Richard Møller Nielsen
Encyclopedia
Richard Møller Nielsen nicknamed Ricardo, is a Danish
former football (soccer)
player and football manager. His greatest triumph came when he coached the Danish national football team which surprisingly 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
.
, and was capped twice for Denmark as a defender. He stopped his career prematurely due to injury.
He coached, among others, Esbjerg fB
, Odense BK and the Danish national youth team under head coach Sepp Piontek. In 1990 Sepp Piontek left his position as national coach, and a new name had to be found. Richard Møller Nielsen was mentioned early in the race for the job, but the national football association decided to look abroad for a new coach. Therefore the Danish Football Association
pointed out German Horst Wohlers
as the new Danish coach, but he was unable to break his contract with German club Bayer Uerdingen
. It became a public farce, and Richard Møller Nielsen was finally appointed national coach.
in Sweden. Denmark started out with a secure home victory against The Faroe Islands, but the following results in the qualification were 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.
What looked like a European Championship without a Danish team was all changed due to the civil war
in Yugoslavia
. UEFA
decided to ban Yugoslavia from participating in the championship, and Denmark was chosen as the replacement because of the team finished behind Yugoslavia in the qualification group.
The Danish team started out with a 0-0 against England
and a defeat against hosts Sweden
. It looked like it was over after just two games, but a 2-1 winner from substituted Lars Elstrup
secured a victory against France
and a place in the semifinals. The defending European champions The Netherlands was the next opponent, and once again the Danish team surprised. 2-2 in the ordinary game and 5-4 in the penalty shoot-out got Denmark a place in the final. Reigning world champions Germany looked confident in the final, but Richard Møller Nielsen and his players left the field as winners with a 2-0 victory. It would become the highlight of Richard Møller Nielsen's coaching career, and it gave him the prize as World Manager of the Year chosen by World Soccer
.
in the USA. Brian Laudrup had returned to the team before the Euro 92, but his brother who had just won the European Cup
with FC Barcelona was still missing in the squad. Michael Laudrup refused to play under Richard Møller Nielsen, because he felt the coach had too defensive an approach to the game leaving no room for a creative player like Michael Laudrup.
Denmark started the World Cup qualification with three 0-0 draws, before the team finally got a 1-0 victory against Northern Ireland in Belfast. On the 25th of August 1993 Michael Laudrup made a comeback in a 4-0 victory home against Lithuania after having settled with Richard Møller Nielsen. The comeback of Denmark's most renowned player was not enough to secure a qualification place. Michael Laudrup never got the same success under Richard Møller Nielsen, as he enjoyed during the 80s with Sepp 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.
Richard Møller Nielsen could, however, again secure a trophy for the Danish team, when Denmark participated in The Confederations Cup in 1995. This time the Danish team beat Argentina 2-0 in the final. Richard Møller 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. Richard Møller Nielsen decided to leave his position after the championship, and he is today considered the most successful coach of Denmark ever.
. As Finland manager he was very close at securing a play-off game for the 1998 World Cup
in France, but a Hungarian goal in the stoppage time of the last game crushed the dream. The Finnish team also failed to qualify for the Euro 2000
in Belgium and The Netherlands.
In 2000 he took over as coach of the Israeli
national team, but Israel did not succeed at securing a place among the teams in the 2002 World Cup
. It would become Richard Møller Nielsen's last international job.
Afterwards he managed the Danish second division team Kolding FC
before retiring in October 2003.
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
former football (soccer)
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
player and football manager. His greatest triumph came when he coached the Danish national football team which surprisingly won the 1992 European Championship (Euro 1992) tournament. In 1995, he was knighted as Knight 1st Degree of the Order of the Dannebrog
Order of the Dannebrog
The Order of the Dannebrog is an Order of Denmark, instituted in 1671 by Christian V. It resulted from a move in 1660 to break the absolutism of the nobility. The Order was only to comprise 50 noble Knights in one class plus the Master of the Order, i.e. the Danish monarch, and his sons...
. He is the father of Tommy Møller Nielsen
Tommy Møller Nielsen
Tommy Møller Nielsen is a Danish football coach and former player. He is the son of former Danish national football team coach Richard Møller Nielsen....
