Allan Hjortdal Kuhn (born 2 March 1968), known simply as Allan Kuhn, is a Danish

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

coach and former player. He most recently was the 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 yea ...

club

Hobro IK Hobro Idræts Klub () is a professional association football club based in the town of Hobro, Denmark, that competes in the 1st Division, the second tier of the Danish football league system. Founded in 1913, it is known by the short names 'Ho ...

. Before that he was head coach of Swedish club

Malmö FF Malmö Fotbollförening, commonly known as Malmö FF, Malmö, or MFF, is a professional football club and the most successful football club in Sweden in terms of trophies won. Formed in 1910 and affiliated with the Scania Football Associatio ...

in 2016, where he won the domestic league during his sole season. He was the head coach of

FC Midtjylland FC Midtjylland (, "Central Jutland") is a Danish professional football club based in Herning and Ikast in the western part of Jutland. The club is the result of a merger between Ikast FS and Herning Fremad. Midtjylland competes in the Danish Supe ...

from 2009 to 2011. He is also a former assistant coach and caretaker head coach of

Aalborg BK Aalborg Boldspilklub is a Danish sports club based in the city of Aalborg. The club is also known as AaB for short (cf. logo) or Aalborg BK. Through time the club has had branches in cricket, tennis, ice hockey, handball, and basketball, but curre ...

, and was the assistant of head coach

Erik Hamrén Erik Anders Hamrén (born 27 June 1957) is a Swedish manager and former football player, who is the manager of Danish Superliga club AaB. He also previously coached the Sweden national football team between 2009 and 2016 and the Iceland nationa ...

in the 2008 Superliga-winning season, as well as assistant of Kent Nielsen in the 2014 Superliga-winning season. In his active career, Kuhn was known as a hard-working attacking midfielder. He played a total 204 games for

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 ...

, winning the 1990

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 and the 1992 Superliga championship with the club. He also played for Danish clubs

Boldklubben 1903 Boldklubben 1903 or B 1903 is a football club founded on 2 June 1903, located in Copenhagen, Denmark. Seven times winner of the Danish championship (introduced 1913) in 1920, 1924, 1926, 1938, 1969, 1970 and 1976 and twice winner of the Danish ...

and

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 ...

, and won the 2000 Swedish Cup with

Örgryte IS Örgryte Idrottssällskap, commonly referred to as Örgryte IS, Örgryte () or (especially locally) ÖIS or Öis, is a Swedish sports club based in Gothenburg. It consists of four departments, namely bowling, football, athletics and wrestling. H ...

. He represented 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 ...

five times.

Playing career

Born on

Bornholm Bornholm () is a Danish island in the Baltic Sea, to the east of the rest of Denmark, south of Sweden, northeast of Germany and north of Poland. Strategically located, Bornholm has been fought over for centuries. It has usually been ruled by ...

, Kuhn started his playing career with local team Rønne IK. While at Rønne IK, he made his international debut as a forward when he played five games and scored two goals for the

in 1985. He got his senior debut for Rønne IK in 1987, and was soon off to

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 a ...

club

in the

Danish 1st Division The 1st Division (''1. Division'') is the second-highest football league in Denmark, also known as NordicBet Liga for sponsorship reasons. From 1945 to 1991 the 1. Division was the name of the highest level of football in Denmark. With the format ...

. He also played for 1st Division rivals

, before getting his national breakthrough when he moved back to Lyngby BK in 1990, playing alongside his older brother Hasse Kuhn.

Lyngby Boldklub

During his second stint with Lyngby, he helped the team win the 1990

against AGF. He did not score in the 6–1 final win, but was hailed as one of the best players of the game, alongside later

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 ...

midfielders

Morten Wieghorst 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. He is the former head coach of the Denmark national under-21 footba ...

and Peter Nielsen. In a September 1990 game against

Vejle Boldklub Vejle Boldklub is a Danish professional football club based in Vejle in Jutland. Formed in 1891, the club is one of the most successful clubs in Danish football history, having won the Danish championship five times and the Danish cup title six t ...

, Allan was

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 ...

when he pushed a Vejle player who had elbowed and knocked out several of Hasse Kuhn's teeth without any reprimand from 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 tit ...

. Allan underwent surgery in the summer 1991 to mend a right knee injury, and only played six of 32 games as Lyngby won the 1991–92 Superliga championship under manager

Kent Karlsson Kent Karlsson (born 25 November 1945) is a Swedish football coach and former player. He was capped 38 times for the national team and played at the 1974 FIFA World Cup. As a manager, he has managed Swedish, Danish and Norwegian clubs such as IFK ...

. During the reign of new Lyngby manager Michael Schäfer, Kuhn eventually moved into the position of

attacking 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 ...

, a hard-working player with good dribbling. In the following seasons, Lyngby settled in the lower half of the league. In the last game of the 1994–95 Superliga season in June 1995, Kuhn suffered a rash tackle by Danish international defender

Jacob Laursen Jacob Thaysen-Laursen (born 6 October 1971) is a Danish former professional footballer who played as a defender. Laursen most notably played for English club Derby County and won the Danish Superliga championship with Silkeborg IF and Copenhag ...

