Stig Töfting was the rock-hard midfielder who did not back down for anyone.
But alongside the football field, his life was fraught with several terrible tragedies.
In 2007 he put his shoes on the shelf – and today he lives a much calmer life.
Stig Töfting is the Danish midfielder who together with Tomas Gravesen formed one of football history’s most feared inner midfield pairs. They were both careless, and never backed down for absolutely horrible tackles, and it was not uncommon for them both to end up in the hat of their opponents.
Classic fool
In the national team, Töfting played during both the European Championships 2000 and the World Cup 2002. At club team level, there were mainly games in the Danish league, and the club team AGF Århus, but there were also games in German Hamburg, English Bolton – and a short stay in BK Häcken, before he put his shoes on the shelf in 2007. But it was not for his football playing that Töfting made himself most famous.
During his career, there were several scandals. In 1999, he was sentenced to prison after beating a supporter (!), And last year he was sentenced again – this time to a suspended prison sentence – after beating a restaurant owner at a bar, during a fight. A few years later, he was also fired from Aarhus after fighting with a teammate. But Töfting’s life had previously been fraught with tragedies, and in retrospect he has said that all scandals were affected by the horrors of his life.
Terrible tragedies
As a 13-year-old, on July 30, 1983, he came home from school. There he found both his parents dead. The father had first shot the mother to death, before taking his own life. Only 18 hours later, the Dane played the cup final with the Aarhus junior team.
– Football has saved me. It was always a place where nothing could hurt me. I have met a psychologist but no matter what happened, I was in my own world when I stepped out on the field. Then I could get away from all the bad, Töfting has said.
But that was not the only tragedy. While preparing for a four-month prison sentence, his son died of encephalitis, having been born just three weeks earlier.
– The prison was nothing compared to losing a child. I would take ten years in there if that meant I did not lose my son, Töfting has said.
But today Töfting lives a much calmer life. In recent years, he has become a popular expert in Denmark, right now for the newspaper Ekstrabladet, and a few years ago he became a grandfather for the first time.
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