. Despite being deployed out wide, he scored five goals in 11 games before injury to Marco Djuricin in November 2015 led interim coach Lee Carsley move Vibe into the team's lone striker position. After the switch, he just twice more prior to Christmas and then entered a long goal drought, due to the struggling midfield leaving him increasingly isolated up front and the effects of nearly 18 months of constant football. He finally came back into form in the final five weeks of the season and went on a run of scoring seven goals in as many matches. Vibe made 42 appearances during 2015–16 season and scoring 14 goals, which tied him with Alan Judge as Brentford's top scorer.
After an extended spell away on international duty, Vibe returned in time for Brentford's fifth match of the 2016–17 season versus Rotherham United. One week later, he scored his first goal of the season against Sheffield Wednesday, but was sent off late in the 1–1 draw. He scored again in a 4–1 win over Reading on 27 September 2016, but was ruled out after suffering damaged ankle ligaments during a 0–0 draw with Wigan Athletic on 1 October. Vibe regained his starting place on his return in early November, but as in the previous season, he suffered a goal drought and failed to score again until 7 January 2017, when he deputised for the injured Scott Hogan as the team's lone striker in an FA Cup third round victory over Eastleigh. The continuing unavailability of Hogan and then his departure at the end of the January transfer window saw Vibe keep the lone striker role and he returned to form, scoring 14 goals in 21 matches between 7 January and the end of the season. He finished the season as Brentford's top scorer with 16 goals from 36 appearances.
The early part of Vibe's 2017–18 season was disrupted by nearly two months on the sidelines due to a foot injury suffered during a 2–0 defeat to Ipswich Town on 19 August 2017. He scored his first goals of the season with seven in an eight-match spell from November through to January and was nominated for the December PFA Championship Fans' Player of the Month award. The run of goals would prove to be Vibe's last for the club and he departed Griffin Park on 10 February 2018. During two-and-a-half seasons with Brentford, Vibe made 97 appearances and scored 37 goals.

Changchun Yatai

On 10 February 2018, Vibe transferred to Chinese Super League club Changchun Yatai for an undisclosed fee, speculated to be £2 million. In a disastrous 2018 season, which culminated in relegation to China League One, Vibe made just 11 appearances and scored one goal. He was given a free transfer by the club after the season.

Return to IFK Göteborg

On 3 April 2019, Vibe returned to Allsvenskan club IFK Göteborg on a one-year contract, with the option for a further year. He made 21 appearances and scored six goals during a mid-table 2019 season and departed the club at the end of the campaign. Across his two spells with IFK Göteborg, Vibe made 98 appearances and scored 52 goals.

FC Midtjylland

On 4 November 2019, it was announced that in January 2020, Vibe would transfer to Danish Superliga club FC Midtjylland on an 18-month contract. In what remained of the club's 2019–20 championship-winning season, he made 13 appearances and scored two goals.

International career

Youth

Vibe was called into a Denmark U19 squad while a youth, but did not play. In July 2016, he was called up to the Denmark 2016 Summer Olympics squad as one of three overage players and was named as captain of the team shortly before the tournament. He made four appearances and scored no goals in the tournament as Denmark were knocked out by Nigeria in the quarter-finals.

Full

Following good goalscoring form for SønderjyskE, Vibe he received his maiden call-up to the senior Danish national team for a friendly match against Slovakia on 8 August 2012. He was an unused substitute during the 3–1 defeat. His debut came just over two years later, against Turkey in a friendly on 3 September 2014, in which Vibe replaced Thomas Kahlenberg in the 64th minute of the 2–1 defeat. Four days later, Vibe made his competitive debut for Denmark in a 2–1 win over Armenia in Euro 2016 qualifying. He scored his first international goal in the following match, an 81st-minute equaliser in a 1–1 draw with Albania in Elbasan. Vibe was announced as a member of the Denmark squad for the 2016 Kirin Cup, but did not play due to injury. Unlike his natural forward position at club level, Vibe has found himself utilised as a winger at international level.

Personal life

Vibe has twin children and his older brother Rasmus is also a footballer. Alongside football, Vibe played handball until the age of 16, before deciding to concentrate on football full-time. While with FC Fyn and FC Vestsjælland, Vibe studied for a master's degree in finance and accounting at Aarhus BSS.

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

Scores and results list Denmark's goal tally first
#DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetitionRef
1.11 October 2014Ruzhdi Bizhuta Stadium, Elbasan
1–1
1–1
UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying

Honours

FC Fyn
IFK Göteborg
FC Midtjylland
Individual