Morten Soubak (born 6 August 1964 in Fodby) is a Danish handball coach for

Primeiro de Agosto Clube Desportivo 1º de Agosto is a multisports club from Luanda, Angola. The club, founded 1 August 1977, is attached to the Angolan armed forces, which is its sponsor. Its main team competes in men's football, and its professional basketball t ...

and the Angola women's national team. He coached the Brazilian national team between 2009 and 2016 and lead them to a historic title at the

Næstved Næstved () is a town in the municipality of the same name, located in the southern part of the island of Zealand in Denmark. Næstved has several adult education centers, five elementary schools - and has at least one of each type of the fou ...

. During his childhood, he became a fan of both

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 ...

, particularly the Brazilian team and its star Pelé, and handball, a sport he took up playing. In college, he studied to coach both sports, and soon after graduating, Soubak begun coaching child and junior teams simultaneously to volunteer work for the

Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for all human beings, and ...

.Técnico diz que seleção feminina de handebol é desafio maior que a Cruz Vermelha
UOL Esporte Denmark had received many refugees of the

Yugoslav wars The Yugoslav Wars were a series of separate but related Naimark (2003), p. xvii. ethnic conflicts, wars of independence, and insurgencies that took place in the SFR Yugoslavia from 1991 to 2001. The conflicts both led up to and resulted from ...

, and Soubak organized sports activities for the expatriates, while also providing language classes and directing them to local clubs.
His first coaching job happened in 1994 for w:da:Virum-Sorgenfri Håndboldklub, Virum-Sorgenfri.Danish Morten Soubak wins first ever women’s handball world title for Brazil
Danish Chamber of Commerce in Brazil (p.44) As a Danish female team had recently visited Brazil, in 1993 Soubak decided to visit the South American country in search of local contacts, despite not knowing neither Portuguese nor even Spanish. This came to help him in 1995, as Soubak worked in the junior teams of FCK Håndbold and met a Brazilian coach (Eduardo Henrique de Macedo) who was studying the Danish handball. Said coach brought Soubak to manage a team in

Osasco Osasco () is a municipality in São Paulo State, Brazil, located in the Greater São Paulo and ranking 5th in population among São Paulo municipalities. According to the IBGE 2015, Osasco currently has the 9th highest gross domestic product in B ...

, but the Dane only remained there for six months dissatisfied with the lack of infrastructure and resources.Único problema de Morten, segundo amigos, é 'loucura'
O Estado de S. Paulo Upon his return to Denmark, Soubak coached both Virum-Sorgenfri and GOG without much success. Afterwards Soubak earned national recognition as a handball commenter for TV2, between 2000 and 2005. In the meantime, he coached the women's teams of GOG and FCK - the latter featuring Brazilian goalkeeper

Chana Masson Chana Franciela Masson de Souza (born 18 December 1978 in Capinzal) is a Brazilian handball goalkeeper, who plays for Handball Erice in Italy. She has represented the Brazilian national team in four Olympics. She participated at the 2000 Summe ...

- and the Denmark men's national youth handball team. Eventually Soubak returned to Brazil in 2005 to coach the male team of

Esporte Clube Pinheiros The Esporte Clube Pinheiros, founded on 7 September 1899, by German immigrants, under the name Sport Club Germânia (Sport Club Germany), is a multi-sports and social club located in the Brazilian metropolis São Paulo. The full name of the ...

. Winning many titles in three years, Soubak attracted the interest of the Brazilian Handball Confederation (CBHB), who invited him to manage the women's national team.Morten Soubak - Técnico
Confederação Brasileira de Handebol Since taking over the team in 2009, Soubak lead the Brazilians to their most successful period, winning both the

2013 World Women's Handball Championship The 2013 World Women's Handball Championship, the 21st event hosted by the International Handball Federation (IHF), was held in Serbia from 6 to 22 December 2013.2011 Pan American Games The 2011 Pan American Games, officially the XVI Pan American Games, was an international multi-sport event that was held from October 14–30, 2011, in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. Some events were held in the nearby cities of Ciudad Guzmán, ...

, and reaching the quarterfinals of the 2011 World Championship and the 2012 Olympics.Méritos do título do mundial de handebol vão para o "gringo" Morten Soubak

Estado de Minas ''Estado de Minas'' (abbreviated ''EM'') is a Brazilian newspaper published in the capital of Minas Gerais state, Belo Horizonte. Its foundation dates as late as 1928, and one year later it was bought by Assis Chateaubriand's Diários Associados. ' ...

Between 2013 and 2014, Soubak lived in

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

to coach Hypo Niederösterreich, which hosted many of the players of his Brazilian national team due to a partnership with CBHB. Soubak is married to a Brazilian woman, with whom he has a daughter. In 2017, Soubak signed a one-year deal with Angolan women's club

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Soubak, Morten 1964 births Living people Danish male handball players Danish handball coaches Handball coaches of international teams People from Næstved Municipality