Richard Møller Nielsen
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Nielsen in 2010
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Personal information | |||
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Date of birth | 19 August 1937 | ||
Place of birth | Ubberud, Odense, Denmark | ||
Date of death | Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist. | ||
Place of death | Odense | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
1955–1962 | Odense BK | ||
International career | |||
1959–1961 | Denmark | 2 | (0) |
Managerial career | |||
1962–1964 | Brobyværk IF | ||
1964–1968 | Odense BK | ||
1968–1969 | Esbjerg fB | ||
1969–1974 | Svendborg fB | ||
1974–1975 | B 1909 | ||
1975–1985 | Odense BK | ||
1978–1989 | Denmark u-21 | ||
1987–1990 | Denmark (assistant) | ||
1989 | Denmark (futsal) | ||
1990–1996 | Denmark | ||
1996–1999 | Finland | ||
2000–2002 | Israel | ||
2003 | Kolding FC | ||
*Club domestic league appearances and goals |
Richard Møller Nielsen (19 August 1937 – 13 February 2014), nicknamed Ricardo, was a Danish football player and manager. His greatest triumph came when he coached the Danish national football team that won the 1992 European Championship (Euro 1992) tournament. In 1995, he was knighted as Knight 1st Degree of the Order of the Dannebrog. He is the father of Tommy Møller Nielsen.
Contents
Career
Nielsen was mostly known for his career as a football coach, but he played for Odense BK, and was capped twice for Denmark as a defender. An injury ended his career.
Nielsen coached, among others, Esbjerg fB, Odense BK and the Danish national youth team under head coach Sepp Piontek. In 1990 Piontek left his position as national coach, and replacement was required. Nielsen was mentioned early in the race for the job, but the Danish Football Association decided to look abroad for a new coach. They selected German Horst Wohlers as the new Danish coach, but he was unable to cancel his contract with German club Bayer Uerdingen,[1] so Nielsen was appointed.[citation needed]
European Champions
The first aim for Nielsen was to qualify for the Euro 1992 in Sweden. Denmark started out with a secure home victory against the Faroe Islands, followed by an away draw against Northern Ireland and a 2–0 home loss against Yugoslavia. Several players left the squad including Michael Laudrup, Brian Laudrup and Jan Heintze, and several newspapers were demanding that Richard Møller Nielsen step down. Despite the criticism, the team won the rest of their games in the group, including a 2–1 away win against Yugoslavia. It was, however, not enough to qualify. The Danish team finished second in the group just behind Yugoslavia.
However, UEFA banned Yugoslavia from participating in the championship as a result of the Yugoslav wars, and Denmark was chosen as the replacement because of the team had finished behind Yugoslavia in the qualification group. The Danish team started out with a 0–0 against England and a defeat against hosts Sweden. A 2–1 win against France ensured Denmark a place in the semifinals. The defending European champions, The Netherlands, were the next opponent. The match finished 2–2 in ordinary time and with a 5–4 win in the penalty shoot-out, Denmark secured a place in the final against reigning world champions Germany. Denmark won the final 2–0, becoming the highlight of Nielsen's coaching career; he went on to win the "World Manager of the Year" awarded by World Soccer.[2]
Confederations Cup winners
Denmark started the World Cup qualification for the 1994 FIFA World Cup with three 0–0 draws, before winning 1–0 against Northern Ireland in Belfast. On the 25 August 1993, Michael Laudrup made a comeback in a 4–0 victory home against Lithuania after having reconciled with Nielsen. The comeback of Denmark's most renowned player at the time was not enough to secure a qualification. Laudrup never achieved the same success under Nielsen as he had enjoyed during the 1980s with Piontek as coach and Preben Elkjær next to him in the attack. The last game of the qualification was away against Spain in Seville, and the home team won 1–0, even though the Danes had been playing 11 against 10 for most of the game.
Nielsen could, however, again secure a trophy for Denmark when they participated in the Confederations Cup in 1995. This time the Danish team beat Argentina 2–0 in the final. Nielsen had several players from the national Danish league in his squad, with players like Peter Schmeichel missing due to obligations with Manchester United.
The Danish team qualified for the Euro 1996 tournament in England, but the team failed to retain the title. Denmark was knocked out in the group stage, where the team finished third behind Croatia and Portugal. The team drew with Portugal, lost to Croatia and won against Turkey in the last game. Nielsen left his position after the championship but is still considered the most successful coach of Denmark.[3]
Finland and Israel
Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Nielsen went on to coach the Finland national football team and came close at securing a play-off game for the 1998 World Cup in France. The Finnish team also failed to qualify for the Euro 2000 in Belgium and The Netherlands.
In 2000, Nielsen took over as coach of the Israeli national team, but Israel did not succeed in securing a place at the 2002 World Cup. It was Nielsen's last international job. He went on to manage the Danish second division team Kolding FC before retiring in October 2003.
Death
Nielsen died on 13 February 2014,[4] following the unsuccessful removal of a brain tumour in September 2013. He is survived by his wife, three children and six grandchildren.
Honours
International
Club
- Danish Football Championship 1977, 1982
- Danish Cup 1983
Individual
References
- ↑ Da Horst Wohlers blev præsenteret som dansk landstræner, Berlingske Tidende, June 7, 2005
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External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to [[commons:Lua error in Module:WikidataIB at line 506: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).|Lua error in Module:WikidataIB at line 506: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).]]. |
Awards and achievements | ||
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Preceded by | UEFA European Championship Winning Coach 1992 |
Succeeded by Berti Vogts |
Preceded by | FIFA Confederations Cup winning manager 1995 |
Succeeded by Mário Zagallo |
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Preceded by | FIFA Confederations Cup winning manager 1995 |
Succeeded by![]() |
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- Pages with broken file links
- Articles with unsourced statements from February 2014
- Commons category link from Wikidata
- 1937 births
- 2014 deaths
- People from Odense
- Danish footballers
- Denmark international footballers
- Danish football managers
- Odense Boldklub players
- Odense Boldklub managers
- Esbjerg fB managers
- Denmark national football team managers
- Finland national football team managers
- Israel national football team managers
- UEFA Euro 1992 managers
- 1995 King Fahd Cup managers
- UEFA Euro 1996 managers
- UEFA European Championship-winning managers
- FIFA Confederations Cup-winning managers
- Expatriate football managers in Israel
- Danish expatriate football managers
- Expatriate football managers in Finland
- Association football defenders
- Boldklubben 1909 managers