, resulting in a left knee injury with an anticipated one-year recovery time. He returned to the Lyngby side in April 1996, and played seven of 33 games as Lyngby finished fourth in the 1995–96 Superliga season under new manager

Benny Lennartsson Benny Lennartsson is a Swedish football coach, former football and bandy player. He has managed Örebro SK, Lyngby FC and Bristol City among others. Managerial career Viking In 1988, Lennartsson signed for Norwegian club Viking FK. He won promo ...

. As he had a hard time forcing his way into Lennartsson's starting line-up, Kuhn sought to leave the club in the summer 1997. He played a total 204 games and scored 25 goals for the club in all competitions for Lyngby BK.

Örgryte IS

In July 1997, Kuhn moved abroad to play for Swedish club

, under manager

Kalle Björklund Kalle is a masculine given name of North Germanic origin, a variation of Karl. In Sweden, people named Karl are commonly nicknamed Kalle. The name is also found in Finland and Estonia Notable people with the name include: Given name * Kalle An ...

. He started well in the last half of the

1997 Allsvenskan Allsvenskan 1997, part of the 1997 Swedish football season, was the 73rd Allsvenskan season played. Halmstads BK won the league ahead of runners-up IFK Göteborg, while Västerås SK, Degerfors IF Degerfors IF is a Swedish football club l ...

season, but only played few minutes in the first half of the

1998 Allsvenskan Allsvenskan 1998, part of the 1998 Swedish football season, was the 74th Allsvenskan season played. AIK won the league ahead of runners-up Helsingborgs IF, while BK Häcken Bollklubben Häcken, more commonly known as BK Häcken or simply Hä ...

season, under new manager Bo Backman. He stated he wanted to leave Örgryte in June 1998, but returned to the starting line-up shortly thereafter and scored his first Allsvenskan goal in August 1998. Under new head coach

, Kuhn emerged as somewhat of a father figure in Örgryte, working hard and encouraging his teammates with good humour, and he was named

team captain In team sport, captain is a title given to a member of the team. The title is frequently honorary, but in some cases the captain may have significant responsibility for strategy and teamwork while the game is in progress on the field. In eithe ...

. Ritzaus Bureau
Allan Kuhn ny assistenttræner i AaB

Berlingske Tidende ''Berlingske'', previously known as ''Berlingske Tidende'' (, ''Berling's Times''), is a Danish national daily newspaper based in Copenhagen. It is considered a newspaper of record for Denmark. First published on 3 January 1749, ''Berlingske'' ...

, 14 November 2003 He won the 2000 Swedish Cup with the club. In September 2000, Kuhn agreed a move to Danish club

at the end of the

2000 Allsvenskan Allsvenskan 2000, part of the 2000 Swedish football season, was the 76th Allsvenskan season played. The first match was played 8 April 2000 and the last match was played 4 November 2000. Halmstads BK won the league ahead of runners-up Helsingborg ...

season."13 mars 2000 – 31 december 2000"
at

He joined Hvidovre in the

in January 2001, and was named team captain. However, he did not start out strong for his new team, and was soon dropped from the starting line-up by manager Jan Sørensen. He was put on the

transfer list The transfer market is the arena in which football players are available for transfer to clubs. The transfer market consists of a list of players available for transfer, and also the money moving between clubs as they contest to purchase and sell ...

, but was not sold and went on to play a number of additional games for Hvidovre,Anders Kamper, "Peters mand",

, 30 July 2002, p.15 before he left the club in the summer 2002.

Managerial career

During his injury lay-off from 1995 to 1996, Kuhn began youth team coaching, and undertook coaching courses. Allan Kuhn began his career as head coach in

Denmark Series The Denmark Series ( da, Danmarksserien) is the fifth tier in the Danish football league system. Teams are divided into four groups of ten. The top team in each group is promoted to the Danish 3rd Division. The bottom three teams in each group are ...

club FC Bornholm in the summer 2002.

Aalborg BK

He went on to coaching in the Superliga with

(AaB) in January 2004, as he was appointed the assistant of new head coach Erik Hamrén, whom Kuhn knew from his days at Örgryte. Under Kuhn and Hamrén, AaB won the 2007–08 Superliga championship.Søren Olsen
Allan Kuhn overtager FC Midtjylland

Politiken ''Politiken'' is a leading Danish daily broadsheet newspaper, published by JP/Politikens Hus in Copenhagen, Denmark. It was founded in 1884 and played a role in the formation of the Danish Social Liberal Party. Since 1970 it has been indepe ...

