Morten Olsen - Coaching Career

Coaching Career

Olsen started his coaching career in January 1990, at the defending Danish champions Brøndby IF, and guided the club to two Danish championships. He put the team through tough fitness training which, even though it disgruntled some players, elevated the team into European top class, as Brøndby reached the semi final of the 1990–91 UEFA Cup with Olsen at the helm. With the notable exception of Nigerian international defender Uche Okechukwu, his dabblings in the transfer market were not equally successful. This caused anger among the amateur department of the club, whose youth scheme they felt Olsen overlooked. As the club faced financial hardship and results began to lack in 1992, Olsen was fired from the club in May.

In April 1993, Olsen moved to his former team 1. FC Köln which he saved from relegation, when coming to its aid in the last six games of the 1992–93 Bundesliga season. In his time in Germany he would become a certified coach, earning his "Fußball-Lehrer-Lizenz" diploma in 1993. For two seasons he had the club positioned somewhat safely from relegation, despite not having any especially good players. At the start of the 1995–96 season, Köln were eliminated in the DFB-Pokal by an amateur team from Beckum, and Olsen was fired in August 1995.

He would have to wait for almost two years until Ajax Amsterdam in the Netherlands hired him on a contract starting from July 1997. He attracted Danish national team captain Michael Laudrup to the club, and together they won the Double of the Eredivisie championship and Dutch Cup trophy. In his second year at the club, tension arose in the Ajax dressing room, as Dutch internationals Ronald de Boer and Frank de Boer boycotted training in order to leave the club in favour of FC Barcelona. As results began to suffer, Olsen was sacked in December 1998.

In the fall of 1999, Olsen signed a two-year contract with the Danish Football Association (DBU) to manage the Danish national team, effective after Denmark's participation at the 2000 European Championship. In July 2000, he replaced Swedish coach Bo Johansson as the head coach of the Denmark national football team. As his assistant coach, Olsen chose Michael Laudrup. The duo guided Denmark to qualification for the 2002 FIFA World Cup tournament, a campaign which ended in the round of 16 match against England in a 0–3 defeat after Denmark won the initial stage group. Prior to the 2002 World Cup, Olsen signed a new four-year contract until June 2006. When Laudrup went on to coach Brøndby IF, Olsen chose Keld Bordinggaard as his new assistant coach. With Bordinggaard, Olsen guided Denmark to the 2004 European Championship tournament, which once again ended at the first knock-out stage. Olsen failed to qualify Denmark for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, but prolonged his contract with DBU in November 2005. A part of the new deal, which ran until and including the 2010 FIFA World Cup, was the added responsibility of defining a "red thread", or common denominator, in the talent work of the Danish national youth teams, thus giving Olsen a large influence on the future football being played by Denmark.

In March 2008, Olsen stated that he would like to see Michael Laudrup succeed him as coach of the Danish national team. Olsen did not qualify Denmark for the 2008 European Championship, and in August 2008 Olsen stated that he planned to let his contract expire in 2010, in order to return to coaching on club level. On 10 October 2009 he coached his 100th match as national team coach, as Denmark won 1–0 against Sweden and qualified for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. In January 2010, Olsen extended his contract until and including the 2012 European Championship.