Ulrik Wilbek (born 13 April 1958, in

Tunis ''Tounsi'' french: Tunisois , population_note = , population_urban = , population_metro = 2658816 , population_density_km2 = , timezone1 = CET , utc_offset1 ...

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

) is a former Danish

team handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...

coach and current politician, and mayor of Viborg. He is the most successful Danish team handball coach ever, having won 2 European championships with the men and 2 European championships, 1 World championship and 1 Olympic gold medal with the women. He was the head coach for the Danish men's national handball team from 2005-2014."Denmark"
''European Handball Federation'' (Retrieved on January 27, 2008) He led the Danish team to win the

2008 European Men's Handball Championship The 2008 EHF European Men's Handball Championship (8th tournament) was held in Norway from 17 to 27 January, in the cities of Bergen, Drammen, Lillehammer, Stavanger and Trondheim. Denmark men's national handball team, Denmark won the tournament ...

in Norway, the

2012 European Men's Handball Championship The 2012 EHF European Men's Handball Championship was the tenth edition of the men's continental handball tournament, which was held in Serbia between 15 and 29 January 2012. Sixteen teams qualified for the event, including host nation Serbia, ...

and obtained silver at the

2011 World Men's Handball Championship The 2011 World Men's Handball Championship, the 22nd event hosted by the International Handball Federation, was held in Sweden from 13 to 30 January 2011. All matches were played in Malmö, Lund, Kristianstad, Gothenburg, Skövde, Jönköping, ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

, and bronze medals both at the

2006 European Men's Handball Championship The 2006 EHF European Men's Handball Championship was the seventh tournamentof the tournament and held in Switzerland from 26 January to 5 February 2006, in the cities of Basel, Berne, Lucerne, St. Gallen and Zürich. France won the tournament, g ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

and at the

2007 World Men's Handball Championship The 2007 World Men's Handball Championship took place from 19 January to 4 February 2007 in Germany. 24 national teams played in 12 German cities. It was the 20th edition of the World Championship in team handball and was won by the hosts. Stadi ...

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 ...

. He is married to former handball player Susanne Munk Wilbek.

Handball coaching career

Women's national team

Wilbek's first international successes came as coach for the Danish Women's national youth team in the late 1980s. Here he first coached players like

Anja Andersen Anja Jul Andersen (born 15 February 1969 in Odense, Denmark) is a former Danish team handball player and current coach. She is an Olympic champion, World champion and two times European champion. In 1997, she was named IHF World Player of the Yea ...

and his wife-to-be Susanne Munk Lauritsen. A few years later, he was asked to be coach for the national A-team, which nearly was closed in the early 1990s due to bad results. Wilbek took the challenge and promoted a couple of the youth players, and the team had its first success as finalist in the

1993 World Women's Handball Championship The 1993 World Women's Handball Championship was the 11th World Championship in women's handball took place in Norway from 24 November to 5 December 1993 and was played between 16 nations. In the final it would be Germany would take home their ...

, losing only after extra time. In the following years, Wilbek was in the lead of the team, that became one of the most successful national handball teams of all times and at the same time one of the most popular teams in Danish sport. The team was European Champions in 1994 and won bronze medals at 1995 World Championship. The peak of the team was reached at the end of 1997, when the team was reigning World Champions (1997), European Champions (1996), and Olympic Champions (1996). This was the first time in handball history that a national team held all 3 major titles at the same time and only 2 other national teams have accomplished it since. It also marked the end of Wilbek's career as coach for the women's national team, having won everything.

Club handball

Wilbek's initial work as a handball coach was in his own club, Virum Sorgenfri Håndboldklub, in 1985–88 (elite men). Just turned 30, he came to

Viborg HK Viborg HK (Viborg Håndbold Klub) is the name of a Danish handball club from Viborg. The club has many teams for both women and men, but especially the professional women's team is one of the most successful in Danish and European handball sin ...

as a coach for the ambitious women's team, which by then had just been promoted to the Danish top league. Within a few years, he led the club to their first medals (silver in 1991), and the Danish National team now wanted him as a coach for the women's team. After five extremely successful years as national coach, Wilbek again turned towards club coaching. He was reappointed as coach for Viborg HK's elite women, and again he showed his excellence: The team became national champions for four consecutive years and reached the final in the 2001

EHF Champions League The Men's EHF Champions League is the most important club handball competition for men's teams in Europe and involves the leading teams from the top European nations. The competition is organised every year by EHF. The official name for the me ...

Men's national team

He now needed new challenges and turned towards the club's men's team in the early 2000s. This marked Wilbek's least successful period as a coach with no medals won. But he was still popular within the national handball association, and in 2005 he was appointed coach of the national men's team. In 2006 he led the team to a 3rd-place finish at the European Championships and in 2007 they finished 3rd in The World Championship. In 2008 he led the team to first place in the 2008 European Men's Handball Championship.

Danish Handball Federation

In 2016, after four years as a manager for the

Danish Handball Federation '' , abbrev= DHF , logo= Danish Handball Federation logo.svg , logosize= 150px , countryflag= Denmark , iocnation= Kingdom of Denmark (DEN) , url= www.dhf.dk , sport= Handball , othersport1= Beach Handball , othersport2= Wheelchair Handball , histo ...

DHF, Ulrik Wilbek was submitting his resignation to the federation. The termination comes after the internal disturbances during the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

, where Ulrik contacted bearing profiles of the men's national team to discuss coach Guðmundur Guðmundsson future before the finals and asked the players if they felt if the coach Guðmundsson was fired.Some days after this scandal,Denmark won the gold medal at the event. After the controversy, Ulrik handed over his responsibilities to others in DHF, and then used his energy on the local political work in Viborg.

Political career

Ulrik Wilbek was a member of the

city council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...

of Viborg for the political party Venstre from 1998 to 2001. After retiring from handball, he was elected to Viborg city council again in the

municipal elections In many parts of the world, local elections take place to select office-holders in local government, such as mayors and councillors. Elections to positions within a city or town are often known as "municipal elections". Their form and conduct vary ...

in November 2017. He has served as mayor of Viborg since January 2018.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilbek, Ulrik 1958 births Living people Danish handball coaches Danish sportsperson-politicians Olympic coaches Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Denmark Venstre (Denmark) politicians People from Viborg Municipality Sportspeople from Tunis