Rikke Sevecke is a defender who has been a part of the Danish national team since 2016 when she made her debut vs Iceland on March 4 in the Algarve Cup
So far, Sevecke has made 36 appearances for Denmark and she has scored 4 goals. She joined her current club, Everton FC ahead of the 2020/21 season. Sevecke joined the club after playing one season in the French top flight, Division 1 Féminine with FC Fleury. Sevecke’s contract with the Toffees is due this upcoming summer. Prior to her stint in France and now England, she established herself as a national team player when she was with Bröndby IF in the Danish league, Gjensidige Kvindelige.
Sevecke has appearances in all of Denmark’s youth teams, from U16 to U23.
Who is Rikke Sevecke the footballer? What are her skills and what does she bring to her team.
Since Sevecke left domestic football in Denmark she has had a stable development. Recently she was nominated alongside Pernille Harder and Signe Bruun in Denmark to win the 2021 “Player of the year” - award. Denmark’s current head coach Lars Søndergaard describes her like this:
- Rikke is a good all-around defender. She has the pace while she is strong both on the ground and in the air. She can play out from the back with accurate short and long passes. Although she can play the position of full-back, in my opinion, her best position for her is as a central defender. She has huge potential, but to do that she has to develop her skills as a leader.
Sevecke has often been used in Denmark’s backline in a 3-4-3, as the right central defender, but in Everton, she has played both on the left and right as a full-back as well in a back four. Looking at these numbers below in the tweet, we can see that the Danish defender, even being a natural right-footed footballer, can use both her feet equally well.
Using the scouting tool Transfer Lab, we can see Sevecke’s metrics in the ‘Centre back - All Round’ player profile. Applying the profile in just the Women’s Super League, Sevecke ranks high, ending up among the first centre-backs in the league, where she is ranked in the 98th percentile and number 3 in the profile, just after Manchester City’s Alex Greenwood (98) and Lucy Parker, West Ham (98).
Looking at Sevecke’s profile alone shows that her quality lies in both long and short progressive passing, ball carrying, 1 vs 1 defending, interceptions and tackles.
Her long progressive passes are in the 67th percentile while the short progressive passes are in the 71st percentile. What sticks out is her ball-carrying ability 89th in the percentile and her skills in defending; 1 vs 1 defending (79), tackles (90) and interceptions (83).
What is interesting about Sevecke is that she differs from other Scandinavian centre-backs, according to TransferLab looking at the quality in the defensive area. Many players describe the Women’s Super League as more physical and fast when joining from one of the Scandinavian leagues. The Scandinavian way of defending often see defenders work in zones rather than going up 1 vs 1 which might be the reason for centre-backs to score lower in the percentile when it comes to tackles, interceptions and 1 vs 1 defending. Remember, this is only an assumption because there are of course many more perspectives that we need to consider to make it true. But it’s interesting to see the differences between Magdalena Eriksson (SWE) in Chelsea and Maria Thorisdottir (NOR) in Manchester United who both plays in the same position as Sevecke in the Women’s Super League.
TransferLab ranks the quality of Sevecke’s actions within tackles, interceptions and 1v1 defending, higher than both her Scandinavian fellows.
Some might also argue for the fact that if a defender needs to put in a tackle, they haven’t managed well enough before the action needs to be done. Yet, if a tackle is the only option, it will certainly come in handy, if you are good at what you are doing to avoid yellow and red cards.
About TransferLab Scouting Tool:
TransferLab is a scouting software that goes beyond raw numbers. Feeding the data through our unique algorithm, the platform produces a host of predictive metrics which add depth and colour to the basic stats that are generally used within the football industry.
Applying these metrics to over 100,000 players in our database, TransferLab allows you to scout players to a level previously unavailable to most clubs. With the extensive suite of tools available within the platform, you can now discover players much more efficiently than ever before.
You can read more about TransferLab here