Jens Gjesing (; born 13 January 1986) is a Danish football manager and former player who manages VSK Aarhus in the Danish 2nd Division, the third tier of the

Danish football league system The Danish football league system, also known as the football league pyramid, refers to the hierarchically interconnected league system, league structure for Football in Denmark, association football in Denmark, in which all divisions are bound tog ...

. Gjesing mainly played for AGF during his active career for whom he made 137 appearances and scored nine goals. He was, however, injury-prone as a player, and retired in 2012 while representing

Hobro IK Hobro Idræts Klub () is a professional association football club based in the town of Hobro, Denmark, that competes in the 1st Division, the second tier of the Danish football league system. Founded in 1913, it is known by the short names 'Ho ...

, after failing to recover from successive cruciate ligament injuries. After his playing career, Gjesing has pursued a managerial career. He was an established member of the Denmark under-21 team from 2007 to 2008, earning 14 caps in which he scored one goal. He was part of the team that reached the

2009 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification play-offs The qualification play-offs for the 2009 UEFA European Under-21 Championship took place from 10 October to 15 October 2008. The ten group winners and four best runners-up from the qualifying group stage were drawn together in pairs in order to de ...

, which were lost over two legs to Serbia under-21.

Club career

AGF

Gjesing started his career in the youth academy of lower division side

Vejlby IK Vejlby is a north-eastern neighbourhood of Aarhus in Denmark. It is located 5km from the city centre and is administratively part of the district of Risskov. The neighbourhood of Vejlby was administratively merged with Risskov at the end of the 2 ...

before moving to the AGF youth department in 1997 at age 10. In 2001, he was part of the AGF under-15 team winning gold at the unofficial European Youth Club Championship in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, qualifying for the World Cup. Throughout his youth years, Gjesing was known as a prolific

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

, before being utilised as a defender and finally at the position of

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

, which he played later as a professional first-team player. In October 2004, Gjesing signed his first professional contract with AGF, a one-and-a-half-year deal. At this point he had already been part of the first team for some months and appeared in pre-season friendlies. Gjesing made his official debut as an 18-year-old only a month after signing the contract, coming on as an 88th-minute substitute in a 4–0 away defeat in the

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 ...

to future champions

Brøndby IF Brøndbyernes Idrætsforening (, usually abbreviated to Brøndby IF (), is a professional association football club based in Brøndbyvester, Capital Region of Denmark. The club was founded in 1964 as a merger between two local clubs and was p ...

on 21 November. During his first season as a member of the first team, he made two total appearances. The following season, Gjesing featured more regularly in the first team, making 22 league appearances in which he scored two goals. In May 2006, towards the end of the 2005–06 season, he signed three-year contract extension which AGF

sporting director A sporting director, or director of sport, is an executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many types of sports. The sport ...

Brian Steen Nielsen Brian Steen Nielsen (born 28 December 1968) is a Danish former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. Most notably, he made 66 appearances for the Denmark national team between 1990 and 2002, scoring three goals. After hi ...

called "justified .. he has a good potential and, not least, a tremendous will which can bring him far." On 20 September 2006, during extra time of the Danish Cup third round matchup away against FC Roskilde, Gjesing scored the decisive 2–1 goal in the 120th minute to send AGF into the round of 32. He received a red card in a

Danish 1st Division The 1st Division (''1. Division'') is the second-highest football league in Denmark, also known as NordicBet Liga for sponsorship reasons. From 1945 to 1991 the 1. Division was the name of the highest level of football in Denmark. With the forma ...

(second highest division) loss to Lyngby Boldklub on 22 April 2007 after

elbowing An elbow strike (commonly referred to as simply an elbow) is a strike with the point of the elbow, the part of the forearm nearest to the elbow, or the part of the upper arm nearest to the elbow. Elbows can be thrown sideways similarly to a hook, ...

an opponent, an action for which he was fiercely criticised following the match by head coach

Ove Pedersen Ove Pedersen (born 30 August 1954) is a Danish football manager and a former player. He works as an assistant to the sporting director in FC Midtjylland, Svend Graversen.team captain

Peter Graulund Peter Graulund (born 20 September 1976) is a Danish former professional footballer who played as a striker. He played for Danish clubs Vejle Boldklub, Brøndby IF and AGF, German side VfL Bochum, and Swedish club Helsingborgs IF. He played six g ...

