Lars Christian Olsen (born 2 February 1961) is a Danish former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

and current manager, who was most recently the manager of

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 ...

in the

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 ...

. He started his coaching career with

Randers Randers () is a city in Randers Municipality, Central Denmark Region on the Jutland peninsula. It is List of cities and towns in Denmark, Denmark's sixth-largest city, with a population of 64,511 ().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 ...

. He led the team to the 2006

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 Olsen was named 2006 Danish Manager of the Year. He then coached

Odense BK Odense Boldklub (; also known as Odense BK or the more commonly used OB) is a Danish professional football club based in the city of Odense, in southern Denmark. The club has won three Danish championships and five Danish Cup trophies. OB play ...

from 2007 to 2010. In his active career, Olsen played in the central defense position. He won six Danish championships with

Brøndby IF Brøndbyernes Idrætsforening (, usually abbreviated to Brøndby IF (), is a Danish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Brøndbyvester. Brøndby IF denotes the professional football section of Brøndbyernes ...

and the 1992

Turkish Cup The Turkish Cup () is a football cup competition in Turkish football, run by the Turkish Football Federation since 1962. During a brief sponsorship period with Fortis, its sponsored name was ''Fortis Türkiye Kupası''. Now Ziraat Bankası is ...

with

Trabzonspor Trabzonspor Kulübü is a Turkish professional sports club located in the city of Trabzon, located in Black Sea region, northeastern Turkey. Established in 1967 through the merger of several local clubs, Trabzonspor is one of the most prominent A ...

. Olsen played 84 matches and scored four goals for the Denmark national team from 1986 to 1996, and was named 1988 Danish ''Player of the Year''. He was

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 ...

of the Danish national team in a record 69 matches, and captained the Denmark team that won the 1992 European Championship.

Club career

Born in

Glostrup Glostrup is a Denmark, Danish town in Capital Region of Denmark, Region Hovedstaden, forming one of the Western suburbs (Copenhagen), western suburbs of Copenhagen. It is the administrative seat of Glostrup Municipality, with an estimated populati ...

, Olsen started his career at local Danish 3rd Division team Glostrup IF 32 in 1980. He was selected for various national youth teams, and moved to top-flight

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 ...

team

Køge BK 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 ...

before the 1981 season. He stayed four years at the club, playing 105 games and scoring 11 goals for Køge in the 1st Division. Before the 1985 season, he moved to league rivals

. In his first year at the club, he helped secure Brøndby's first Danish championship. He won both the 1987 and 1988 Danish championships, and following several games as captain of the national team he received the 1988 Danish ''Player of the Year'' award. Having won the 1989

trophy as well as a further two Danish championships, he left Brøndby in 1991. Olsen moved abroad to play for

in Turkey, with whom he won the 1992

. He moved on to Belgian club R.F.C. Seraing in the summer of 1992. Olsen joined

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

's first team for their 1994–95 season under head coach

Claude Andrey Claude "Didi" Andrey (born 13 June 1951) is a former Swiss footballer, who most recently managed Yverdon-Sport FC in the Challenge League. Andrey took over FC Basel for their 1993–94 season. His team included the likes of Swiss internation ...

. After playing in six test games, Olsen played his domestic league debut for his new club in the home game in the

St. Jakob Stadium The St. Jakob Stadium was a football (soccer), football stadium in Basel, Switzerland and the former home of Swiss club FC Basel. It was built in view of the 1954 FIFA World Cup, and as well as serving as a club stadium, it hosted several import ...

on 27 July 1994 as Basel were defeated 1–0 by

Lugano Lugano ( , , ; ) is a city and municipality within the Lugano District in the canton of Ticino, Switzerland. It is the largest city in both Ticino and the Italian-speaking region of southern Switzerland. Lugano has a population () of , and an u ...

