Nils Nielsen

Nils Herbert Kromann Nielsen (born 3 November 1971) is a Danish football manager who has served as director of football for Manchester City W.F.C. since 4 May 2023. He is the first person appointed to the role.^[1]

Nils Nielsen

Nielsen at the 2015 Algarve Cup
Personal information
Full name	Nils Herbert Kromann Nielsen
Date of birth	(1971-11-03) 3 November 1971 (age 52)
Place of birth	Nuuk, Greenland
Managerial career
Years	Team
2012–2013	Denmark U-18
2013–2017	Denmark women
2018	China U-20 women (assistant)
2018–2022	Switzerland women

Nielsen is best known for his tenure with the Denmark women's national football team from 2013 to 2017.^[2] He led the Danes to a runners-up finish at the UEFA Women's Euro 2017.^[3][4] Despite departing the team shortly after, Nielsen received acclaim for his work and finished runner-up in the 2017 The Best FIFA Women's Coach award. He spent most of 2018 as the assistant manager of the China women's national under-20 football team, taking them to the 2018 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup.^[5] He was also manager of the Switzerland women's national football team from 2018 to 2022.^[6]

Biography

Both of Nielsen's parents were teachers, and as it was his father's wish to live and work in Greenland, Nielsen was born there. During his first years, he lived in a village of 25 inhabitants. When he was five, his parents separated, and with his mother he moved back to Denmark while his father and his brother stayed in Maniitsoq.^[7] Born with a serious back problem, his doctor forbade him to play soccer. To compensate for his weakness, he chose large amounts of muscular strength exercises, and played soccer anyway. During a game, he fell onto the side fence, and broke a vertebra. With great luck, he avoided a paraplegia. After that accident, he stopped playing, and later chose a career as a trainer and studied sports psychology.^[7]

References

1. "Nils Nielsen joins Manchester City Women as director of football". The Athletic. May 4, 2023. Retrieved May 8, 2023.
2. "Træner: Nils Nielsen" (in Danish). Danish Football Association. Archived from the original on 8 August 2017. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
3. Andersen, Jens (29 July 2017). "Landstræner Nielsen: Tyskland er så gode at det er en ulempe for dem" (in Danish). Danmarks Radio. Retrieved 5 August 2017.
4. Sara Margren (22 August 2017). "Nils Nielsen stopper som landstræner". bold.dk. Archived from the original on 28 March 2019. Retrieved 24 August 2017.
5. "关于组织U20女足国家队2018年第二期集训的通知" (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 2018-08-11. Retrieved 2018-02-11.
6. "Nils Nielsen named as next Head Coach of the Switzerland WNT". ignite x Soccerella. 19 September 2018. Retrieved 4 December 2018.
7. Wegmann, Michael (2022-04-10). "Frauen-Nati-Coach Nils Nielsen: Er ist der coolste Trainer der Schweiz". Blick. Retrieved 2022-09-06.

External links

• Dansk Boldspil Union (DBU) Archived 2017-08-08 at the Wayback Machine (in Danish)