Morten Bisgaard (born 25 June 1974) 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 professional player, who played as a

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 ...

. He played eight games and scored one goal for the Denmark national team, and represented his country at the 2000 European Championship. At club level he played for

Randers Freja Randers Sportsklub Freja (often abbreviated Randers Freja) is a Danish sport club with teams in athletics, handball, table tennis and football. History Randers Freja was founded in 1898, and was accepted into the Jydsk Boldspil-Union, JBU i ...

, OB,

Viborg FF Viborg Fodsports Forening (), also known as Viborg FF or VFF for short, is a Danish professional association football, football club based in the Central Denmark Region, Central Jutland city of Viborg, Denmark, Viborg. They compete in the Danish ...

and

F.C. Copenhagen Football Club Copenhagen (, ), commonly known as F.C. København, F.C. Copenhagen, Copenhagen, or simply FCK, is a Danish professional football club based in Copenhagen. FCK was founded in 1992 as a superstructure on top of Kjøbenhavns Boldklub ...

in Denmark, as well as for

Udinese Udinese Calcio (; "Udinese Football") is a professional football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy. The team currently competes in the Serie A, the first tier of Italian football. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a sport ...

in Italy and

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club in Derby, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. One of the 12 founder members of the English Football ...

in England. He now works as a commentator and expert on football on the Danish TV channel

TV2 Denmark TV 2 is a Danish government-owned broadcast and subscription television station, based in Odense, Funen. The station was founded in 1986, and made its first official broadcast in 1988. It makes daily broadcasts of regional and national news, as ...

Playing career

Born in

Hadsten Hadsten (locally ) is a railway town in central Denmark and, with a population of 8,560 (1 January 2025),Randers Freja Randers Sportsklub Freja (often abbreviated Randers Freja) is a Danish sport club with teams in athletics, handball, table tennis and football. History Randers Freja was founded in 1898, and was accepted into the Jydsk Boldspil-Union, JBU i ...

, he debuted for the Danish under-19 national team in October 1990, 16 years old. He made his senior debut for Randers Freja in the

Danish 2nd Division West The 2nd Division () is a professional association football league for men and the third division in Denmark. It is organised by the Divisionsforeningen on behalf of the Danish Football Association (Danish FA; DBU) as part of the nation-wide Danma ...

during the 1991–92 season. In July 1992, he moved to OB in the top-flight

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 ...

championship. He stayed another half year with the Randers Freja, while finishing his education. In January 1993, Bisgaard was loaned out to

in the

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 ...

, and helped the club win promotion for the Superliga in the summer 1993. Bisgaard started his OB career in the summer 1993. He was a part of the OB team that eliminated multiple

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by top-division European clubs. The competition begins with a round robi ...

winners

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

from the international

1994–95 UEFA Cup The 1994–95 UEFA Cup was won by Parma Parma (; ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmesan, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a po ...

tournament. OB had lost the first match 3–2 at home in

Odense Odense ( , , ) is the third largest city in Denmark (after Copenhagen and Aarhus) and the largest city on the island of Funen. As of 1 January 2025, the city proper had a population of 185,480 while Odense Municipality had a population of 210, ...

. In the second game, Bisgaard came on as a substitute for wingback

Steen Nedergaard Steen Nedergaard (born 25 February 1970) is a Danish former professional footballer who played as a full-back. Nedergaard spent the majority of his career in Denmark with Odense BK. He gained 14 caps for the Danish under-21 national side, and ...

. 15 seconds before the game ended, Bisgaard scored the final goal in OB's 2–0 win, and secured the club advancement in the tournament. OB was then eliminated by Italian club

A.C. Parma Parma Calcio 1913 () is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Parma, Emilia-Romagna, which competes in the Serie A, the top tier of Italian football league system, Italian league sy ...

in the quarter-finals. Bisgaard got his national breakthrough in the 1996–97 Superliga season, when he played all 33 league games and scored 16 goals for OB. He was called up to the first Denmark national team match of new national manager

Bo Johansson Bo "Bosse" Johansson (born 28 November 1942) is a Swedish former football player and former football coach. Career Johansson was a player for fourteen years with Kalmar FF and Lindsdals IF, though he did not win any trophies as a player. In 1 ...

, and Bisgaard made his international debut in the August 1996 game against

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. He played an additional national team game in April 1997, before he was sold to Italian club

in the summer 1998. In his first year at Udinese, Bisgaard only played three games in the Italian

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

championship, and was dropped from the national team. He played 20 games and scored one goal in his second season at Udinese, and was included in the Danish squad for the 2000 European Championship. He played two games at the tournament, both Denmark losses. Bisgaard played a further three national team games, before his national team career ended in October 2000. He eventually moved back to Denmark, to play for defending Superliga champions

(FCK) in the summer 2001. He helped guide FCK to the 2003 and 2004 Superliga championships, as well as the 2004

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. In the summer 2004, he moved to England to play for

in the

Football League Championship The English Football League Championship, known simply as the Championship and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Betting & Gaming, Sky Bet Championship, is a professional association football league in England and Wales. Contested by 24 clubs, i ...

. In 2005, he lost his regular place in the

first team First team may refer to: Sports * First team (association football), the colloquial name given to the most senior team fielded by a football club * The First Team, the first players known to have played the sport of basketball * First Team All-A ...

squad. He managed 104 appearances and scored ten goals in his three years at the club, from an attacking midfield position. As his Derby contract expired in the summer 2007, speculation had him joining a Superliga team. Especially

Randers FC Randers FC () is a professional association football, football club based in Randers, East Jutland metropolitan area, East Jutland, that plays in the Danish Superliga, the top flight of the Danish football league system. Founded on 1 January 200 ...

would be an obvious bid as future employer, as his previous coach

Colin Todd Colin Todd (born 12 December 1948) is an English football manager and former player. He was most recently the manager of Esbjerg fB. As a player, he made more than 600 appearances in the Football League, playing as a defender for Sunderland, ...

will manage them from the summer 2007, but on 23 July 2007, his old club OB signed him on a two-year contract. He left the club in the summer of 2009, and subsequently retired from football.

Post-playing career

Bisgaard started studying journalism at the University of Southern Denmark. He finished his bachelor in January 2013.

Oure Fodbold Akademi

In 2016, he started working as a football coach at Oure Fodbold Akademi. He was coach for the U19 team playing in the 2 division.

Denmark U17

In April 2017 he was appointed the assistant coach of the Danish U17 national team.

Honours

Udinese *

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from , "between" and , " betting pool"),Most precisely, from ( football pool); cf. originally called the International Football Cup, was a summer football competition between European clubs. The competition was dis ...

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

FC Copenhagen *

: 2002–03 *

Danish Super Cup The Danish Super Cup was played for by the Football in Denmark, Danish Danish Superliga, League champions and the Danish Cup, Danish Cup Winners. Winners Titles by club References Defunct football cup competitions in Denmark, ...

: 2001 *

: 2003–04

References

External links

OB profile
* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bisgaard, Morten 1974 births Living people People from Hadsten Danish men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Denmark men's youth international footballers Denmark men's under-21 international footballers Denmark men's international footballers UEFA Euro 2000 players Odense Boldklub players Viborg FF players Udinese Calcio players Derby County F.C. players F.C. Copenhagen players Danish Superliga players Danish expatriate men's footballers Danish expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Danish expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate men's footballers in England Footballers from the Central Denmark Region English Football League players