Hans Roland "Hasse" Backe (; born 14 February 1952) is a Swedish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

manager and former player who most recently led Finland's national team. Prior to this he managed the

New York Red Bulls The New York Red Bulls are an American professional soccer club based in the New York metropolitan area. The Red Bulls compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The club was established in October 1994 and be ...

. He has coached clubs in Sweden, Norway, Greece, England and the United States, and achieved his greatest successes in

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

FC Copenhagen Football Club Copenhagen ( da, Football Club København, ), commonly known as FC København, FC Copenhagen, Copenhagen or simply FCK, is a professional Danish football club in Copenhagen, Denmark. FCK was founded in 1992 as a superstructure on ...

and

Aalborg BK Aalborg Boldspilklub is a Danish sports club based in the city of Aalborg. The club is also known as AaB for short (cf. logo) or Aalborg BK. Through time the club has had branches in cricket, tennis, ice hockey, handball, and basketball, but cur ...

Playing career

Backe's playing career lasted through the 1970s, mostly in the Swedish lower divisions, including one stint with Brommapojkarna in 1977–1978. He took up coaching while playing for Bro IK, and led them from the fifth to the third tier.

Managerial career

Early career in Scandinavia

Backe began his managerial career with

Djurgårdens IF Djurgårdens Idrottsförening, commonly known simply as Djurgårdens IF, Djurgården (), and (especially locally) Djurgår'n (), Dif or DIF – is a Swedish sports association with several sections, located in Stockholm. Name The club is named ...

in his native Sweden from 1982–84, compiling a record of 38 wins, 20 draws and only 12 losses, which included a first-place finish in the 1982

Division 2 Norra Division 2 Norra (literally, "Division 2 Northern") was a league of the second level, Swedish football Division 2, Division 2, in the Swedish football league system, league system of Football in Sweden, Swedish football. It comprised between ten an ...

. Following his early success with

he went on to manage

Molde FK Molde Fotballklubb () is a professional football club based in Molde, Norway, that competes in Eliteserien, the top flight of Norwegian football. Founded on 19 June 1911, the club was originally known as International and changed its name to ...

, Hammarby IF,

Östers IF Östers Idrottsförening, commonly known as Östers IF or simply Öster, is a Swedish sports club located in Växjö, specializing in football, and playing in the second tier of Swedish football, Superettan. The club has previously also compet ...

AIK AIK Fotboll (), more commonly known simply as AIK (), an abbreviation for Allmänna Idrottsklubben (meaning ''the public'' or ''general sports club''), is a Swedish football club competing in Allsvenskan, the top flight of Swedish football. The ...

and numerous other top Scandinavian clubs. In 1989, he led Öster to a first-place finish in

Division 1 Södra Ettan Fotboll, or simply Ettan ( en, the one), which also is its common name in everyday speech, is the third level in the Swedish football league system and consists of 32 Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden ...

in which the club ended the season unbeaten in all 26 league matches and gained promotion to the Swedish

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; en, the All-Swedish, also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan, en, the Football All-Swedish) is a Swedish professional league for men's association football clubs. It was founded in 1924 and is the top tier of the Swedish football lea ...

Denmark

He enjoyed his greatest success in Denmark, having won three Danish titles with

and

. In his first season in Danish football Backe led

to the 1998–99

Danish Superliga The Danish Superliga ( da, Superligaen, ) is the current Danish football championship tournament, and administered by the Danish Football Association. It is the highest football league in Denmark and is currently contested by 12 teams each yea ...

title. He also helped guide the club to consecutive

Danish Cup The Danish Cup ( da, Landspokalturneringen; often referred to as Pokalen) is the official "knockout" cup competition in Danish football, run by the Danish Football Association. The cup has been contested annually since 1955. The winner will quali ...

finals in his two years at the club. During the 2001 season Backe returned to Denmark to lead top side

. During his time at the club the Danish side would enjoy one of the club's most successful spells. During this period Backe led Copenhagen to two

titles, one

title, and two

Danish Super Cup The Danish Super Cup was played for by the Danish League champions and the Danish Cup Winners. Winners *1994 : Brøndby IF 4-0 Silkeborg IF *1995 : F.C. Copenhagen 2-1 Aalborg BK *1996 : Brøndby IF 4-0 Aarhus Gymnastik Forenin ...

titles, which included a treble winning season during the 2003–04 season.

