Kent Nielsen (born 28 December 1961) is a Danish professional football

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 ...

and former player, who is currently the head coach of

Silkeborg IF Silkeborg Idrætsforening, (; commonly known as Silkeborg IF or SIF in short) is a professional football club based in Silkeborg, Denmark. The club was founded in 1917, reached the highest level of Danish football in 1987, and afterwards became ...

. He was named coach of the year by the Danish Football Association in 2014 after winning both 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 ye ...

and the

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 ...

with AaB. He started his coaching career as caretaker manager of AGF, before getting his breakthrough with AC Horsens, guiding the club to promotion to the top-flight Superliga championship in 2005. He has also coached Superliga clubs Brøndby IF and OB. In his active career, Nielsen played as a

centre back 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 ...

. He won two Danish championships and a Danish Cup trophy with Brøndby IF. He played three years in England with Aston Villa, before ending his career after winning the Danish Cup with AGF. He played 54 games and scored three goals for the Denmark national team, winning the Euro 1992 championship and representing Denmark at the 1986 FIFA World Cup tournament.

Playing career

Club career

The son of former

Danish international Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish ance ...

Erik Nielsen Erik Hersholt Nielsen (February 24, 1924 – September 4, 2008) was a Canadian lawyer and politician. He served as the longtime Progressive Conservative Member of Parliament for Yukon, and was Leader of the Opposition and the third deputy pr ...

, Kent Nielsen started his career in Erik's former club

Brønshøj Boldklub Brønshøj BK, full name Brønshøj Boldklub, is a Danish association football, football club located in the outskirts of Copenhagen. The club was founded 15 May. 1919. History in brief Early years: Brønshøj BK's first decades was spent in ...

(in Copenhagen), alongside his brother Tommy. Kent Nielsen switched to the Danish team Brøndby IF in 1987, with whom he won the 1987 and 1988 Danish championships, as well as the 1989

. Following 91 first team games for Brøndby, Nielsen left the club in 1989. He was bought by English club Aston Villa for a reported £500,000

transfer fee Transfer may refer to: Arts and media * ''Transfer'' (2010 film), a German science-fiction movie directed by Damir Lukacevic and starring Zana Marjanović * ''Transfer'' (1966 film), a short film * ''Transfer'' (journal), in management studies ...

, and secured himself a place in the starting line-up in his two first seasons with the club. New Aston Villa manager

Ron Atkinson Ronald Frederick Atkinson (born 18 March 1939), commonly known as "Big Ron" or "Mr. Bojangles", is an English former football player and manager. In the 1990s and early 2000s, he was regarded as one of Britain's best-known football pundits. Nic ...

did not see Nielsen as fitting into his

4–4–2 In association football, the formation of a team refers to the position players take in relation to each other on a pitch. As association football is a fluid and fast-moving game, a player's position (with the exception of the goalkeeper) in a ...

tactics and brought in replacement

Shaun Teale Shaun Teale (born 10 March 1964 in Southport) is an English football manager and former professional footballer. He played as a defender from 1983 until 2004 and was notably part of the League Cup winning team of Aston Villa in 1994.He also ...

,Ib Pilegaard, "Kent ude i kulden", B.T., 26 November 1991, p.12. and Nielsen looked to leave the club. In early 1992, he moved back to Denmark, to play for

AGF Aarhus Aarhus Gymnastikforening (; commonly known as AGF ), is a professional sports club based in Aarhus, Jutland, Denmark. Founded in 1880, it is one of the oldest clubs in the country and gymnastics and fencing are featured as its main sports. Howev ...

. He won the 1992 Danish Cup with AGF, before he retired in 1994.

