John Jensen (born 3 May 1965), nicknamed Faxe (), is a Danish

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. A former

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 ...

, his playing career lasted almost two entire decades, including a stint with Arsenal in England and three stints with Brøndby IF in Denmark. He scored four goals in 69

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for the Denmark national team, entering Danish footballing folklore during the 1992 European Championship tournament, when he scored the opening goal in Denmark's 2–0 victory over Germany in the final.

Club career

Early career

Jensen started his career at Brøndby IF, and was an important part of the team which won several Danish championships in the late 1980s, crowned by a call-up to the Denmark national team and the Danish ''Player of the Year'' award in 1987. Following a short stay with

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

team

Hamburger SV Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its football section. Though the current HSV was founded in June 1919 from a merger of three ...

in 1988, he was back with Brøndby in 1990 where he took part in the club's successful 1991

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 solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

campaign which reached the semi-final of the tournament.

Arsenal

After scoring in Denmark's 2–0 1992 European Championship final win over

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, Jensen was signed by

George Graham George Graham (born 30 November 1944), nicknamed "Stroller", is a Scottish former Association football, football player and manager (association football), manager. In his successful playing career, he made 455 appearances in England's Football ...

for Arsenal to succeed

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...

bound

David Rocastle David Carlyle Rocastle (2 May 1967 – 31 March 2001) was an English professional footballer who played as a midfielder in the roles of a playmaker and a winger. He spent the majority of his career at Arsenal where he was nicknamed "Rocky". Ro ...

in central midfield, after a bid to sign

Geoff Thomas Geoff or Geoffrey Thomas may refer to: * Geoffrey Thomas (academic) (born 1941), president of Kellogg College, Oxford * Geoffrey Thomas (businessman) (born 1959), Australian businessman * Geoff Thomas (footballer, born 1948) (1948–2013), Welsh fo ...

from

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failed. He was part of the 1992–93 side that won the

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 ...

, the 1993–94 side that won the

European Cup Winners Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tourna ...

(although he missed the final through injury) and the 1994–95 side that lost in the Cup-Winners Cup final. He was one of only 12 foreign players to play on the opening weekend of the FA Premier League. He scored his first goal for Arsenal on his 98th appearance, against

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...

on 31 December 1994. Having scored in the 1992 European Championship final, but never scoring for Arsenal, every time he was within long range of the goal the Arsenal fans would ironically shout "shooot". A few months later, it was revealed that Jensen's transfer to Highbury was at least partly motivated by George Graham's involvement with agent

Rune Hauge Rune Hauge (born 23 April 1954) is a Norwegian football agent. Hauge represented John Jensen and Pål Lydersen during their transfers to Arsenal in the early 1990s. This would lead to Arsenal manager George Graham becoming embroiled in allegatio ...

, who had been giving Graham backhanders in exchange for signing players he represented. The first player involved in this '

bung A stopper or cork is a cylindrical or conical Closure (container), closure used to seal a container, such as a bottle, tube or barrel (storage), barrel. Unlike a Lid (container), lid or bottle cap, which encloses a container from the outside wit ...

' scandal was Norwegian defender

Pål Lydersen Pål Lydersen (born 10 September 1965) is a Norwegian former professional footballer who played as a left-back. Lydersen played for IK Start, until he was signed by English club Arsenal in November 1991. However, he was unable to oust first- ...

, and the second was Jensen. Graham was sacked from his job two months after the story broke, and he was subsequently banned from football for 12 months. For his part in the scandal Hauge was banned from operating as a football agent for life but that was later reduced to two years on appeal. Jensen played on for 18 months before he left Highbury in the summer of 1996, with one goal from 138 competitive appearances for the club. Officially, though, he also scored a shootout goal against his friend

Peter Schmeichel Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a su ...

of Manchester United in the 1993 FA Charity Shield.

Return to Denmark

After leaving Arsenal he rejoined his old club, Brøndby IF. In 1999, he moved on to

Herfølge Herfølge is a suburb of the town of Køge, Denmark, located about 5 kilometers south of Køge, and is a part of Køge Municipality. The suburb is connected to Køge and Næstved by the Lille Syd railway line. Residential areas Holmebækhus ...

, where he was part of the squad that won the 1999–2000 Danish Superliga.

International career

Jensen scored four goals in 69 appearances for the Denmark national team between 1987 and 1995. He appeared at

Euro 1992 The 1992 UEFA European Football Championship was hosted by Sweden between 10 and 26 June 1992. It was the ninth UEFA European Championship, which is held every four years and supported by UEFA. Denmark won the 1992 championship, having qualifi ...

, and is noted for scoring the first goal in the

Final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

of an eventual 2–0 victory against

. During the years he spent at Arsenal, Jensen scored two goals in 21 games for the Denmark national team: one against

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

in 1993 and one against

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

in 1994.

