Morten Wieghorst (born 25 February 1971) is a Danish association football manager and former player. He is currently the assistant coach for the

Denmark national football team The Denmark men's national football team ( da, Danmarks herre-fodboldlandshold or ''herrelandsholdet'') represents Denmark in men's international football competitions. It is controlled by the Danish Football Association (DBU), the governing bo ...

. He is the former head coach of the

Denmark national under-21 football team The Denmark national under-21 football team has played since 1976 and is controlled by the Danish Football Association. Before 1976, the age limit was 23 years. Tournament record UEFA European U-21 Championship *''*Draws include knockout match ...

and

FC Nordsjælland Football Club Nordsjælland, commonly known as FC Nordsjælland, Nordsjælland () or FCN, is a professional Danish football team from the North Zealand town of Farum. Founded as ''Farum Boldklub'' from the merger of the town's two football club ...

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 ...

whom he guided to the 2010 and 2011

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 ...

trophy. During his active career, Wieghorst played as a

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 ...

. He started his career with

Lyngby Boldklub Lyngby Boldklub () is a Danish professional football club founded in 1921. It is based at Lyngby Stadion in Kongens Lyngby, Lyngby-Taarbæk Municipality, a northern suburb of Copenhagen. From 1994 to 2001 the club was known as Lyngby FC. The club ...

, with whom he won the 1990 Danish Cup and 1992 Superliga titles. He then moved abroad and played ten seasons in

Scottish football Association football ( sco, fitbaa, gd, ball-coise) is one of the national sports of Scotland and the most popular sport in the country. There is a long tradition of "football" games in Orkney, Lewis and southern Scotland, especially the Scot ...

with

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

and

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

, and won the 1998

Scottish football champions The Scottish football champions are the winners of the highest league in Scottish football, namely the Scottish Football League (SFL) from 1890 until 1998, the Scottish Premier League (SPL) from 1998 until 2013 and the Scottish Premiership therea ...

hip with Celtic. He ended his career with Danish club

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 ...

, after winning the 2005 Superliga and two Danish Cup trophies with the team. He played 30 matches and scored three goals for the Denmark national team from 1994 to 2004, won the 1995 Confederations Cup, and appeared in three games at the 1998 World Cup. He was named 2003 Danish ''Player of the Year'', and received a 2003 Olympic Committee fair play award for missing a

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. ...

on purpose.

Playing career

Club

Born in

Glostrup Glostrup is a Danish town in Region Hovedstaden, forming one of the western suburbs of Copenhagen. It is the administrative seat of Glostrup Municipality, with an estimated population of 22,357 . During the 20th century Glostrup developed from ...

, he started his senior career with

in 1989. and he was part of the 1990

winning Lyngby squad. He suffered an ankle injury in the summer of 1991, and returned to the team in September 1991. He played 24 games as Lyngby won the

1991–92 Danish Superliga The 1991–92 Danish Superliga season was the 2nd season of the Danish Superliga league championship, governed by the Danish Football Association. The tournament was held in two rounds. First round was in the autumn 1991, and the second in the sp ...

championship. He took part in the 1992–93 UEFA Champions League qualification games against Scottish team Rangers in September 1992, and moved to play in Scotland shortly thereafter. He joined

in the

Scottish Premier Division The Scottish Football League Premier Division was, from 1975 until 1998, the top division of the Scottish Football League and the entire Scottish football league system. It lay above the Scottish Football League First, Second and (from 1994) Th ...