International career

Nielsen started his international career with the

Denmark national under-19 football team The Denmark national under-19 football team is a team under the Danish Football Association, selected among all Danish football players under the age of 19, to represent Denmark in international U / 19 football tournaments organized by FIFA and ...

in July 1979. He was called up for the Denmark national under-21 football team in May 1983. Following two under-21 games, he made his debut for the senior Danish national team on 5 October 1983 in a

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the sec ...

qualification game against

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

, making him the last Brønshøj player until this date, to represent the club on the national squad. He then reverted to the under-21 team. He played his second senior international game in January 1985, and was selected by national team manager

Sepp Piontek Josef Emanuel Hubertus "Sepp" Piontek (born 5 March 1940) is a German former Association football, footballer and manager. Playing career Born in Breslau, now Wrocław. Piontek started his playing career with VfL Germania Leer. Between 1963 and ...

for the Danish squad at the

1986 World Cup The 1986 FIFA World Cup was the 13th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in Mexico from 31 May to 29 June 1986. The tournament was the second to feature a 24-team format. Colombia had ...

, but spent the entire tournament as an unused substitute. He was a part of Olympic manager

Richard Møller Nielsen Richard Møller Nielsen (19 August 1937 – 13 February 2014) was a Danish football player and manager. He coached the Denmark national football team that won the UEFA Euro 1992 tournament. In 1995, he was awarded a gold version of the Medal ...

's team for the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...

qualification tournament, but was not called up to Piontek's squad for the

Euro 1988 The 1988 UEFA European Football Championship final tournament was held in West Germany from 10 to 25 June 1988. It was the eighth UEFA European Championship, which is held every four years and supported by UEFA. The tournament crowned the Nethe ...

. Under new national team manager Richard Møller Nielsen, Kent Nielsen became a constant member of the Denmark squad. After his return to AGF, he was selected to represent Denmark at the Euro 1992. Nielsen played four of Denmark's five games, including the Euro 1992 final against

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 ...

, where he most famously cleared the ball off the goalline with a

bicycle kick In association football, a bicycle kick, also known as an overhead kick, scissors kick, is an acrobatic strike where a player kicks an airborne ball rearward in midair. It is achieved by throwing the body backward up into the air and, before d ...

, avoiding a goal from

Karl-Heinz Riedle Karl-Heinz Riedle (; born 16 September 1965) is a German former professional footballer who played as a striker. Despite not being particularly tall, he was nicknamed "Air" throughout his career, due to his notable heading accuracy, jumping an ...

. He ended his international career following the 2–0 win against Germany.

Managerial career

Following his retirement, Nielsen spent years as an amateur football manager until he and former Danish international Lars Lundkvist took over as co-managers of AGF in April 2000. He and Lundkvist kept AGF from being relegated, but left the club after the season end. In 2001, he was appointed manager of Danish 1st Division club AC Horsens, which he managed to

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

for the

. Against all odds, he led the team to survive the 2005–06 Superliga season. His success continued during the following season, and he was named 2006 Danish Coach of the Year. In the 2007–08 season, his team finished in a historic fifth place, despite having one of the lowest budgets in the league. Eventually, Nielsen's achievements with Horsens caught the attention of other clubs. In January 2009, he signed a four-year contract with his former club Brøndby IF. He managed Brøndby to 17 victories in 38 games. In March 2010, he was sacked, following a 1–3 defeat to

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 ...

. On 11 October 2010 he replaced Magnus Pehrsson as manager of AaB. He led the club to the 2013–14 Danish Superliga championship and the 2013–14 Danish Cup.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

;Brøndby * Danish championship: 2 ::

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, ...

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...

: 1 :: 1989 ;AGF *

: 1 :: 1992 ;Denmark *

UEFA European Football Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition is contes ...

: 1 :: 1992

Manager

;AaB *

: 1 :: 2013–14 *

: 1 :: 2013–14

References

External links

Danish national team profileDanish Superliga manager statisticsDanish Superliga player statisticsKent Nielsen
at Brøndby IF * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nielsen, Kent 1961 births Living people Sportspeople from Frederiksberg Danish men's footballers Denmark international footballers Denmark under-21 international footballers Brøndby IF players Aarhus Gymnastikforening players Danish football managers Aston Villa F.C. players AC Horsens managers 1986 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 1992 players UEFA European Championship-winning players AaB Fodbold managers Aarhus Gymnastikforening managers Brønshøj Boldklub players Association football defenders Odense Boldklub managers Silkeborg IF managers Danish Superliga managers