Copenhagen City Court has ruled that former Denmark international footballer Allan Lund Nielsen must pay about 5.5 million kroner in tax to Skattestyrelsen in a case stemming from the Panama Papers. He plans to appeal.
The judgment was handed down last week, and DR reported on it on August 26, 2026, after obtaining the 28 page ruling. The court gave the Danish Tax Agency full backing in its claim against the former national team player.
According to DR, the court found that Allan Lund Nielsen had placed part of his wealth in a company registered in Panama. The court concluded that the structure was set up so he could avoid paying Danish tax on those assets.
TV 2 reports that the exact amount is 5,515,510 kroner, plus statutory interest running from November 19, 2018. TV 2 adds that the interest calculated up to August 26, 2026 comes to roughly four million kroner, based on a Ritzau calculation.
DR writes that the Panama company held assets worth 18.7 million kroner, and that the court ruled these should have been taxed in Denmark. The shell company shared an address with the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, and its board consisted of five Panamanian citizens.
Each of those board members was linked to between 6,843 and 8,877 companies, according to DR. The Danish tax authorities described them as front men covering up the real owner. The court pointed to repeated withdrawals from the company account at Nordea Luxembourg as evidence.
His account of what happened
In his testimony, as summarized in the judgment, Allan Lund Nielsen said he never tried to hide anything from the tax authorities. He became a client at Nordea’s Luxembourg branch in 2006, after returning to Denmark from a professional career that included England.
According to the judgment, his bank adviser handled everything, and he signed documents where a sticker and an arrow marked the signature line. He said he did not know he had acquired a company in Panama later that same year.
B.T. notes that he has throughout the case dismissed the Tax Agency’s claim as alleged and fictitious. Ekstra Bladet reports the same wording. Through his lawyer, he told DR he will appeal to the High Court.
Nordea declined to comment to DR. The bank’s Luxembourg branch has been closed since 2017. In a statement from 2022, chief legal officer Anders Holkmann Olsen said Skattestyrelsen had notified a claim against Nordea Luxembourg over its role in the Panama case.
DR notes that the Danish tax authorities identified Allan Lund Nielsen and other Danes after the Folketing decided in September 2016 to buy leaked documents from a whistleblower for 6.4 million kroner. A criminal case against him had been announced but was later dropped. Rules on income tax in Denmark require residents to declare foreign assets.
