Bo Henriksen (born 7 February 1975) is a Danish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

coach and former player. He is the currently manager of

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

side

Mainz 05 1. Fußball- und Sport-Verein Mainz 05 e. V., usually shortened to 1. FSV Mainz 05 or simply Mainz 05 (), is a German professional sports club, founded in 1905 and based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. Mainz 05 play in the Bundesliga, the top tie ...

. Henriksen rose to prominence as a striker in both his home country, where he won the

1999–2000 Danish Superliga The 1999–2000 Danish Superliga season was the 10th season of the Danish Superliga league championship, governed by the Danish Football Association. It took place from the first match on July 24, 1999, to final match on May 28, 2000. The Danish ...

with

Herfølge Herfølge is a suburb of the town of Køge, Denmark, located about 5 kilometers south of central Køge, and is a part of Køge Municipality. The suburb is connected to Køge and Næstved by the Lille Syd railway line. Herfølge Church Herføl ...

, as well as in England, where he played in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from ...

with

Kidderminster Harriers Kidderminster Harriers Football Club are a professional association football club based in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, England. The team competes in the National League North, the sixth level of the English football league system. Formed in ...

Playing career

Henriksen, famed for his long locks of

blonde hair Blond () or blonde (), also referred to as fair hair, is a human hair color characterized by low levels of eumelanin, the dark pigment. The resultant visible hue depends on various factors, but always has some yellowish color. The color can be ...

began his career as a footballer with Danish team OB, whom he joined in 1994 as a youth player from OKS. Despite scoring regularly in his first three years at the club, he fell out of the starting line-up under new OB manager Roald Poulsen, but scored ten goals in five reserve team matches. He left in January 1998 to join fellow

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

. He became, and remained, a regular fixture in their team for the next three years, scoring 14 goals in 69 league appearances. He scored a single goal during the 1999–2000 season, in which Herfølge most surprisingly won the Danish championship. As Herfølge struggled economically, Henriksen was loaned out to English club

in November 2001. Henriksen first appeared for Kidderminster in a reserve-team fixture against

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, they have p ...

two weeks prior to the deal being signed, and he made his official first-team debut just one day after joining the club, in a fixture against

Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club, commonly referred to as Orient, is a professional association football club based in Leyton, Waltham Forest, London, England. The team compete in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. ...

. He scored a goal as a substitute in the match that Kidderminster won 3–1. He quickly became a firm favourite with the club's fans, and scored eight more times in the 2001–02 season. He was bought by Kidderminster's Danish manager

Jan Mølby Jan Mølby (; born 4 July 1963) is a Danish former professional footballer and manager. As a player, he was a midfielder from 1982 to 1998. After starting his career with Kolding, he moved on to Ajax before spending twelve years playing in Engl ...

in a £12,500

transfer deal In professional football, a transfer is the action taken whenever a player under contract moves between clubs. It refers to the transferring of a player's registration from one association football club to another. In general, the players can only ...

in February 2002. Somewhat ironically, his career at the club only really took off after his mentor Jan Mølby parted company with the club in 2002. Henriksen will fondly be remembered in Kidderminster for breaking all kinds of records during the club's short five-year stay in

. He became the first, and to date only, player to score three goals in a Football League game for the team as Kidderminster beat

Exeter City Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third level of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...

5–2 in late 2002. He ended the 2002–03 season as the club's highest-ever Football League goal scorer, with 20 goals in 41 appearances. He went on to score two goals in the first match of the following season against

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the third level of the English football league system. The club was formed in 1897 as Mans ...

in August 2003, but failed to score again in his Kidderminster career despite remaining one of their most popular footballers. Affectionately known as "Bomber Bo", he left Kidderminster and joined

Bristol Rovers Bristol Rovers FC is a men's professional football club in Bristol. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club is affiliated to Bristol Rovers W.F.C., whose team play in the FA Women's National Leag ...

in March 2004, and returned home to Denmark to play for

Køge Køge (, older spelling ''Kjøge'') is a Danish seaport on the coast of Køge Bugt (''Bay of Køge'') 39 km southwest of Copenhagen. It is the principal town and seat of Køge Municipality, Region Sjælland (Zealand), Denmark. In 2025, the ...

a few months later. Henriksen moved abroad again in June 2005, to play for Valur and

Fram Reykjavik Fram may refer to: Ships * ''Fram'' (ship), an arctic exploration vessel from Norway * MS ''Fram'', expedition cruise ship owned by Hurtigruten Group Places and geography * Fram, Paraguay, a town in Itapúa, Paraguay * Fram Formation, a se ...

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

, as well as

Victory The term victory (from ) originally applied to warfare, and denotes success achieved in personal duel, combat, after military operations in general or, by extension, in any competition. Success in a military campaign constitutes a strategic vi ...

in the

Maldives The Maldives, officially the Republic of Maldives, and historically known as the Maldive Islands, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in South Asia located in the Indian Ocean. The Maldives is southwest of Sri Lanka and India, abou ...

. He failed to agree financial terms with English non-league side Telford United in March 2006, and moved on to Icelandic club ÍBV.

