285: Morten Olsen, Denmark, Topps Match Attax Trading Card Game, England Collector Binder

After the excitement of an expanded World Cup, several rounds of the League Cup and a transfer window that plumbed new depths of stupidity it’s almost a relief to be in the season’s first international break. That it’s taking place with a backdrop of a war of words between FIFA and UEFA, some actual wars and Gianni Infantino’s failed attempt to flog the World Cup to highest bidder vaguely related to his beau, Donald Trump, confirms that 2026 is very much still rumbling on. Such periods in football’s bloated calendar usually leave fans longing for their weekly dose of domestic misery and ineptitude but perhaps Andorra’s defeat to Malta in the opening fixture of the UEFA Nations League won over the remaining sceptics.

For a whopping 27% of the countries at the recent World Cup there will be a new face in the dugout for this round of fixtures. Steve Clarke took Scotland to their first major tournaments in nearly thirty years but fell into the Del Amitri trap and the terrifyingly youthful Sebastien Pocognoli will lead the Tartan Army against Slovenia. Jorge Jesus has left behind Al-Nassr and the rampant ego of Cristiano Ronaldo to manage Portugal and the rampant ego of Cristiano Ronaldo. Mouin Chaabani will become the third man to lead Tunisia this year after Sabri Lamouchi was ditched midway through the group stage in North America this summer and his replacement, Herve Renard, resigned after just eighteen days in the role. Renard has quite the CV in international management having been at the helm with Zambia, Angola, Ivory Coast, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and the French women’s team. While many countries have opted for the likes of Renard as short-term solutions, complete with open collars and excellently conditioned hair, there have also been some who have stuck with a manager for several years. In the same time that England employed Kevin Keegan, Howard Wilkinson, Peter Taylor, Sven-Goran Eriksson, Steve McClaren, Fabio Capello, Stuart Pearce and Roy Hodgson to solve the left-sided problem and inspire the ‘Golden Generation’ the Danish Football Association stuck with one man.

Morten Olsen took the reins with the Danish national team following Euro 2000 where they lost all three group games, conceded eight goals and failed to score. With the legendary Michael Laudrup by his side Olsen oversaw an unbeaten qualification campaign for the 2002 World Cup with Ebbe Sand scoring nine goals. The Danes followed this up by topping their group in Japan and South Korea, dumping reigning champions France out, before losing to an oddly efficient England in the second round. Olsen secured qualification for Euro 2004 with relative ease and, again, led his side through a tough group ahead of Italy but suffered a quarter-final defeat to the Czech Republic and the goals of Jan Koller and Milan Baros doing his biennial impression of a world class striker. The DBU had clearly seen enough in these two tournaments to make a long-term commitment to Olsen’s leadership and, despite missing out on qualification for the 2006 World Cup, he signed a new deal in 2005 until the end of the 2010 World Cup.

Denmark missed out on the 2008 European Championship, albeit without any umbrella based embarrassment, but secured a place in South Africa with a 1-0 win over Sweden in Olsen’s hundredth match in charge of the national side. They finished behind the Netherlands and Japan in their group but Olsen, despite stating a desire to return to club management, extended his contract until the end of Euro 2012. Nicklas Bendtner’s best pants revealing efforts failed to help Denmark through a tough group yet Olsen again saw his services retained until the end of Euro 2016. Failure to qualify for both the 2014 World Cup and the aforementioned European Championship, however, saw the DBU finally call time on Olsen’s tenure after fifteen years. He currently sits as the eleventh longest serving international manager in football history but one of only four in that list to have managed this century.

As a player Morten Olsen played over 500 league games in Denmark, Belgium and Germany across a nineteen year career and also won 102 international caps. He was twice voted Danish Football Player of the Year and featured in three consecutive World Soccer magazine World XIs in the 1980s. He moved swiftly into management following his on field retirement and led Brondby to consecutive Danish league titles before moving to FC Koln. He saved the German side from relegation but a humiliating cup defeat to amateur side SpVgg Beckum in August 1995 saw his contract terminated. Two years later Ajax brought him in and he repaid their faith with a league and cup double in the 1997/98 season. While he won silverware he struggled to win over a star-studded dressing room and the famously co-operative De Boer brothers boycotted training in order to facilitate their moves to Barcelona. As results suffered Olsen was relieved of his duties in December 1998.

It takes a certain strength of character to be an international manager particularly when a nation carries a burden of expectation of impressive performances in major tournaments. As everyone from Don Revie to Thomas Tuchel can confirm this weight can prove too much when there’s historic silverware looming large in the background. Five men have taken on the mantle for Denmark in the eleven years since Morten Olsen left office with mixed results. They reached the semi-finals in the belated 2021 European Championships but failed to qualify for the most recent World Cup in North America. Morten Olsen may not have led Denmark to glory akin to their shock 1992 European Championship triumph but his lengthy reign displayed an unusual loyalty rarely seen in modern football. The vast majority of those to have served a national side so long had the added interruption of the Second World War to extend their tenure by six years. By the time we get to the 2028 Euros there could be a whole host of new faces in the dugouts.