Panathinaikos

Backe was the manager of

Panathinaikos Panathinaikos Athlitikos Omilos ( el, Παναθηναϊκός Αθλητικός Όμιλος, literally in English: "Panathenaic Athletic Club" or Panathinaikos A.C.), also known simply as Panathinaikós , is a major Greek multi-sport club ba ...

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

until 14 September 2006, when he was fired after just three games due to the team's poor performance in this time. Although Panathinaikos won two of three league matches, a 2–0 home loss to Ionikos and a 1–1 draw at home in a

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

tie against Ukrainian side

Metalurh Zaporizhzhia MFC Metalurh Zaporizhzhia ( uk, Футбо́льний клуб «Металу́рг» Запорі́жжя ) is a Ukrainian professional football club based in Zaporizhzhia. Reestablished in 2017, it is a "phoenix club" of the original Soviet ...

led to his dismissal.

Assistant to Sven-Göran Eriksson

In July 2007, he was appointed as assistant manager at

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

, working alongside fellow countryman

Sven-Göran Eriksson Sven-Göran Eriksson (; born 5 February 1948) is a Swedish football manager and former player. After an unassuming playing career as a right-back, Eriksson went on to experience major success in club management between 1977 and 2001, winning 18 ...

. Prior to being appointed as Manchester City assistant manager, he worked as a senior advisor for Östers IF as well as a football analyst and commentator for Swedish

TV4 TV4 or TV 4 may refer to: *TV4 (Poland), a private Polish television station *TV4 (Sweden), a Swedish television network **TV4 Group, owners of the Swedish television station *South African Broadcasting Corporation TV4, a channel operated by the st ...

. Backe briefly resigned his position at Manchester City after a family crisis in Sweden forced him to take compassionate leave shortly into his time at the club, but after a month was able to return at his former post. Along with Eriksson, Backe and first-team coach

Tord Grip Tord Erland Grip (born 13 January 1938) is a Swedish former football coach and player. He has worked with several national teams, including England, Sweden, Indonesia, Mexico, the Ivory Coast and Kosovo. Playing career Grip began his football ca ...

parted company with Manchester City, joining

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

with the two Swedes.

Notts County

On 27 October 2009, Backe was appointed as manager of

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League (division), National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 2 ...

; the Swedish coach signed a three-year contract with the club. He resigned just seven weeks later, on 15 December after a dispute about wages not being paid was announced. During his time with Notts County, Backe compiled 4 wins (including two

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

wins), 3 draws, and 2 losses.

New York Red Bulls

On 7 January 2010, Backe was named manager of

. After a blistering start to the 2010 season, club fans began to create shirts and flags with his likeness, and these honors culminated in the birth of the Hans Backe Viking Army, an offshoot of the

Empire Supporters Club The Empire Supporters Club, or ESC, is one of the oldest supporters clubs in Major League Soccer and the largest supporters club dedicated to the New York Red Bulls of Major League Soccer. History The club was founded in 1995 by members of the New ...

and Garden State Supporters. In his first season with New York he coached the team to an Eastern Conference first-place finish. Then on 9 November 2012, it was announced that Backe would not extend his contract with the Red Bulls.

Finland

On 12 August 2015, Backe was named manager of

Finland national football team The Finland national football team ( fi, Suomen jalkapallomaajoukkue, sv, Finlands fotbollslandslag) represents Finland in men's international football competitions and is controlled by the Football Association of Finland, the governing body ...

, starting on 1 January 2016. His first official match with the team was held on 10 January 2016 and ended in a 0-3 defeat by Sweden. Backe was fired as head coach of Finland's national football team 12 December 2016. Finland did not win one single game during Backe's time as head coach; 11 matches resulted in 9 defeats and 2 draws.

Managerial statistics

:''Statistics accurate as of match played 11 June 2017.''

Honours

Manager

; Djurgården *

: 1982 ; Öster *

: 1989 ; Aalborg BK *

: 1998–99 ; F.C. Copenhagen *

: 2002–03, 2003–04 *

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

: 2001, 2004 ; New York Red Bulls * Eastern Conference Regular Season:

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

References