, but could not prevent the club from being

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. ...

to the

Scottish League Division One The Scottish Football League (SFL) was a league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4 km south ...

at the end of the 1993–94 season. They reached the

1995 Scottish League Cup Final The 1995 Scottish League Cup Final was played on 26 November 1995, at Hampden Park in Glasgow and was the final of the 50th Scottish League Cup competition. The final was contested by Aberdeen and Dundee. Aberdeen won the match 2–0 thanks to ...

in November 1995, but lost to

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

. Wieghorst also lost the 1994 Scottish Challenge Cup Final with Dundee. He made 109 appearances and scored 17 goals in his time with the club. He moved on to Premier Division team

in December 1995. Injuries partly ruined his first two seasons in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

.(Celtic player) Wieghorst, Morten
FitbaStats In the 1997–98 season, Wieghorst played 31 of 36 league matches for Celtic as the club won its 36th Scottish championship to end "

Old Firm The Old Firm is the collective name for the Scottish football clubs Celtic and Rangers, which are both based in Glasgow. The two clubs are by far the most successful and popular in Scotland, and the rivalry between them has become deeply em ...

" archrivals Rangers' nine-year stranglehold on the title. In 2000, Wieghorst was diagnosed with the

Guillain–Barré syndrome Guillain–Barré syndrome (GBS) is a rapid-onset muscle weakness caused by the immune system damaging the peripheral nervous system. Typically, both sides of the body are involved, and the initial symptoms are changes in sensation or pain often ...

, and following treatment he spent a year in recovery before returning to play in a November 2001

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,2001–02 season before he returned to Denmark. He signed on a free transfer for defending Danish champions

in the summer 2002, as one of the first signings of new manager

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 pl ...

. In his first year at Brøndby, he most famously suffered a gashed eyebrow in the November 2002 game against Farum BK, but played on wearing a bloody head bandage and scored four goals in Brøndby's 7–1 victory. He was appointed vice-team captain behind

Per Nielsen Per Lundgren Nielsen (; born 15 October 1973) is a Danish former professional footballer who played in the central defense of Brøndby IF in the Danish Superliga for his entire club career. With Brøndby, Nielsen won five Danish championships ...

, and Wieghorst won his second Danish Cup title in 2003. In May 2004, Wieghorst suffered a knee injury in the "New Firm" local derby against archrivals

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 ...

. He returned to the starting line-up late in the 2004–05 season in April 2005, and was a part of the Brøndby team that won The Double of both league championship and cup trophy. In May 2005, less than a month after his rehabilitation, he announced his retirement at the season end on 26 June 2005.

International

Wieghorst made his international debut for the

in October 1990, and played six games for the team until September 1991. He made his debut for the Denmark national team in August 1994,Morten Wieghorst – Alle hold (Alle kampe)
at

Danish Football Association 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 t ...

when he came on as a half-time substitute and scored the deciding goal in the 2–1

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

win against

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 ...

. He was a part of the Denmark squad that won the

1995 King Fahd Cup The 1995 King Fahd Cup ( ar, كأس الملك فهد) was the second and last tournament held under the King Fahd Cup name before the competition was retroactively sanctioned by FIFA and recognized as FIFA Confederations Cup. Disputed as the King ...

, where he came on as a substitute to replace the injured team captain

in the 2–0 final win against

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

. During his injured first seasons at Celtic, Wieghorst's international career went on a hiatus. After his return to the Celtic team, Wieghorst became a mainstay in the Denmark national team from October 1997. He was selected to represent Denmark at the

1998 FIFA World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the football world championship for men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. The country was chosen as the host nation by FIFA for the ...

, and played three games at the tournament. Most remarkably, he came on as a substitute in the 82nd minute of the 1–1 draw with

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

, only to be

sent off In sports, an ejection (also known as dismissal, sending-off, disqualification, or early shower) is the removal of a participant from a contest due to a violation of the sport's rules. The exact violations that lead to an ejection vary depending ...

three minutes later. In Denmark's ultimate qualification game for the 2000 European Championship, he scored in the 3–2 victory against

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

which secured Denmark's qualification for the main tournament. Having been brought on as a substitute in the 52nd minute, he scored to level the game at 2–2 in the 57th minute, before he was sent-off for his second

yellow card Yellow card may refer to: * Yellow card (sport), shown in many sports after a rules infraction or, by analogy, a serious warning in other areas * Yellowcard, an American alternative rock band * Yellow Card Scheme, a United Kingdom initiative conce ...