, calling it "immature" and "inexcusable". Gjesing, however, excused his red card by saying that "to err is human" and that the situation was "a learning experience". After AGF reached promotion to the

following a second-place finish in the

2006–07 Danish 1st Division The 2006–07 Danish 1st Division season was the 12th season of the Danish 1st Division league championship, governed by the Danish Football Association. It took place from the first match on July 29, 2006 to the final match on June 24, 2007. The ...

, Gjesing was benched for newly arrived

Alex Valencia Alex Marcel Lund Valencia (born 22 September 1979) is a Norway, Norwegian association football, footballer who plays as a right winger (association football), winger for Åsane Fotball, Åsane. He has previously played for top-flight clubs in No ...

in the first match of the season against AC Horsens. He afterwards started more regularly during the fall of 2007, but was benched again in spring. He made 23 league appearances during the 2007–08 season, of which 13 were as a substitute. Gjesing's inconsistent performances for the first team caused some speculation as to whether AGF would offer a contract extension, as players such as

Kasper Povlsen Kasper Povlsen (born 26 September 1989) is a retired Danish footballer. He is notably right-footed. Retirement In December 2018, Povlsen announced that he would retire at the end of the year due to some serious injuries. Two years after his r ...

Niels Kristensen Niels Bach Kristensen (born 24 April 1988) is a retired Danish professional football midfielder, who used to play for Danish Superliga side AGF Aarhus. He was forced to retire due to a knee injury in January 2010. References External links ...

and

Martin Mikkelsen Martin Bentzen Veng Mikkelsen (born 29 April 1986) is a Danish football coach and former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He is currently manager of Aarhus Fremad's reserve team. Playing career Mikkelsen made his professional d ...

had surpassed him at his position. Injuries to other players meant that Gjesing made more starts for the first team during the fall of 2008, both at midfield and as a

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

, where he impressed. He finally signed a three-year contract extension with AGF in January 2009. A few months later, on 13 April 2009, Gjesing played his 100th match for AGF against FC Midtjylland. He finished the season with 27 league appearances as the club ended sixth in the Superliga. Gjesing had a frustrating start to the 2009–10 season, scoring own goals in consecutive matches against FC Midtjylland and

HB Køge HB Køge () is a professional Danish football club based primarily in the town of Herfølge, and secondly in the town of Køge, both in the Køge Municipality, part of 'Region of Zealand', in the eastern part of Zealand, south of Copenhagen. It w ...

in the fall which ended up costing AGF four points. His disappointing season continued after the winter break, receiving back-to-back red cards in pre-season friendlies and missing a decisive

penalty kick A penalty shot or penalty kick is a play used in several sports whereby a goal is attempted during untimed play. Depending on the sport, when a player commits certain types of penalties, the opposition is awarded a penalty shot or kick attempt. ...

against OB on 21 March 2010. He was benched for Anders Kure in defense after the disappointing performances. On 17 October 2010, in a Danish Cup-matchup against FC Hjørring, Gjesing tore his cruciate ligament ruling him out for at least eight months. Afterwards, he suffered multiple setbacks, which ruled him out for a longer period and meant that he would miss the 2011–12 season premiere.

Loan to Hobro

On 29 July 2011, while undergoing rehabilitation for his knee injury, Gjesing was loaned out to

(second tier) club

where he signed a six-month loan deal. At the end of his loan deal, his deal with AGF would also run out. On 9 August, Gjesing made his debut for Hobro in a Danish Cup match against lower-division side

Aalborg Freja Aalborg (, , ) is Denmark's List of cities in Denmark by population, fourth largest town (behind Copenhagen, Aarhus, and Odense) with a population of 119,862 (1 July 2022) in the town proper and an Urban area, urban population of 143,598 (1 July ...

in which he was sent off for calling an opponent a "

faggot Faggot, faggots, or faggoting may refer to: Arts and crafts * Faggoting (metalworking), forge welding a bundle of bars of iron and steel * Faggoting (knitting), variation of lace knitting in which every stitch is a yarn over or a decrease * F ...

