Michael Manniche (born 17 July 1959) is a Danish former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a

centre forward Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

. Even though he played professionally for four clubs in his country, he was best known for his spell with Benfica in Portugal.

Football career

Born in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

Frederiksberg Municipality Frederiksberg Kommune is a Municipalities of Denmark, municipality (Danish language, Danish, ''Commune (subnational entity), kommune'') on the island of Zealand (Denmark), Zealand (''Sjælland'') in Denmark. Part of the Capital Region of Denmark ...

, Manniche started his career with

Brønshøj Boldklub Brønshøj BK, full name Brønshøj Boldklub, is a Danish 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 local leagues in the C ...

in 1977, signing for

Hvidovre IF Hvidovre Idrætsforening, more commonly known as Hvidovre IF () is a Denmark, Danish professional association football, football club based in Hvidovre. The club competes in the Danish 1st Division, the second tier of Danish football league syste ...

three years later and helping it to 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 ...

in 1980 and the Danish Championship in the following year; in August he made his debut with

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 ...

, appearing as a second-half substitute in a friendly with Nordic neighbours

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

(2–1 win) – in total, he would win 11

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

in six years, but did not attend any major international tournament. In the middle of 1983, Manniche moved abroad, signing with defending

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal, ...

champions

S.L. Benfica Sport Lisboa e Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional association football, football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football league system, Portuguese footba ...

. In his first season he helped the team retain the championship, scoring 11 goals in only 21 matches. Additionally, he netted twice in the 1985

Portuguese Cup Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

final win against

FC Porto Futebol Clube do Porto, MHIH, OM (), commonly known as FC Porto or simply Porto, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Porto. It is best known for the professional football team playing in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portu ...

(3–1), winning another league trophy in 1987. Having played 132 official matches with 75 goals for Benfica, Manniche was affectionately known as "O Tosco" (

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

slang for a person/player with few or no technical abilities). In the decades following his retirement he stayed firmly connected to the club, either watching games, mediating in business negotiations or supplying training equipment. In 1987, 28-year-old Manniche returned home, joining

Boldklubben 1903 Boldklubben 1903 or B 1903 is a association football, football club founded on 2 June 1903, located in Copenhagen, Denmark. Seven times winner of the Danish Superliga, Danish championship (introduced 1913) in Danish 1st Division 1919-20, 1920, D ...

– on 1 July 1992, it merged with

Kjøbenhavns Boldklub Kjøbenhavns Boldklub or KB is a Danish sports club based in Copenhagen. The club was founded 26 April 1876 on the grassy fields in outer Copenhagen which later became Fælledparken. Tennis has been played since 1883. The club hosted, in 1921, on ...

to become

F.C. 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 ...

. In its first year of existence, they won

the league ''The League'' is an American sitcom that aired on FX and later FXX from October 29, 2009, to December 9, 2015, for a total of seven seasons. The series, set in Chicago, Illinois, is a semi-improvised comedy show about a fantasy football league ...

; he played his last match on 17 April 1994, and became a coach for small Danish amateur sides. Manniche returned to Copenhagen in 1996, as an assistant manager. After a string of poor results he made a short comeback as a player, at the age of 37, calling it quits shortly after. The Portuguese footballer

Maniche Nuno Ricardo de Oliveira Ribeiro (born 11 November 1977), known as Maniche (), is a Portuguese retired professional footballer who played as a central midfielder. He played top flight football in Portugal, Russia, England, Spain, Italy and Ge ...

was nicknamed in reference to Manniche.

Honours

Hvidovre *

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 ...

: 1981 *

: 1980 Benfica *

: 1983–84, 1986–87 *

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; "Cup of Portugal") is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Placard since the 2015–16 seaso ...

: 1984–85, 1985–86, 1986–87 *

Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira The Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira (; English: Cândido de Oliveira Super Cup, or simply Portuguese Super Cup) is an annual Portuguese football match played since 1979 between the winners of the Portuguese League (Primeira Liga) and Portuguese ...

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

FC Copenhagen *

: 1992–93

References

External links

Brønshøj profile
*
National team data
*
Michael Manniche Interview with Bold

Michael Manniche Interview with Observador
{{DEFAULTSORT:Manniche, Michael 1959 births Living people Footballers from Copenhagen Danish footballers Association football forwards Danish Superliga players Brønshøj Boldklub players Hvidovre IF players F.C. Copenhagen players Primeira Liga players S.L. Benfica footballers Denmark under-21 international footballers Denmark international footballers Danish expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Portugal Danish expatriate sportspeople in Portugal