Daniel Jansson (born 11 June 1979) is a Finnish basketball coach and a former player. He is currently working as the

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 ...

of German

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 ...

team

USC Heidelberg USC Heidelberg, for sponsorship reasons named MLP Academics Heidelberg, is a professional basketball club from Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The club's men's senior team currently plays in the German first division Basketball Bundeslig ...

, and an assistant coach of the Finland national team.Daniel Jansson mukaan Susijengin valmennusjohtoon
susijengi.com, 28 May 2024

Early life

Jansson was born in Sollentuna, Sweden to Finnish mother and Swedish father. He is of Lebanese descent on his father's side. Jansson moved to Finland at the age of three, when his parents divorced.

Playing career

Jansson started playing basketball in

Kouvola Kouvola () is a city in Finland and the administrative capital of Kymenlaakso. It is located in the southeastern interior of the country. The population of Kouvola is approximately . It is the most populous municipality in Finland, and the 17th m ...

and played in the youth teams of

Kouvot Kouvot is a Finnish professional basketball team based in Kouvola. Founded in 1964, the team plays in the Korisliiga and has won the national championship four times: in 1995, 1999, 2004, and 2016. The team plays at the Mansikka-ahon urheiluhalli ...

. He played briefly in the men's premier division in 1998–99 season, and played in under-16 and under-18 youth national teams. After that, he spent four years in the United States studying and playing basketball. He also played in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

and

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

, and graduated as MBA in the

Maastricht University Maastricht University (abbreviated as UM; ) is a public university, public research university in Maastricht, Netherlands. Founded in 1976, it is the second youngest of the thirteen List of universities in the Netherlands, Dutch universities. In ...

. He returned to Finland and played in the highest tier

Korisliiga The Korisliiga is the top-tier professional basketball league in Finland, comprising the top 12 teams of the country. In its current format, each team plays all other teams two times in the regular season, once at home and once away, for a total o ...

first with Porvoon Tarmo and last with Pussihukat, and ended his playing career at the age of 27, focusing more on coaching.

Coaching career

Jansson started his coaching career in

Vantaa Vantaa (; , ) is a city in Finland. It is located to the north of the capital, Helsinki, in southern Uusimaa. The population of Vantaa is approximately . It is the most populous municipality in Finland. Vantaa is part of the Helsinki Metropoli ...

with Pussihukat, the club he had played for before. He also coached the Finland U16 national team.

Ratiopharm Ulm

In 2014, Jansson moved to Germany and was appointed as a youth coach for

Ratiopharm Ulm Ratiopharm Ulm, officially stylized as ratiopharm ulm, is a professional basketball club based in Ulm, Germany. The club has two teams, one professional team, which plays in the Basketball Bundesliga (BBL), the major German professional league an ...

youth academy teams. In 2016, when coaching the Ulm U19 academy team in the NBBL, he was named the coach of the year in the league. He also led Weißenhorn Youngstars, the development team of Ulm, to

ProB The ProB is the German basketball league system, third-tier level Sports league, league of professional club basketball in Germany. The league comprises 24 teams, separated into a Northern and a Southern Division. Officially, the ProB is part of ...

championship, and to win a promotion to

ProA The ProA is the German basketball league system, second-tier Sports league, league of professional club basketball in Germany. The league comprises 16 teams. Officially the ProA is part of the ''2. Basketball Bundesliga'', which consists of the t ...

in 2017. During 2019–2020, Jansson was the assistant coach of the Ratiopharm Ulm first team in

Tigers Tübingen

In 2020, Jansson signed with

Tigers Tübingen Tigers Tübingen is a basketball team from Tübingen, a college town in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany, playing in the Basketball Bundesliga (BBL), the country's first tier league. Founded as SV 03 Tübingen, is affiliated with the multi-spor ...

for the head coach position, competing in

. In March 2021, he extended his contract with the club until the summer 2023. He was named The Coach of the Year in ProA consecutively in 2022 and 2023. Jansson led the club to win ProA championship and to earn the promotion in 2022, but the club surrendered the league license for financial reasons. In 2023, Tübingen finished 2nd in the league and won the promotion again, and this time they were promoted to the

Basketball Bundesliga The Basketball Bundesliga (BBL) (English language: ''Federal Basketball League''), for sponsorship reasons named easyCredit BBL, is the German basketball league system, highest level Sports league, league of professional club basketball in German ...

. In the summer 2023, Jansson was named the head coach, alongside Anton Mirolybov, of the Finland Universiade team, for the postponed

2021 Summer World University Games The 2021 Summer World University Games ( zh, , s=2021年夏季世界大学生运动会, labels=no), officially known as the XXXI Summer World University Games and also known as Chengdu 2021, was a multi-sport event sanctioned by the Internationa ...

Chengdu Chengdu; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ; Chinese postal romanization, previously Romanization of Chinese, romanized as Chengtu. is the capital city of the Chinese province of Sichuan. With a ...

, China. On 20 December 2023, Jansson renewed his contract with Tübingen, on a deal until the end of the 2024–25 season.Kontinuität! Trainer Danny Jansson verlängert Vertrag um ein weiteres Jahr
tigers-tuebingen.de The 2023-24 Bundesliga season ended in relegation for Jansson and his Tübingen outfit.

USC Heidelberg

In May 2024, he invoked a release clause to leave Tübingen and to sign with German Bundesliga side

. Jansson led Heidelberg to the Bundesliga play-offs reaching the semi-finals 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, ...

Finland (assistant)

In May 2024, Jansson joined also the coaching staff of the Finland national team as an assistant coach.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jansson, Daniel 1979 births Living people Finnish basketball coaches Finnish expatriate basketball people in Germany Tigers Tübingen coaches Finnish expatriate basketball people in the United States USC Heidelberg coaches Finnish people of Lebanese descent Finnish expatriate basketball people in the Netherlands Finnish expatriate basketball people in Belgium Finnish expatriate basketball coaches