Eigil Nielsen

Eigil Louis Marius Ferdinand Nielsen, known simply as Eigil Nielsen (15 September 1918 – 7 September 2000) was a Danish amateur football goalkeeper, who played 28 games for the Denmark national football team and won a bronze medal with Denmark at the 1948 Summer Olympics. He played his club football with KB.

Originally from Esbjerg, Eigil Nielsen was not selected for the Danish national team, until he moved to Copenhagen club Kjøbenhavns Boldklub (KB). a status not equalled until Peter Schmeichel in the 1990s. Eigil Nielsen played his 28th and last international game in October 1951.

Eigil Nielsen is credited with creating the common 32-panel football design in 1962 using 20 hexagonal and 12 pentagonal patches. It quickly became popular when the Adidas Telstar in 1970 became the first football in the World Cup to use the design.