The talented defender, Mikkel Brund, has quickly become a popular name with many AB fans. After his arrival at the club in January 2024 from Hobro, he has recently extended his contract until the summer of 2026.
Brund’s journey to professional football started at the age of 3-4, playing football at home in the garden with his older brother and father. Despite the early interest, he nevertheless shied away from the idea of starting for football until he was around 5 years old.
Ball games in the garden
“Well, it starts all the way back when I was a 3-4 year old, when I just started running in the garden and playing football with my older brother and my father. Also at that time, I was very interested in football. But the thing about starting football, I didn’t really want to. I’d rather just run at home and kick a little on our own goal. So the thing about starting football, it actually didn’t come until a little later, when I was about 5 years old.”
His interest in the sport gradually blossomed, primarily driven by playing in the garden and playing games at school in Hadsten, between Randers and Aarhus, where he spent most of his childhood.
From football to gymnastics
It wasn’t until around the age of 10 or 11 that Brund decided that football should be his primary career path. After a short period of gymnastics, he returned to football and chose the sport as his way forward.
“I just had a period when I was 10-11 years old, where I started jumping gymnastics, which I took quite seriously and went to some classes in Aarhus. But there I will say, there I came to my senses again.”
“It was also there where I had to make a choice that if I wanted to do more with football, it should be on a more serious level than just at home in Hadsten. So it was probably there that I knew that this (ed. football) is going to encompass most of my life.”
The years of development
Like most people who have played football, Brund got to test his football skills in different positions. Here he developed from an attacking winger to a central midfielder, before proving himself as a capable defender at the age of 17.
“I actually started as a winger, where I could use my left leg a little further forward on the pitch. Then I moved to Randers when I was 12 years old, and here I had a coach who could see something in me as a central midfielder. I actually played that position from U13 and all the way up to U15.”
“Then I got a new coach who could see something in me as a defender. Most of all because I started to grow apart from the others, and was left-footed. There weren’t many of them, so if I was to get regular playing time at the U17 in Randers, then there was probably the best opportunity for it in that position.”
New start in AB
AB became the destination for Brund’s first professional contract, and here it was the history and belief in the club’s potential that attracted him. Known for having had a splendid past in Danish football, Brund saw the potential in the club and its players, which motivated his decision to make the leap from Jutland to the new surroundings of the capital.
Brund’s choice to extend his contract with AB is testament to his belief in the club’s project and his ambition to contribute to its future success.
With an ever-growing popularity among fans and an impressive development story behind him, the future looks bright for Mikkel Brund.