Managerial career

Bo Henriksen was a successful player/manager and later manager of

Brønshøj Brønshøj, part of the municipality of Copenhagen, forms, together with Husum, the administrative city district (''bydel'') of Brønshøj-Husum, in Denmark. History The first mention of the village Brønshøj (Brunshoga), is in a letter dated ...

from 2007, getting the club promoted to the second best league (

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 ...

) in 2010 and maintaining them in the top half of the league for a handful of seasons, until he left for

Horsens Horsens () is a city on the east coast of the Jutland region of Denmark. It is the seat of the Horsens municipality. The city's population is 64,418 (1 January 2025) and the municipality's population is 97,921 (), making it the List of cities and ...

in 2014. He managed Horsens for six years, until he left by mutual consent in August 2020.

Midtjylland

On 31 May 2021, Henriksen was named the new manager of

Midtjylland The Central Denmark Region (), or more directly translated as the Central Jutland Region and sometimes simply Mid-Jutland, is an administrative region of Denmark established on 1 January 2007 as part of the 2007 Danish municipal reform. The refo ...

, replacing Brian Priske, who led the team to the

2019–20 Danish Superliga The 2019–20 Danish Superliga (officially the 3F Superliga for sponsorship reasons) was the 30th season of the Danish Superliga. F.C. Copenhagen were the defending champions. The season started on 12 July 2019 and was scheduled to end in May ...

title and had moved to a coaching position at

Royal Antwerp Royal Antwerp Football Club (commonly referred to as Royal Antwerp or simply Antwerp) is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Antwerp. They compete in the Belgian Pro League, the top flight of Belgian football. Founded in 1 ...

. Henriksen has been released of his managerial duties at Midtjylland as of 28 July 2022, according to an official statement published on Twitter. His tenure at Midtjylland included a second place in the league, only three points off winners

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 ...

and a

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 ...

win. They also competed in the Europa League group stage after losing to

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional association football, football department, which has pla ...

in the Champions League qualifying rounds.

FC Zürich

On 10 October 2022, he was confirmed as the new head coach of

FC Zürich Fussballclub Zürich, commonly abbreviated to FC Zürich or simply FCZ, is a professional football club based in Zurich, Switzerland. The club was founded in 1896 and has won the Swiss Super League thirteen times and the Swiss Cup ten times. ...

. He signed a contract until summer 2024 with the defending Swiss champions, who found themselves at the bottom of the league after ten games played and with only four points, at the time of his Henriksen's assignment. He then transformed the team from being bottom of the league with only four points in ten games, to being one of the Swiss teams who got the most points, in addition to earning their first win in the

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

that season following a 2–1 victory over Bodø/Glimt.

Mainz 05

On 13 February 2024, Henriksen departed FC Zürich by mutual consent to take up the coaching position at

, following the dismissal of

Jan Siewert Jan Siewert (born 23 August 1982) is a German professional football coach and former player who last managed Greuther Fürth. Playing career Born in Mayen, Siewert played as a defensive midfielder for TuS Mayen. He retired at the age of 22 du ...

. He managed to lead the team to a 1–0 victory over

FC Augsburg Fußball-Club Augsburg 1907 e. V., commonly known as FC Augsburg (), is a Football in Germany, German professional football club based in Augsburg, Bavaria. FC Augsburg play in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German football league system. T ...

, to be their second win of the season on matchday 22 in his first match in charge. Following a heavy defeat against

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), commonly known as Bayern Munich (), FC Bayern () or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. They are most known for their men's professional football team, ...

, he guided his club to nine games without defeat including five wins, two of them in the last two matches, propelling the club from the relegation zone to 13th place. In the 2024–25 season, Henriksen guided Mainz 05 on an impressive run, with the team climbing as high as third place by late March, firmly within the

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 ...

spots. However, a late-season slump saw Mainz endure a seven-match winless streak, ultimately slipping to sixth place by the end of the campaign and securing qualification for the Conference League.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

Herfølge *

: 2000 Victory * Maldives President's Cup: 2005 Individual *Danish Superliga Player of the Year: 2001

Manager

Midtjylland *

: 2021–22 Individual * VDV Bundesliga Coach of the Season: 2024–25

References

External links

*
Bo Henriksen interview at tipsbladet.dk

Boldklubben Frem profile at bkfrem.dk
(archived) {{DEFAULTSORT:Henriksen, Bo 1975 births Living people Footballers from Roskilde Danish men's footballers Danish football managers Odense Kammeraternes Sportsklub players Odense Boldklub players Herfølge Boldklub players Boldklubben Frem players Kidderminster Harriers F.C. players Bristol Rovers F.C. players Køge Boldklub players Valur (men's football) players Knattspyrnufélagið Fram players Íþróttabandalag Vestmannaeyja players Brønshøj Boldklub players Danish Superliga players Danish expatriate men's footballers Danish expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate men's footballers in England Danish expatriate sportspeople in Iceland Expatriate men's footballers in Iceland Expatriate men's footballers in the Maldives Victory Sports Club players Brønshøj BK managers Men's association football forwards Danish Superliga managers AC Horsens managers FC Midtjylland managers FC Zürich managers 1. FSV Mainz 05 managers Bundesliga managers English Football League players