in the 80th minute. This made him the only Denmark national team player to have been sent-off more than once. In October 1999, Wieghorst's national team career came to a halt again, due to his illness. Wieghorst re-entered the Denmark national team in August 2002, while playing for Brøndby, as he played the 1–0 friendly match win against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. In February 2003, he was selected for the

Denmark League XI national football team The Denmark League XI national football team is an unofficial national football team run by the Danish Football Association. The team generally consists of Danish players playing in the Danish Superliga, or other leagues if their clubs agree to r ...

, consisting of the best Danish players in the Superliga, to play a series of unofficial friendly matches against various Asian national teams.Morten Wieghorst – Ligalandshold (Alle uofficielle kampe)
at

In the game against

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

, an Iranian player mistook a whistle from the crowd as being the

referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other titl ...

's half-time signal, and picked the ball up with his hands in the

penalty area The penalty area or 18-yard box (also known less formally as the penalty box or simply box) is an area of an association football pitch. It is rectangular and extends 16.5m (18 yd) to each side of the goal and 16.5m (18 yd) in front of it. Wit ...

. The referee gave a

, but following consultation with national team coach

Morten Olsen Morten Per Olsen (born 14 August 1949) is a Danish football manager and former player. He was the head coach of the Denmark national team for 15 years from 2000 until 2015, guiding Denmark to the 2002 FIFA World Cup, 2004 European Championshi ...

, Wieghorst missed the penalty on purpose as a token of fair play, and Denmark XI lost 1–0. The incident made

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...

's "Play of the Day" of 2 February 2003, and Wieghorst received an

Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental Sports governing body, sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an associ ...

fair play award. He was selected the 2003 Danish ''Player of the Year''. He played his last national team game in April 2004, a 1–0 friendly match win against Scotland.

Coaching career

Nordsjælland

After ending his active career he became assistant coach for

during the 2005–06 season. When manager

Johnny Petersen Johnny Petersen (born 27 November 1947) is a Danish football manager and former player who most recently was caretaker manager of Akademisk Boldklub. As a player, he represented Akademisk Boldklub and B 93 in his native country and FC St. Pau ...

was let go, Wieghorst was promoted to

manager for the following season. In his first year as manager, he led Nordsjælland to a fifth-place finish in the

2006–07 Danish Superliga The 2006–07 Danish Superliga season was the 17th season of the Danish Superliga league championship, which determined the winners of the Danish football championship. It was governed by the Danish Football Association. It took place from the f ...

season, the best finishing position since 2003. Despite finishing ninth in the

2007–08 Danish Superliga The 2007–08 Danish Superliga season was the 18th season of the Danish Superliga league championship, which determined the winners of the Danish football championship. It was governed by the Danish Football Association. It started with the first ...

season, Nordsjælland qualified for the

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 ...

via the

UEFA Fair Play ranking The UEFA Respect Fair Play ranking was used by UEFA from 1995 to the 2015–16 season to grant three berths for the first qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League. Since that time it has granted a monetary prize to winning associations. Qualific ...

. Wieghorst managed Nordsjælland to a run in the

2008–09 UEFA Cup The 2008–09 UEFA Cup was the 38th season of the UEFA Cup football tournament. The final was played at the Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium, home ground of Fenerbahçe, in Istanbul on 20 May 2009. This season was the final one to use the UEFA Cup for ...

defeating TVMK Tallinn from Estonia and Scottish club Queen of the South,"Club History" on the official Queen of the South website
before they were eliminated by Greek side

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós ( el, Ολυμπιακός Σύνδεσμος Φιλάθλων Πειραιώς, Olympic Club of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number ...

. He managed Nordsjælland to the

2009–10 Danish Cup The 2009–10 Danish Cup was the 56th season of the Danish football cup competition. For the second year, the sponsor of the competition was Ekstra Bladet, a daily newspaper, who signed a 3-year contract with the Danish Football Association (DBU) ...

trophy, the first title in club history. The following year Wieghorst and Nordsjælland won the trophy again thereby defending the title.

