Morten Olsen

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Morten Olsen
Personal information
Full name	Morten Per Olsen
Date of birth	August 14, 1949 (age 57)
Place of birth	Vordingborg, Denmark
Playing position	Manager (former defender)
Club information
Current club	Denmark
Youth clubs
1957-1969	Vordingborg IF
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1970-1972 1972-1976 1976-1980 1980-1986 1986-1989	B 1901 Cercle Brugge Racing White RSC Anderlecht 1. FC Köln	143 (11) 80 (2)
National team
1970-1974 1970-1989	Denmark u-21 Denmark	5 (1) 102 (4)
Teams managed
1989-1992 1992-1994 1996-1998 2000-present	Brøndby IF 1. FC Köln Ajax Amsterdam Denmark
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

Morten Per Olsen (born August 14, 1949) is a Danish former 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 most notably played professionally for Belgian club RSC Anderlecht, with whom he won the 1983 UEFA Cup.

He was the first Dane to reach 100 national team matches, as he played 102 matches and scored four goals for the Danish national team from 1970 to 1989. Usually playing as a central defender, he often captained the Danish national team during the 1980s. 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.

Contents 1 Playing career 2 Coaching career 3 Honours 4 External links

[edit] Playing career

Born in Vordingborg, he started playing youth football at the local club in 1957. In 1970, at 20 years of age, he moved to B 1901 in the top-flight Danish 1st Division championship. He made his debut for the Denmark under-21 national team in September 1970, scoring a single goal in a 2-2 friendly match draw with the Poland u-21s. Three weeks later, he was called up for the senior Danish national team, under national team coach Rudi Strittich, and made his national team debut against Norway.

He played three seasons at B 1901, before he moved abroad to play professionally in 1972. He signed with Belgian club Cercle Brugge K.S.V. who had been promoted to the top-flight Jupiler League one year earlier. Cercle Brugge finished in fourth place in Olsen's first year with the club, and went on to establish itself in the midtable. In 1976, Olsen moved to league rivals R.W.D. Molenbeek, who had won the 1975 Jupiler League championship. His time at Molenbeek featured even better league results, and consistent finishes in the top third of the league. Not until Olsen moved to 16-time Jupiler League champions R.S.C. Anderlecht in 1980, did he win his first trophy of his senior career.

In Olsen's first year at Anderlecht, the club won the 1981 Jupiler League, conceeding only 25 goals in 34 games. Olsen played six years at Anderlecht, and won a total of three Jupiler League championships. He was a part of the Anderlecht team which beat FC Porto from Portugal and Spanish team Valencia CF, among others, to reach the final game of the international 1982-83 UEFA Cup tournament. Anderlecht faced Portuguese team SL Benfica in the final, and won 2-1 on aggregate. Olsen was subsequently named 1983 Danish Player of the Year. Anderlecht also reached the 1983-84 UEFA Cup final, but lost to Tottenham Hotspur from England.

While at Anderlecht, Olsen became the 7th Dane to play 50 games for the national team, in June 1981. He was named permanent national team captain in April 1983, by national team manager Sepp Piontek. He was a part of the Danish team qualifying for the 1984 European Championship; the first international tournament participation for the Danish national team since 1964. Denmark reached the semi-finals, before being eliminated by Spain in penalty shootout. In October 1985, he became the second Dane, after Per Røntved, to play 75 national team matches. He captained Denmark at the 1986 World Cup, Denmark's first World Cup participation, which ended in a quarter-final defeat to Spain.

36 years old, Olsen left Anderlecht following the 1986 World Cup. He moved to Germany, to play for 1. FC Köln in the German Bundesliga. While at Köln, he captained Denmark at the 1988 European Championship, which ended in the preliminary group stage. He set a record of 50 games as Danish national team captain, and became the first Dane to play 100 games for the national team in April 1989. He helped Köln reach third and second place finishes in the Bundesliga, before retiring from his active career in June 1989, 39 years of age.

[edit] Coaching career

He started his coaching career in January 1990, at the defending Danish champions Brøndby IF, whom he guided to two Danish championships. He put the team 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 1990-91 UEFA Cup with Olsen at the helm. With the notable exception of Nigerian international defender Uche Okechukwu, his dabblings in the transfer market were not equally successful. This 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 in May.

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. He attracted Danish national team captain Michael Laudrup to the club, and together they won the Double of league championship and national cup trophy. In his second year at the club, tension arose between Olsen and the Dutch players Ronald de Boer and Frank de Boer, and Olsen was sacked in 1998.

In July 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. When Laudrup went on to coach Brøndby IF, Olsen chose Keld Bordinggaard as his new assistant coach. With Bordinggaard, Olsen guided Denmark to the Euro 2004 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. He once again prolonged his contract 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.

[edit] Honours

Player

• Belgian First Division (3 titles): 1980-81, 1984-85, 1985-86
• UEFA Cup: 1982-83
• Danish Player of the Year : 1983 and 1986

Manager

• Danish Championship: 1990, 1991
• Dutch Eredivisie: 1998
• Dutch Cup: 1998

[edit] External links

• (Danish) Danish national team profile
• (Dutch) Ajax Amsterdam profile
• (German) FussballDaten career statistics

Preceded by Louis van Gaal	Ajax Amsterdam managers 1997-1998	Succeeded by Jan Wouters
Preceded by Bo Johansson	Danish national football team manager 2000–	Succeeded by current

	Denmark squad - 1986 FIFA World Cup
1 Rasmussen | 2 Sivebæk | 3 Busk | 4 M. Olsen | 5 I. Nielsen | 6 Lerby | 7 Mølby | 8 J. Olsen | 9 Berggreen | 10 Elkjær Larsen | 11 Laudrup | 12 Bertelsen | 13 Frimann | 14 Simonsen | 15 Arnesen | 16 Qvist | 17 K. Nielsen | 18 Christensen | 19 Eriksen | 20 Bartram | 21 Andersen | 22 Høgh | Coach: Piontek

	Denmark squad - 2002 FIFA World Cup
1 Sørensen | 2 Tøfting | 3 Henriksen | 4 Laursen | 5 Heintze | 6 Helveg | 7 Gravesen | 8 Grønkjær | 9 Tomasson | 10 Jørgensen | 11 Sand | 12 N. Jensen | 13 Lustü | 14 C. Jensen | 15 Michaelsen | 16 Kjær | 17 Poulsen | 18 Løvenkrands | 19 Rommedahl | 20 Bøgelund | 21 Madsen | 22 Christiansen | 23 Nielsen | Coach: Olsen