Coaching career

Jensen retired from full-time playing in 1999 and accepted the job of player/manager at

Herfølge BK Herfølge is a suburb of the town of Køge, Denmark, located about 5 kilometers south of Køge, and is a part of Køge Municipality. The suburb is connected to Køge and Næstved by the Lille Syd railway line. Residential areas Holmebækhus ...

, a small Danish club, and immediately made a name for himself by winning the Danish Superliga on his first attempt. However, Herfølge's success was short-lived, and they were

relegated In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...

from the Superliga in the 2001 season. Jensen's reputation with his old club was good enough to secure him a move back to Brøndby IF, as assistant manager to

Michael Laudrup Michael Laudrup (, born 15 June 1964) is a Danish professional football coach and former player. He is considered to be one of the greatest players of all time. He is the older brother of fellow retired footballer Brian Laudrup. During his p ...

, a position he held until June 2006, when Jensen and Laudrup did not extend their contracts with the club. When Laudrup in 2007 was named new manager at Spanish side

Getafe Getafe () is a municipality and a city in Spain belonging to the Community of Madrid. , it has a population of 180,747, the region's sixth most populated municipality. Getafe is located 13 km south of Madrid's city centre, within a flat ar ...

, Jensen followed him as assistant manager. Laudrup quit Getafe after only one season, taking Jensen with him. On 12 January 2009, Jensen started as manager of

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 ye ...

side

Randers FC Randers FC () is a professional football club based in Randers, East Jutland, Denmark, that plays in the Danish Superliga, the top flight of the Danish football league system. Founded on 1 January 2003, the club builds upon the license of Rand ...

. On 6 October 2009, Jensen was sacked from Randers FC after a series of nine losses and two draws in 11 matches. On 12 January 2011, he signed a six-month contract with

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

to become assistant manager and work alongside Steve Kean. On 23 May 2011, he signed a new deal one-year deal to remain as Steve Kean's assistant at Blackburn. On 29 September 2011, he left Blackburn Rovers. On 11 October 2012, he was appointed consultant for Brøndby IF by manager Auri Skarbalius. On 27 May 2014, he was named new manager of Danish club

Fremad Amager Boldklubben Fremad Amager (meaning in English: The Ball Club Forward Amager ; abbreviated Fremad A) is a Danish professional football club based in the district of Amager Vest, Copenhagen. As of the 2020–21 season, the club's senior men's tea ...

replacing Tim Ilsø. In September 2018, it was announced that Jensen would take temporary charge of the Denmark national team for their replacement team's friendly match against

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

, following a dispute between the

Danish Football Union The Danish Football Union ( da, Dansk Boldspil-Union; DBU) is the governing body of football in Denmark. It is the organization of the Danish football clubs and runs the professional Danish football leagues and the men's and women's national te ...

and players, which also involved incumbent head coach

Åge Hareide Åge Fridtjof Hareide (born 23 September 1953) is a Norwegian football manager and player, currently managing Malmö FF as the interim manager. In his playing career, he played for Hødd and Molde in Norway as well as Manchester City and Norwich ...

. "When I say yes to help it's because I feel very strongly for the national team as an institution, and because the most important thing must be that the games will be played after all", said Jensen.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Denmark's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Jensen goal.''

Honours

Player

Brøndby *

: 1987, 1988,

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

, 1991, 1995–96, 1996–97, 1997–98 Arsenal *

: 1992–93 *

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

: 1992–93 *

European Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...

: 1993–94; runner-up: 1994–95 * European Super Cup runner-up:

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

Herfølge BK * Danish Superliga: 1999–2000 Denmark * European Championship: 1992 Individual *

Danish Player of the Year The Danish Player of the Year award is an annual prize, which has been given to the best male Danish football player by the Danish Football Association since 1963. The winner is decided in a vote among the professional Danish footballers. Since 2000 ...

: 1987

Manager

Herfølge BK * Danish Superliga: 1999–2000 Individual * Danish Coach of the Year: 2000

References

External links

*
Brøndby IF manager profile

Brøndby IF 1996–1999 player statistics
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jensen, John 1965 births Living people Footballers from Copenhagen Danish footballers Association football midfielders Brøndby IF players Hamburger SV players Arsenal F.C. players Herfølge Boldklub players Danish Superliga players Bundesliga players Premier League players Denmark under-21 international footballers Denmark international footballers UEFA Euro 1988 players UEFA Euro 1992 players UEFA European Championship-winning players Danish expatriate footballers Danish expatriate sportspeople in Germany Danish expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate footballers in Germany Expatriate footballers in England Danish football managers Herfølge Boldklub managers Getafe CF non-playing staff Blackburn Rovers F.C. non-playing staff Randers FC managers Denmark national football team managers Fremad Amager managers Danish Superliga managers Danish expatriate sportspeople in Spain Brøndby IF non-playing staff FA Cup Final players Danish 1st Division managers