From professional footballer to prisoner. In March 2018, Nicki Bille Nielsen was still playing in the Greek first division with Panionios. Six and a half years later, he has just received a prison sentence for an offense worthy of ordinary mortals.
The Danish striker, who briefly experienced the joys of the selection in 2013 (three appearances, one goal), was sentenced to four weeks in prison for stealing from a supermarket in the suburbs of Copenhagen. According to the Spanish media Lightning Unionhe tried to steal a carton of wine, fruit juice and an instant Asian soup, for a total value of around 20 Swiss francs.
He then threatened an employee who had intervened to prevent him from leaving the store. “I’m going to break your jaw and you’ll have to eat yogurt for six weeks,” he allegedly told his interlocutor.
This is not the first time that Nicki Bille Nielsen has hit the headlines. In 2018, he had already received a month in prison for hitting a woman. Three years earlier, a bite on a police officer had “simply” earned him a reprieve. In 2019, he was arrested a third time for threats, acts of violence and possession of drugs.
During her career, Nicki Bille Nielsen played in Serie A (Reggina), La Liga (Villarreal, Rayo Vallecano) and Ligue 1 (Evian Thonon Gaillard). Now aged 36, he has disappeared from the sports radar. If the Transfermarkt site lists him in the Danish club Vaerebro, now FC Gladsaxe, now a resident of the 6th division, where he signed in the summer of 2020, no trace of recent activity attests that he continues to kick the ball.
A situation in his image: elusive.
