FACTBOX - Europe's 2018 Ryder Cup captain Thomas Bjorn

LONDON ( Reuters) - Factbox on Denmark's Thomas Bjorn who was named on Tuesday as Europe's captain for the 2018 Ryder Cup against the United States.

Born: Silkeborg, Denmark on Feb. 18, 1971 (45 years old)

*He is the most successful Danish golfer on the European Tour, with 15 tournament victories and is the first Scandinavian to be handed the captaincy.

*Bjorn was the first Dane to represent Europe against the United States when he made his debut under Seve Ballesteros in 1997 at Valderrama, Spain.

*He is only the fourth skipper from continental Europe after German Bernhard Langer and Spaniards Ballesteros and Jose Maria Olazabal.

*He has served as vice-captain on four occasions, in 2004, 2010, 2012 and 2016, winning every year but the last. He won the event three times as a player.

*Bjorn was appointed by a five-man panel comprising the three most recent captains, Darren Clarke, Paul McGinley and Olazabal, European Tour chief executive Keith Pelley and Sweden's British Open champion Henrik Stenson.

* The 2018 edition of the biennial team event will be played at Le Golf National in Paris from Sept. 28-30.

(Compiled by Simon Jennings in Bengaluru, editing by Ed Osmond)