. He scored his first goal for the club on 20 November in the away game in the

Stadion Allmend Stadion Allmend was a multi-purpose stadium in Lucerne, Switzerland. Its current primary use was for football matches. The stadium had a capacity of 25,000, although security concerns mandate limiting audiences to 15,000. The stadium had been ho ...

against

Luzern Lucerne ( ) or Luzern ()Other languages: ; ; ; . is a city in central Switzerland, in the Languages of Switzerland, German-speaking portion of the country. Lucerne is the capital of the canton of Lucerne and part of the Lucerne (district), di ...

as Basel won 1–0. During the winter break of the following season Olsen left the club. During his one and a half seasons with Basel, Olsen played a total of 54 games for them scoring just that one goal. 40 of these games were in the Nationalliga A, 2 in the

Swiss Cup The Swiss Cup (; ; ; ) is a football cup competition that has been organised annually since 1925–26 season by the Swiss Football Association. The Swiss Cup final is usually the most important game of the year with a high attendance. The co ...

, 1 was in the

1995 UEFA Intertoto Cup The 1995 UEFA Intertoto Cup was the first edition of the tournament administered by the UEFA. It saw Strasbourg and Bordeaux win their semi-finals to advance to the first round of the UEFA Cup, the latter eventually finishing runners-up. It also ...

and 11 were friendly games. Olsen moved back to Brøndby in 1996, where he finished his career winning the 1996 Danish championship, now called the

. He played his last Brøndby game in November 1996.Lars Christian Olsen
at DanskFodbold.com

International career

Olsen was called up by Denmark national team head coach

Sepp Piontek Josef Emanuel Hubertus "Sepp" Piontek (born 5 March 1940) is a German former football player and manager. Playing career Born in Wrocław during World War II, Piontek started his playing career with VfL Germania Leer. Between 1963 and 1972, the ...

in April 1986, and made his national team debut in the 3–0 defeat to

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

.Lars Olsen – Alle hold (Alle kampe)
at DBU.dk He played his second national team game in May 1987, and went on to become a constant player in the starting line-up. He was selected to represent Denmark at the 1988 European Championship,Slutrundetrupper 1908–2004
at DBU.dk where he started the tournament on the bench as

Morten Olsen Morten Per Olsen (; born 14 August 1949) is a Danish former Association football, football manager and former player. He was the head coach of the Denmark national football team, Denmark national team for 15 years from 2000 until 2015, guiding ...

was selected team captain and defensive organizer. Lars Olsen came on as a substitute in Denmark's first game, and went on to play the remaining two games, though Denmark were eliminated from the tournament. In June 1992, he captained the national team of manager

Richard Møller Nielsen Richard Møller Nielsen (19 August 1937 – 13 February 2014) was a Danish football player and manager. He coached the Denmark national football team that won the UEFA Euro 1992 tournament. In 1995, he was awarded a gold version of the Medal of ...

in Denmark's first trophy win at the 1992 European Championship. While at Basel, he lost his place in the Danish national team in November 1994. He re-entered the Danish national team in April 1996 and Olsen was chosen to help Denmark defend the trophy at the 1996 European Championship. He did not play any games at the tournament, and he ended his international career in 1996.

Managerial career

Following his retirement from his active career, Olsen managed various teams at Brøndby. He coached the reserve team, he was assistant manager of the first team, and he was youth team manager.ShowStars profile
In January 2003, Olsen was signed as manager of

Randers Randers () is a city in Randers Municipality, Central Denmark Region on the Jutland peninsula. It is List of cities and towns in Denmark, Denmark's sixth-largest city, with a population of 64,511 ().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 ...

