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 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

coach and former player. He most recently was the manager of

Danish Superliga The Danish Superliga (, ) is a professional association football league in Denmark and the highest level of the Danish football league system. The league is currently contested by 12 teams each year, with 2 teams relegated. It is the current ...

club

Hobro IK Hobro Idræts Klub (), commonly referred to as Hobro IK or HIK, is a professional football club based in Hobro, Denmark. The club currently competes in the Danish 1st Division, the second tier of the Danish football league system, and plays its h ...

. Before that he was head coach of Swedish club

Malmö FF Malmö Fotbollförening (), commonly known simply as Malmö FF or MFF, is a Swedish professional football club based in Malmö, Scania. They compete in the Allsvenskan, the top division of Swedish football, and play home matches at the Eleda S ...

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

FC Midtjylland Football Club Midtjylland (, "Central Jutland") is a Danish professional football club based in Herning and Ikast. The club is the result of a merger between Ikast FS and Herning Fremad. Midtjylland competes in the Danish Superliga, which they ...

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 curr ...

, 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 most recently was the manager of Danish Superliga club AaB. He also previously coached the Sweden national team between 2009 and 2016 and the Iceland ...

in the 2008 Superliga-winning season, as well as assistant of

Kent Nielsen Kent Nielsen (born 28 December 1961) is a Danish professional football manager and former player, who is currently the head coach of Silkeborg IF. He was named coach of the year by the Danish Football Association in 2014 after winning both the Da ...

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 professional Football (soccer), football club based in Kongens Lyngby, Lyngby, Denmark, founded in 1921. It is based at Lyngby Stadion. The club play in the Danish Superliga. From 1994 to 2001 the club was known as Lyngby ...

, winning the 1990

Danish Cup The Danish Cup (; often referred to as Pokalen) is the official "single-elimination tournament, knockout" cup competition in Danish football, run by the Danish Football Association. The cup has been contested annually since 1955. The winner will ...

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

Boldklubben 1903 Boldklubben 1903 or B 1903 was 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 D ...

and

Hvidovre IF Hvidovre Idrætsforening, more commonly known as Hvidovre IF () is a Danish association football club from Hvidovre, Capital Region of Denmark. The club competes in the Danish 1st Division, the second tier of Danish football, and plays its ...

, 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. ...

. 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 List of islands of Denmark, 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. I ...

, Kuhn started his playing career with local team Rønne IK. While at Rønne IK, he made his international debut as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

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 ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

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 for ...

. 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 midfielders

Morten Wieghorst Morten Wieghorst (; born 25 February 1971) is a Danish association football manager and former player. He is currently the assistant manager of the Denmark national football team. He is the former head coach of the Denmark national under-21 foot ...

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 ...

, 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 title ...

. 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 IF ...

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

attacking midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

, 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 Silkesborg and Copenhage ...

, 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. 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. He started well in the last half of the 1997 Allsvenskan season, but only played few minutes in the first half of the 1998 Allsvenskan 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'' is ...

, 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 t ...

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

club

FC Bornholm FC may refer to: Businesses, organisations, and schools * Fergusson College, a science and arts college in Pune, India * Finncomm Airlines (IATA code) * FranklinCovey company, NYSE stock symbol FC * Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force in Pakis ...

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 coaching, which AaB goalkeeper Karim Zaza 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 () or simply Depor, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in the city of A Coruña, Galicia, that competes in the Segunda División, the ...

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 British 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 ...

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 Foot ...

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

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and is the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,197, it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after W ...

. 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 Association football, 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 p ...

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 Association football, football manager who is currently the director of football of Denmark Series, Danish fourth tier club Silkeborg KFUM. He has managed a number of Danish Superliga clubs, and wo ...

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 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 association football, football club based in Randers, East Jutland metropolitan area, East Jutland, that plays in the Danish Superliga, the top flight of the Danish football league system. Founded on 1 January 200 ...

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 former football coach and player who last managed the Iceland national team. In his playing career, he played for Hødd and Molde in Norway as well as Manchester City and Norwich Cit ...

, who took Malmö FF to two straight

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

group stages before leaving to be manager of

Denmark national football team The Denmark national football team ( or ''herrelandsholdet'') represents Denmark and Greenland in men's international Association football, football competitions. It is controlled by the Danish Football Association (DBU), the governing body for ...

. 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 (; ), also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan (, ) is a professional association football league in Sweden and the highest level of the Swedish football league system. Founded in 1924, it operates on a system of promotion and relegatio ...

References

External links

*
Danish Superliga player statistics
at danskfodbold.com
Danish Superliga manager statistics
at danskfodbold.com *
FC Midtjylland profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kuhn, Allan 1968 births Living people People from Bornholm Men's association football midfielders Danish men's footballers Denmark men's 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 Footballers from the Capital Region of Denmark 20th-century Danish sportsmen