Those most used to seeing Poulsen strut his stuff alongside Timo Werner in the Leipzig attack may have thought there was nothing unusual about the name on his white, dark blue, or sometimes grey, shirt. Seven letters; a common Danish name. And his surname, most importantly. Nothing to see here.
However, it is Leipzig who are the outlier in this regard. In 29 games for Denmark, Poulsen has always sported “Yurary” on his back. It was the same with Lyngby before the now-24-year-old left his homeland for Germany in 2013 with Leipzig midway through their march to the Bundesliga. It was even the case with first club BK Skjold in his teens. Poulsen had asked for the same at the Red Bull Arena.
“When I came to Leipzig, I asked if I could have ‘Yurary’ on the jersey,” he explained to SportBild. “But when I signed, they’d already printed the ‘Poulsen’ jerseys!”
Poulsen’s father Yurary was a Tanzanian shipper who met his mother in Copenhagen after years working in the import/export industry between the two countries. Never a professional football player, Yurary senior was still a big fan of the sport and ignited his son’s passion for the game at an early age. He lost his battle with cancer when Yussuf – or Yurary junior – was six, and it had a big impact.
“I came to football through my father,” Poulsen told dierotenbullen.com. “He played regularly but not as a pro. That was a bad time for me and my family. We had to learn to live without him. Today I associate every game with him.”