Rasmus Lauritsen

Rasmus Steensbæk Lauritsen (born 27 February 1996) is a Danish professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Danish Superliga club Brøndby.

Lauritsen has both played for Herning Fremad and Brande IF as a youth player, starting as a four-year-old, before joining Midtjylland in the summer 2011. He made his senior debut for Midtjylland at age 19 on 8 November 2015 in a 5–1 Superliga home win over Esbjerg. That appearance proved to be his only first-team outing for Midtjylland, as he sought regular playing time elsewhere.

On 5 January 2016, Lauritsen signed a two-year contract with Danish 1st Division side Skive. He immediately became a starter in Skive's defence and gained his first experience of senior football. On 1 December 2016, he scored his first senior goal, equalising in Skive's 3–2 victory over Næstved. Lauritsen totalled 31 league appearances and three goals during his year with Skive, prompting interest from higher-tier clubs.

Lauritsen signed a two-year contract with Danish 1st Division club Vejle Boldklub in June 2017, joining a team aiming for promotion. A few months later the club extended Lauritsen's contract for one more year. He quickly became an integral player at Vejle—in the 2017–18 season he scored six goals from centre-back as Vejle clinched the 1st Division championship, earning promotion to the Superliga.

Lauritsen made his top-flight debut for Vejle the following season and netted his first Superliga goal in a 1–1 draw against fellow promoted side Vendsyssel in August 2018. His performances as a prolific scoring defender in Denmark attracted attention from abroad.

On 11 February 2019, Lauritsen moved abroad and signed for Swedish top club Norrköping on a three-year deal. He continued his impressive form in Allsvenskan, tallying 11 goals in 48 league matches over the 2019 and 2020 seasons—an unusually high output for a defender. Media noted that Lauritsen had become one of the most goal-threatening centre-backs in the league.

On 2 October 2020, Lauritsen signed for Croatian champions Dinamo Zagreb. He debuted two days later against Varaždin and made an error that resulted in a goal. However, his performances soon drastically improved and had an instant impact on Dinamo's defense, causing them not to concede a single goal in all five Europa League group stage games that he played.

During Lauritsen's time with the club, Dinamo won back-to-back Prva HNL titles in 2020–21 and 2021–22, and also captured the Croatian Cup in 2021.