Thomas Lund Helveg (; born 24 June 1971) is a Danish former professional footballer who played as a right-back. He began and ended his career with Odense Boldklub in the Danish Superliga, with whom he won the 1989 Danish championship. The most prominent periods of his career were four years at Udinese and five years with club A.C. Milan. With Milan he won the 1999 Serie A championship and 2003 UEFA Champions League tournament. Helveg was named 1994 Danish Football Player of the Year, the year he made his debut for the Denmark national team. He has played 108 games and scored two goals for Denmark. He played for Denmark under three different national coaches, and participated in the 1996, 2000 and 2004 European Championship and the 1998 and 2002 FIFA World Cup tournaments. Playing career Born in Odense, Helveg started his senior career at local club Odense Boldklub (OB) in the top-flight Danish 1st Division. Helveg played two matches in the last part of OB's 1989 1st Division winning season, and he was soon a part of the OB first team alongside later national team players Allan Nielsen and Brian Steen Nielsen. Helveg represented Denmark at the 1992 Summer Olympics, playing all three Denmark matches in the tournament. When OB played English club Arsenal F.C. in the 1993–94 Cup Winners' Cup tournament, Helveg was put to the task of handling English international striker Ian Wright, for which he received praise. Moving abroad Thomas Helveg's international career began when he was loaned out for six months by OB, in November 1993. He joined Italian club Udinese Calcio, who were relegation battlers in the Serie A championship. He made his Udinese debut in a 0–0 draw with Atalanta B.C. on 28 November 1993, and played 22 games and scored two goals in his first season at the club. Even though Udinese was relegated to the Serie B at the end of the season, he received his first call-up to the Denmark national team by national manager Richard Møller Nielsen in April 1994. He came on as a substitute in the 14th minute for the injured John Jensen, and Helveg would receive rave reviews for his performance, making him a mainstay in the Denmark squad from day one. Despite their relegation, he was bought by Udinese and was soon to have success in the Udine club. Combined with his international breakthrough with