Career
Born in the village of Råby, 20 km North-East of Randers, Lars Elstrup made his senior debut for local club Randers Sportsklub Freja in 1982. He played just seven league games for Brøndby, scoring twice, before he moved abroad to play for Dutch club Feyenoord. He played there for two years, but only scored nine goals for the Rotterdam outfit.
In 1988, Elstrup moved back to to play for Odense BK. He scored 14 goals in 16 games in his first season at Odense, and was called up for the Danish national team by national manager Sepp Piontek.
The 1989 Danish 1st Division saw Elstrup score three times in 12 league games, before he left to try his hand at English football. Elstrup signed for English First Division club Luton Town on 21 August 1989 in a £850,000 transfer deal, setting a club transfer record.
Playing at Kenilworth Road for two seasons, he soon settled and scored a total of 18 goals to keep Luton up in 1990-1991. After only two years in England, Elstrup moved back to to rejoin Odense.
Sure enough, after selling Elstrup, Luton were relegated.
He played two more seasons for Odense, scoring 24 goals, before retiring in strange circumstances. These strange circumstances were due to damage to body and mind, quote lars elstrup himself. Elstrup made his national team debut in August 1988 against Sweden, and scored both goals in a 2–1 victory.
Elstrup was part of the squad for the 1992 European Championship.
He also scored one of "s five penalties in the semi-final penalty shootout against Holland, though he was an unused substitute, as beat Germany 2–0 in the final. In 1993, Elstrup had doubts about his footballing future, as he felt he was living under the expectations of others
He joined a spiritual sect, and took the spiritual name "Darando", meaning "The River that Flows". He moved away from the sect in December 1999 after being arrested for punching a school child.
In January 2000, Odense gave Elstrup a chance to re-enter professional football by giving him a trial, but he left the club soon after when the club refused to pay him during the trial.
He now lives in Vissenbjerg, and stays out of the public eye. Player Club Odense BK International.