, 11 August 2009 During his time at AaB, he was praised for his

set piece In film production, a set piece is a scene or sequence of scenes whose execution requires complex logistical planning and considerable expenditure of money. The term is often also used more broadly to describe a sequence in which the film-maker's ...

coaching, which AaB goalkeeper

Karim Zaza Karim Zaza (, ar, كريم زازا; born 9 January 1975) is a Moroccan former professional footballer and current goalkeeper coach of Vendsyssel FF. Born in Denmark to a Moroccan father and Danish mother, he established himself as one of the ...

credited as a main factor in the aggregate 6-1 win against

Deportivo de La Coruña Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña (), commonly known as Deportivo La Coruña (), Deportivo or simply Dépor, is a professional football club based in the city of A Coruña, Galicia, Spain. They currently play in the Primera División RFEF – ...

in the 2008-09 UEFA Cup. In the fall of 2008, Allan Kuhn was appointed caretaker head coach for AaB, after new head coach

Bruce Rioch Bruce David Rioch (; born 6 September 1947) is a football manager and former player for the Scotland national team. His last managerial post was at AaB in the Danish Superliga in 2008. As a player, he made more than 550 appearances in the Fo ...

was sacked on 23 October 2008. In this period, Kuhn guided the team to a third-place finish in the 2008–09 UEFA Champions League group E, ahead of

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 Foo ...

, through a series of successful matches including a win over Celtic and a tie with

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wembl ...

. He also led AaB from 11th to 6th place in the league, as he was undefeated in his seven Superliga games as head coach. Kuhn expressed the desire to continue as AaB head coach, but AaB sports director Lynge Jakobsen saw a risk in the transition in role from assistant to head coach, as the players were too used to see Kuhn in the assistant role. From January 2009, he returned to his old position as assistant coach, now with

Magnus Pehrsson Karl Magnus Pehrsson (born 25 May 1976) is a Swedish football manager and former professional player who is the Director of Football at Spanish club Vélez CF. Club career Pehrsson started his career in IFK Lidingö. He played for Djurgården ...

as new AaB head coach. It was later revealed, that Kuhn engaged in advanced talks to replace

Ove Christensen Ove Christensen (born 26 March 1950) is a Danish football manager who is currently the director of football of Danish fourth tier club Silkeborg KFUM. He has managed a number of Danish Superliga clubs, and won the Danish women's championship w ...

as head coach at Superliga rivals

, but eventually declined the offer.

FC Midtjylland

In August 2009, Kuhn was named new head coach at Superliga rivals

(FCM). He replaced

Thomas Thomasberg Thomas Thomasberg (born 15 October 1974) is a Danish professional football manager and former player, who is the current head coach of Danish Superliga club Randers FC. Playing career As a youth player, Thomasberg played for hometown club Havers ...

as head coach, who was fired following four points in the first four games of the 2009-10 Danish Superliga season. FCM lost the first four games of Kuhn's reign, but rallied to eventually finish the season in fifth place. In the 2010-11 Danish Superliga, FCM was second placed following the first half of the season. In the 2010 winter break, FCM sports director Jens Ørgaard decided that all FCM teams should play the same offensive possession-based game, from youth teams to the Superliga team, in order to ease the integration of youth players into the first team squad. In March and April 2011, FCM went five games without winning. Kuhn announced his decision to leave the club prematurely on 15 April 2011, as he found the work load of a head coach was incompatible with his family life. On 26 April 2011, he was contracted as an assistant coach of Superliga rivals

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 Rande ...

for the remainder of the 2010-11 season, working under new head coach Peter Elstrup.

Back to Aalborg BK

From 2011 to 2016 he was once again the assistant coach of AaB, and was part of the 2014 Double Winning AaB-team which won both the

and the

Malmö FF

On 8 January 2016, Kuhn was announced as the head coach for Swedish

. He replaced

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 ...

, who took Malmö FF to two straight

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

group stages before leaving to be manager of

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 ...

. On 26 October 2016 the Swedish league title was secured after a 3-0 victory away to

Falkenberg Falkenberg is a locality and the seat of Falkenberg Municipality, Halland County, Sweden, with 27,813 inhabitants in 2019 (out of a municipal total of about 45,000). It is located at the mouth of river Ätran. The name consists of the Swedish ...

. Despite the league title, Malmö FF decided to part ways with Kuhn.

Hobro IK

In June 2018 it was revealed that Kuhn would become new manager of

team

. Hobro struggled during most of the first half of the season, and on 21 February 2019 Kuhn was sacked.

Honours

Playing career

Lyngby *1990

*1992

Örgryte IS *2000 Swedish Cup

Coaching career

Aalborg *2008

(as assistant coach) *2014

(as assistant coach) Malmö FF *2016

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; en, the All-Swedish, also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan, en, the Football All-Swedish) is a Swedish professional league for men's association football clubs. It was founded in 1924 and is the top tier of the Swedish football lea ...

References

External links

National team profile

Superliga playing statistics

Superliga managerial statistics

AaB profile

FC Midtjylland profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kuhn, Allan 1968 births Living people People from Bornholm Association football midfielders Danish footballers Denmark youth international footballers Danish Superliga players Danish football managers Lyngby Boldklub players Örgryte IS players Hvidovre IF players Allsvenskan players AaB Fodbold managers FC Midtjylland managers Malmö FF managers Danish expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Sweden Danish expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Allsvenskan managers Danish Superliga managers Sportspeople from the Capital Region of Denmark