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Morten Per Olsen (born August 14 1949 in Vordingborg, Denmark) is a Danish former professional football (soccer) player and current football manager. He has been the head coach of the Danish national team since 2000, where he is under contract through 2010. As a player, he was the first Dane to reach 100 national team matches, as he played 102 matches and scored four goals for the national team from 1970 to 1989. Usually playing as a central defender, he often captained the Danish national team during the 1980s. He speaks six languages: Danish, Dutch, English, German, Norwegian, and Swedish.

Playing career

On the club level, he played for the following teams:

Coaching career

His career as a coach is noteworthy in that he has been fired in all of his clubs. Mostly because of disputes with players, other coaches or the club. He started in 1989 at then Danish champions Brøndby IF, whom he put through tough fitness training which, even though it disgruntled some players, elevated the team into European top class, as Brøndby reached the semi final of the 1991 UEFA Cup with Olsen at the helm. With the notable exception of Uche Okechukwu, his dabblings in the transfer market were not equally successful, which caused anger among the amateur department of the club, whose youth scheme they felt Olsen overlooked. As results began to lack in 1992, he was fired from the club.

He moved on to his former team 1. FC Köln which he saved from relegation, when coming to its aid in the last stages of the 1992 season. In his time in Germany he would become a certified coach, earning his "Fussball Lehrer Licenz" diploma in 1993. For two seasons he had the club positioned somewhat safely from relegation, despite not having any especially good players. But midway through the 1994 season, it wasn´t good enough for the Director Board and he was fired. He would have to wait for two years until Ajax Amsterdam in the Netherlands hired him in 1996. Before he was sacked in 1998, he succeeded in attracting Danish national team captain Michael Laudrup to the club, and together they won the Double of league championship and national cup trophy.

In 2000, he took over the position of head coach of the Denmark national football team after resigning Swedish coach Bo Johansson. As his assistant coach he chose Michael Laudrup, and the duo would go on to secure qualification for the 2002 FIFA World Cup tournament, a campaign which did not end until the first knock-out stage. After the World Cup, Olsen signed a new four-year contract despite offers worth a much higher salary than the Danish Football Association (DBU) could muster. As a new assistant coach he chose Keld Bordinggaard, when Laudrup went on to coach Brøndby IF. With his new assistant, Olsen guided Denmark to the tournament, which once again ended at the first knock-out stage. With his contract expiring in November 2005, Olsen failed to qualify Denmark for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, but he once again prolonged his arrangement with DBU, despite better offers from European clubs. A part of his new deal, which runs until 2010, is the added responsibility of defining a "red thread", or common denominator, in the talent work of the Danish national youth teams, thus having a large influence on the future football being played by Denmark.

Honours

Player Manager

External links

1949 births | Living people | Danish footballers | R.S.C. Anderlecht players | Danish football managers

Morten Olsen | Morten Olsen | Morten Olsen | Morten Olsen | Morten Olsen | Morten Olsen

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Morten Olsen".

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