Denmark U21

On 28 February 2011 the

revealed that he would be the successor of

Keld Bordinggaard Keld Bordinggard (born 23 November 1962) is a Danish former association football player. He was the head coach of the Danish national under-21 team from July 2006 until the U21 European Championship in June 2011. As a player, he most notably play ...

as manager of the Danish national under-21 football team after the

2011 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship Eleven or 11 may refer to: *11 (number), the natural number following 10 and preceding 12 * one of the years 11 BC, AD 11, 1911, 2011, or any year ending in 11 Literature * ''Eleven'' (novel), a 2006 novel by British author David Llewellyn *'' ...

in June that year. He continued as manager of FC Nordsjælland until the end of the 2010-11 Danish SuperligaWieghorst skal være landstræner for ungdommen
/ref> and led Nordsjælland to the

2010–11 Danish Cup The 2010–11 Danish Cup was the 57th season of the Danish football cup competition. For the third year, the sponsor of the competition was Ekstra Bladet, a daily newspaper, who signed a 3-year contract with the Danish Football Association (DBU) ...

trophy in one of his last games in charge of the team.FC Nordsjælland pokalmestre igen
/ref>

Assistant to Michael Laudrup at Swansea

On 7 February 2013, it was reported that he would join Swansea City as an assistant to club manager

. On 4 February 2014, Swansea fired him alongside Michael Laudrup, just three days short of his year anniversary in the job.

AGF

On 30 May 2014, he was appointed as the new head coach of AGF. He signed a three-year contract. He got the team promoted to the

in his first season. He was sacked on 5 December 2015 due to a series of bad results in the

2015–16 Danish Superliga The 2015–16 Danish Superliga season was the 26th season of the Danish Superliga, which decides the Danish football championship. Midtjylland were the defending champions. As Denmark dropped from nineteenth to twenty-second place in the 2015 U ...

AaB

On 2 January 2017, he became the new manager of AaB in the

. He was sacked on 25 November 2018.

Career statistics

International goals

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

Managerial

Honours

Playing career

Lyngby BK *

: 1991–92 *

: 1990 Celtic *

: 1997–98 *

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in existen ...

: 1997–98, 1999–2000 *

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1998–99 Brøndby IF *

: 2004–05 *

: 2002–03, 2004–05 *

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 ...

: 2002 Denmark *

King Fahd Cup The FIFA Confederations Cup was an international association football tournament for men's national teams, held every four years by FIFA. It was contested by the holders of each of the six continental championships ( AFC, CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBO ...

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

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 ...

: 2003 * Olympic Committee fair play award: 2003 *

Dundee FC Dundee Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Dundee, Scotland, founded in 1893. The team are nicknamed "The Dark Blues" or "The Dee". The club plays its home matches at Dens Park. The club was formed after a me ...

Hall of Fame: 2019

Coaching career

FC Nordsjælland *

: 2009–10,

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

References

External links

Danish national team profileBrøndby IF profileSuperliga playing statisticsSuperliga coaching statistics
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wieghorst, Morten 1971 births Living people People from Glostrup Municipality Danish footballers Danish expatriate footballers Danish football managers Denmark international footballers Denmark under-21 international footballers Lyngby Boldklub players Dundee F.C. players Celtic F.C. players Brøndby IF players 1995 King Fahd Cup players 1998 FIFA World Cup players FIFA Confederations Cup-winning players Scottish Premier League players Scottish Football League players Expatriate footballers in Scotland Danish Superliga players FC Nordsjælland managers Aarhus Gymnastikforening managers AaB Fodbold managers Association football midfielders Danish expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Danish Superliga managers Swansea City A.F.C. non-playing staff People with Guillain–Barré syndrome Sportspeople from the Capital Region of Denmark