, the second best league in Danish football. He managed the team into

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

for the 2004–05 Superliga season, but the team was

relegated Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

after only one year in the Danish top-flight football. He stayed at the club and managed Randers to the 2006

victory, while the club secured promotion for the 2006–07 Superliga season. He was named 2006 Danish Manager of the Year.Årets Træner 2009
at DBU.dk In January 2007, Olsen announced he was moving to become manager of league rivals

(OB), effective from July 2007. He managed OB into second place of the 2008–09 Superliga season, and was nominated for the 2009 Danish Manager of the Year award. In September 2010 he and OB sports director

Kim Brink Kim Brink (born 19 November 1958) is a Danish football manager. Coaching career Kim Brink started as manager of Odense Boldklub, and later managed Ikast fS and F.C. Copenhagen. Odense Boldklub He was the Odense Boldklub manager, at the time ...

were fired due to lacking results. In November 2011, Olsen moved into international football management by taking over the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ) (alt. the Faroes) are an archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean and an autonomous territory of the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. Located between Iceland, Norway, and the United Kingdom, the islands have a populat ...

becoming the third Dane to do so after

Allan Simonsen Allan Rodenkam Simonsen (born 15 December 1952) is a Danish former footballer and manager. He most prominently played as a striker for German Bundesliga club Borussia Mönchengladbach, winning the 1975 and 1979 UEFA Cups, as well as for Barcel ...

and

Henrik Larsen Henrik Larsen (born 17 May 1966), nicknamed ''Store Larsen'' (''Big Larsen''), is a Danish Association football, football manager and former professional player who played as a midfielder. He was last the manager of Lyngby Boldklub. He was the ...

. During his tenure he has led the small nation to a number of notable victories. His first victory was against

Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...

in a friendly match before two

UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying The UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying tournament was a football competition that was played from September 2014 to November 2015 to determine the 23 UEFA member men's national teams joining the automatically qualified host team France in the UEFA Euro 2 ...

wins against

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. On 28 October 2019, Olsen was named new manager of

side

. It was announced that he would remain manager of the Faroe Islands until the end of the

UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying The UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying tournament was a football competition that was played from March 2019 to November 2020 to determine the 24 UEFA member men's national teams that advanced to the UEFA Euro 2020 final tournament, intended to be playe ...

in November 2019. Following a poor stint that saw Esbjerg placed in the relegation round, Olsen was sacked on 9 June 2020.Esbjerg og Lars Olsen stopper samarbejdet
at bold.dk

Personal life

His son,

Ricki Olsen Ricki Olsen (born 21 October 1988) is a Danish professional footballer. He is the son of the former Denmark national team player Lars Olsen. Career Olsen started his career with Brøndby IF, but did not play any senior games for the team. Rande ...

, is a professional footballer.

Honours

Player

Brøndby IF * Danish 1st Division / Danish Superliga (6):

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

1988 1988 was a crucial year in the early history of the Internet—it was the year of the first well-known computer virus, the Morris worm, 1988 Internet worm. The first permanent intercontinental Internet link was made between the United State ...

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

, 1995–96 *

: 1988–89 Trabzonspor *

: 1991–92 Denmark *

UEFA European Football Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro or Euros, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition ...

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

Individual *

Danish Football Player of the Year The Danish Player of the Year award is an annual prize, which has been given to the best male Danish football (soccer), football player by the Danish Football Association since 1963. The winner is decided in a vote among the professional Danish fo ...

Manager

Randers *

: 2005–06

Managerial statistics

References

External links

*
Brøndby IF partial statistics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Olsen, Lars 1961 births Living people Sportspeople from Glostrup Municipality Danish men's footballers Men's association football defenders Denmark men's international footballers Denmark men's under-21 international footballers Danish football managers Danish Superliga players Køge Boldklub players Brøndby IF players FC Basel players R.F.C. Seraing (1904) players Trabzonspor footballers Süper Lig players UEFA Euro 1988 players UEFA Euro 1992 players UEFA Euro 1996 players UEFA European Championship–winning players Randers FC managers Odense Boldklub managers Faroe Islands national football team managers Danish Superliga managers Esbjerg fB managers Brøndby IF non-playing staff Danish expatriate men's footballers Danish expatriate football managers Danish expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland Danish expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Expatriate football managers in the Faroe Islands Denmark men's youth international footballers Footballers from the Capital Region of Denmark Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium 20th-century Danish sportsmen