Claus Nørgaard (born 17 December 1979) is a Danish professional

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 Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

and former player, who was recently assistant head coach of club

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...

. In a nomadic career as a head and assistant coach at domestic and international level, Nørgaard has coached several Denmark youth international teams and

Superliga Superliga (''super league'') may refer to: Sports Superliga can refer to different sports leagues: Association football *Albanian Superliga, the Albanian top-flight men's division * Argentine Superliga, the Argentine top-flight men's division *D ...

club

Sønderjyske SønderjyskE is a Denmark, Danish sport corporation. They have a Football (soccer), football team (SønderjyskE Fodbold, based in Haderslev), two team handball, handball teams (SønderjyskE Håndbold, one male based in Sønderborg, one female bas ...

. He served as assistant head coach of Premier League club Brentford between 2022 and 2025.

Coaching career

Early years

As a youth footballer, Nørgaard grew up learning from his father Benny, who had two

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 ...

seasons as

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

Ikast FS Ikast FC is an association football club based in the town of Ikast, Denmark, that competes in the Jutland Series, the sixth tier of the Danish football league system and the first tier of the regional DBU Jutland. Founded in 2018 as a superst ...

in 1993–94 and 1994–95. Nørgaard followed his father to

Herning Fremad BK Herning Fremad is a Danish football club based in Herning, Jutland currently playing in the Jutland Series, the fifth tier of the Danish football league system. History The club was founded in 1918. In 1999 FC Midtjylland Football Club Mi ...

, but the effects of a bicycle accident led to him quitting his playing career in order to become head coach of the club's U15 team. He moved into

Vejle BK 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 ...

in 2003 and held various youth roles, which culminated in his appointment as head coach of the U17 team on 1 January 2008. In 2009, Nørgaard was appointed as a full-time national youth coach at the

DBU DBU may refer to: Universities * Dallas Baptist University, Dallas, Texas, U.S. * Desh Bhagat University, Mandi Gobindgarh, Punjab, India * Duluth Business University, Duluth, Minnesota, U.S. Other uses * 1,8-Diazabicyclo .4.0ndec-7-ene, an org ...

and served in the role until 2012, when he was appointed to his first senior head coaching role at 2nd Division club

IK Skovbakken Vejlby Skovbakken Aarhus (; commonly known as VSK Aarhus) is a Danish football club based in Risskov, a neighbourhood in Aarhus. The club was founded in 2016 when the football departments of Vejlby IK Fodbold and Idrætsklubben Skovbakken decid ...

on 3 January 2012. In May 2012, Nørgaard departed the club in order to join Vejle Kolding (then-the continuation of Vejle BK) as U19 head coach. In January 2013, Nørgaard was appointed to the role as assistant head coach of the first team at the club.

2013–2018

In June 2013, Nørgaard joined Superliga club Brøndby as one of two assistants to head coach

Thomas Frank Thomas Carr Frank (born March 21, 1965) is an American political analyst, historian, and journalist. He co-founded and edited '' The Baffler'' magazine. Frank is the author of the books '' What's the Matter with Kansas?'' (2004) and '' Listen, L ...

. He had previously worked under Frank at the DBU. Nørgaard remained in the role until the end of the 2015–16 season and took up the role of head coach of the Denmark U16 and U18 teams on 1 July 2016. Nørgaard's teams went undefeated during the first half of the 2016–17 season (which included two additional matches in charge of the

U20 U20 or U-20 may refer to: Naval vessels * * , a sloop of the Royal Navy * , a submarine of the Austro-Hungarian Navy Other uses * Great truncated cuboctahedron * Meizu U20, a smartphone * Roland U-20, a synthesizer * Small nucleolar RNA S ...

team) and he departed to take up the head coaching role of Superliga club

on 5 January 2017. Signing a -year contract, Nørgaard indicated during the first half of the 2018–19 season that he would not seek to extend it. He was sacked in December 2018.

2019–2022

On 18 April 2019, Nørgaard was named as assistant head coach of Superliga club

Esbjerg fB Esbjerg forenede Boldklubber (; commonly known as Esbjerg fB or EfB in short) is a Danish professional Association football, football club based in Esbjerg, West Jutland, Jylland, that plays in the Danish 1st Division, 1st division, the sec ...

. Following the sacking of head coach John Lammers on 16 September 2019, Nørgaard was named

caretaker manager In association footballing terms, a caretaker manager or interim manager is somebody who takes temporary charge of the management of a football team, usually when the regular manager is dismissed or leaves for a different club. However, a caret ...

and presided over six matches prior to the appointment of

Lars Olsen Lars Christian Olsen (born 2 February 1961) is a Danish former footballer and current manager, who was most recently the manager of Esbjerg fB in the Danish Superliga. He started his coaching career with Randers in 2003, guiding them to promot ...

. Nørgaard was retained in his role as assistant head coach and departed the club at the end of the

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

season. On 1 June 2021, Nørgaard returned to Vejle BK for the second time as head of coaching. In early September 2021, he transitioned to the role of assistant to new head coach Peter Sørensen. Nørgaard remained with the club until 31 August 2022.

2022–present

In July 2022, Nørgaard was named as the head coach of Denmark U18 and he took up the role on 1 September 2022. He presided over six matches before moving to England to join

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

club

as assistant to head coach Thomas Frank on 5 December 2022. The appointment marked the third time he had worked as Frank's assistant. Together with first team coach Kevin O'Connor, his day-to-day role entailed focusing on the

defence Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense indust ...

. He departed the club on 16 June 2025.

Personal life

Nørgaard grew up in Lind,

Herning Municipality Herning Municipality () is a municipality ( Danish, '' kommune'') in Region Midtjylland on the Jutland peninsula in western Denmark. The municipality covers an area of and has a population of 90,006 (1 January 2025). Its mayor is Dorte West, a me ...

and has a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

in sport. Taking inspiration from his father Benny, Nørgaard supplemented his part-time football coaching income by working as a teacher. He taught at

Løsning Løsning is a town in Denmark. The town is located just north of (and directly adjacent to) the town of Hedensted. Together, they form an urban area with a population of 13,458 (1 January 2025). Geographically, Løsning lies halfway between the la ...

School and as of January 2012, was teaching at

Jelling Jelling is a railway town in Denmark with a population of 4,038 (1 January 2025), located in Jelling Parish, approximately 10 km northwest of Vejle. The town lies 105 metres above sea level. Location Jelling is located in Vejle municipality ...

Seminarium. As of April 2021, Nørgaard was living in

Vejle Vejle () is a city in Denmark, in the southeast of the Jutland Peninsula at the head of Vejle Fjord, where the Vejle River and Grejs River and their valleys converge. It is the site of the councils of Vejle Municipality (''Municipalities of De ...

Managerial statistics

References

External links

*
Claus Nørgaard
at dbu.dk {{DEFAULTSORT:Nørgaard, Claus Living people Danish football managers Danish expatriate sportspeople in England Association football coaches Danish Superliga managers Place of birth missing (living people) 1979 births Sønderjyske Fodbold managers Esbjerg fB managers Brentford F.C. non-playing staff Sportspeople from the Central Denmark Region People from Herning Municipality Danish schoolteachers