Poul Petersen started his career as an attacker, and was one of legendary centre forward Carl "Skoma'r" Hansen's best students. Petersen was a quick player, with great technique and a fierce shot. He made his senior debut for Akademisk Boldklub in the inside forward position, but eventually settled in the defense as a full-back. He was expected to hoof the ball away whenever he had stripped an opposition player of the ball, but instead he did smart dribbles and passes, and received some criticism for his adventurous style. Poul Petersen made his debut for the Danish national team in June 1946, and quickly established himself in the starting line-up. In 1947, Petersen was selected for the Europe XI team, which played an exhibition game against the Great Britain national football team, losing 1-6 at Hampden Park. This game earned him the nickname "Europa-Poul". In the run-up to the 1948 Summer Olympics, Petersen suffered an injury. He was a part of the Danish team at the tournament, but despite declaring himself fit to play, he was left out of the starting line-up for the entire competition. Denmark won bronze medals at the tournament, but while most of the Danish players went on to sign professional contracts with foreign teams, Poul Petersen stayed in Denmark. He was a part of the Danish team which competed at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki. Denmark was eliminated in the quarter-finals by the Yugoslavia national football team, in what was Poul Petersen's last international game. He was appointed manager of the Danish national team in 1962, replacing Arne Sørensen, who had managed Denmark to silver medals at the 1960 Summer Olympics. Unfortunately for Petersen, most of the 1960 silver medalists were now banned from the amateur-only national team for having signed professional contracts, and Danish football didn't have the amateur players to follow up on the success. He managed Denmark to fourth place of four participants at the 1964 European Nations' Cup, having beaten the Malta national football team, Albania national football team, and Luxembourg national football team in the qualification games. Poul Petersen was in charge of Denmark for 47 games until November 1966, winning 17 and losing 22 games.