" ( da, bøsserøv). Due to his injury not healing properly, Gjesing called his loan "disappointing" in October 2011.

Hobro

Despite his injury-related issues, Hobro decided to sign Gjesing on a permanent deal on 10 January 2012, after playing more consistently during the last months of his loan deal. Hobro

, Jens Hammer Sørensen, called the deal a "scoop" and attributed the strong ending to the first half of the 2011–12 season, where the team conceded no goals in the last three games, to Gjesing's performances in defense. In April 2012, however, he tore his cruciate ligament once again in a league match against

Brønshøj BK Brønshøj, part of the municipality of Copenhagen, forms, together with Husum, the administrative city district (''bydel'') of Brønshøj-Husum, in Denmark. History The first mention of the village Brønshøj (Brunshoga), is in a letter dated Oc ...

. Despite going through multiple operations, he was unable to make a comeback and announced his retirement from professional football.

Retirement

Gjesing returned to play for Jutland Series (fifth highest division in Denmark) club

Fuglebakken KFUM Århus Fuglebakken KFUM Århus (; commonly known as Fuglebakken), is an association football club based in Aarhus V, Denmark, that competes in the Jutland Series, the sixth tier of the Danish football league system and the highest tier of the regional fo ...

in November 2015, more than three years after retiring from professional football. He was appointed as a playing assistant-coach.^{managerial section">#Managerial_career.html" ;"title="/nowiki> managerial section/nowiki>}

International career

Gjesing earned his first Cap (sport)">cap for the Denmark under-20 side on 5 October 2006 in a friendly against Norway U20. On 27 March 2007, he also made his debut for the Denmark under-21 team in a 2–1 away loss in a friendly against Greece U21 in Athens">Greece national under-21 football team">Greece U21 in Athens. Gjesing would go on to make 12 total appearances for the Danish under-21 team, including two legs in the

against Serbia U21, which were lost 0–2 on aggregate.

Managerial career

Fuglebakken and Fremad II

Gjesing started his coaching career in 2015 while playing for lower level club,

in the Danish fifth tier. In July 2017, he was named as the new head coach of the reserve team of Aarhus Fremad">Jutland Series">fifth tier. In July 2017, he was named as the new head coach of the reserve team of Aarhus Fremad, competing in the Denmark Series (fourth highest division).

VSK Aarhus

On 19 November 2018, Gjesing was appointed as the head coach of VSK Aarhus, a merger team in which his first youth club, Vejlby IK, formed one half. He took over a VSK-team competing in the Denmark Series, the fourth tier of

Danish football Association football is the most popular sport in Denmark, with 331,693 players and 1,647 clubs registered () under the Danish FA. The game was introduced into Denmark by British sailors. Kjøbenhavns Boldklub is the oldest club outside of the U ...

. The club reached promotion to the Danish 2nd Division (third tier) only six months after Gjesing was put in charge of the first team; a promotion which became a fact following a 2–0 win over

FC Djursland FC Djursland is an association football club based in the town of Grenaa, Denmark, that competes in the Denmark Series, the fifth tier of the Danish football league system. The club is a merger established in Djursland in 2009, originally betwe ...

on 15 June 2019. Following the promotion, Gjesing became

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

of VSK, which meant that he became responsible of forming the first team as well as taking executive decisions in the footballing department. He stated that his objective for the club was reaching the

(second tier) and introducing full-time professionalism in the footballing department, while playing attractive, attacking football. On 13 March 2021, Gjesing and his assistant Mads Post signed a new three-year contract, extending their tenure at VSK.

Personal life

After retiring from professional football, Gjesing took a

Bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in Marketing management at

Business Academy Aarhus Business Academy Aarhus is a school of higher education in Aarhus, Denmark founded on 1 January 2009. The academy is an independent self-owning institution subordinated to the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Higher Education. Degree programm ...

in Viby J while attending courses for coaching licenses.

References

External links

Danish national team profile

Official Danish League stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gjesing, Jens Living people 1986 births Danish men's footballers Denmark under-21 international footballers Aarhus Gymnastikforening players Hobro IK players Fuglebakken KFUM players Danish Superliga players Association football midfielders Footballers from Aarhus VSK Aarhus players Danish football managers Denmark youth international footballers