Lars Friis (born 7 May 1976) is a Danish

football manager ''Football Manager'', also known as ''Worldwide Soccer Manager'' in North America from 2004 to 2008, is a series of football management simulation video games developed by British developer Sports Interactive and published by Sega. The game beg ...

Playing career

Lars Friis was born on 7 May 1976 in Feldborg, Denmark. He started playing youth football for local club, Feldborg-Haderup IF. Known for his technical ability and dedication, he often played as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

, despite not being particularly fast or physically imposing. After a year at a nearby efterskole, where he played for Aulum IF, Friis joined Ikast FS, competing at the top youth levels before the formation 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 ...

. He later returned to FHIF to start his senior career but was forced to retire at age 23 due to a cruciate ligament injury.

Coaching career

Friis began his coaching career in 1999 at

, where he was until 2015, when he also left the club shortly after Glen Riddersholm's departure. Soon after, he accompanied Riddersholm to AGF as an assistant. In the spring of 2018, he was offered to join

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 ...

as a development coach, but after a year he returned to AGF as an assistant, now for David Nielsen.

Managerial career

In January 2021, he took up his first head coaching position when he joined Viborg. In January 2022 he was signed by AaB, but was unable to get out of his contract until compensation was paid to Viborg by AaB. He officially became AaB manager on 9 March 2022. Following a poor start to the 2022–23 Danish Superliga season Friis was sacked by AaB on 15 September 2022. On 16 December 2022, Friis was hired as an assistant coach to

Sparta Prague Athletic Club Sparta Praha (), commonly known as Sparta Prague and Sparta Praha, is a professional football club based in Prague. It is the most successful club in the Czech Republic and one of the most successful in central Europe, winning t ...

manager Brian Priske. On 12 June 2024, Friis was appointed as the manager of Sparta Prague, replacing Priske, who became the manager of

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Netherlands, Dutch professional association football, football club based in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football league system, Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the ...

. On 15 May 2025, one day after a 1–3 loss in the

Czech Cup The Czech Cup (), officially known as the MOL Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the major men's football cup competition in the Czech Republic. It is organised by the Czech Football Association. The Czech Cup was first held in 1961. The winner ...

final against Sigma Olomouc, Friis was sacked as head coach with team on the 4th place in the league table and four losses in a row.

Managerial statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Friis, Lars 1976 births Living people People from Herning Municipality Footballers from the Central Denmark Region Danish football managers Danish Superliga managers Czech First League managers Aarhus Gymnastikforening non-playing staff Brentford F.C. non-playing staff Viborg FF managers AaB Fodbold managers AC Sparta Prague managers Danish expatriate football managers Danish expatriate sportspeople in England Danish expatriate sportspeople in the Czech Republic Expatriate football managers in the Czech Republic