.
Career
Richard Møller Nielsen is mostly known for his career as a coach, but he played as an active footballer at Odense BKOdense BK
Odense Boldklub is a Danish professional football club based in the town of Odense. The club has won three Danish championships and five Danish Cup trophies. OB play in the Danish Superliga and their home field is TRE-FOR Park in Odense on Funen...
, and was capped twice for Denmark as a defender. He stopped his career prematurely due to injury.
He coached, among others, Esbjerg fB
Esbjerg fB
Esbjerg forenede Boldklubber also referred to as Esbjerg fB or simply EfB is a professional Danish football club from the port city of Esbjerg in West Jutland. The club was formed in 1924, as a merger between Esbjerg Boldklub af 1898 and Esbjerg Amatørklub af 1911. The club has training facilities...
, Odense BK and the Danish national youth team under head coach Sepp Piontek. In 1990 Sepp Piontek left his position as national coach, and a new name had to be found. Richard Møller Nielsen was mentioned early in the race for the job, but the national football association decided to look abroad for a new coach. Therefore the Danish Football Association
Danish Football Association
The Danish Football Association is the governing body of football in Denmark. It is the organization of the Danish football clubs and runs the professional Danish football leagues and the men's and women's national teams. It is based in the city of Brøndby and is a founding member of both FIFA...
pointed out German Horst Wohlers
Horst Wohlers
Horst Wohlers is a former German football player and manager.- Playing career :Wohlers joined first teams of SC Brunsbüttelkoog and FC St. Pauli until his 1975 transfer to Borussia Mönchengladbach...
as the new Danish coach, but he was unable to break his contract with German club Bayer Uerdingen
KFC Uerdingen 05
KFC Uerdingen 05 is a German association football club in the Uerdingen district of the city of Krefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia. The one time Bundesliga side enjoyed its greatest successes in the 1980s, but most recently has been part of fifth and sixth tier competition.-History:The club was...
. It became a public farce, and Richard Møller Nielsen was finally appointed national coach.
The big victory in Sweden
The first goal for the newly appointed coach was to qualify for the Euro 19921992 UEFA European Football Championship
The 1992 UEFA European Football Championship final tournament was hosted by Sweden between 10 and 26 June 1992. It was the ninth European Football Championship, which is held every four years and supported by UEFA. Eight national teams contested the championship, which was won by Denmark, one of...
in Sweden. Denmark started out with a secure home victory against The Faroe Islands, but the following results in the qualification were an away draw against Northern Ireland and a 2-0 home loss against Yugoslavia. Several players left the squad including Michael Laudrup
Michael Laudrup
Michael Laudrup is a retired Danish footballer, who works as a manager and last coached La Liga side RCD Mallorca. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of football. His most prominent run of football came with Spanish club Barcelona, with whom he won four straight La...
, Brian Laudrup
Brian Laudrup
Brian Laudrup is a Danish former football player and current football commentator, pundit and analyst on TV3+. Along with former international goalkeeper Lars Høgh, Laudrup manages a football academy for marginalized youth...
and Jan Heintze
Jan Heintze
Jan Heintze is a retired Danish professional football player, a left-sided defensive midfielder and defender who started and ended his career in the Netherlands with PSV Eindhoven, where he was a part of the PSV team which won the 1988 European Cup...
, 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.
What looked like a European Championship without a Danish team was all changed due to the civil war
Yugoslav wars
The Yugoslav Wars were a series of wars, fought throughout the former Yugoslavia between 1991 and 1995. The wars were complex: characterized by bitter ethnic conflicts among the peoples of the former Yugoslavia, mostly between Serbs on the one side and Croats and Bosniaks on the other; but also...
in Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
. UEFA
UEFA
The Union of European Football Associations , almost always referred to by its acronym UEFA is the administrative and controlling body for European association football, futsal and beach soccer....
decided to ban Yugoslavia from participating in the championship, and Denmark was chosen as the replacement because of the team finished behind Yugoslavia in the qualification group.
The Danish team started out with a 0-0 against England
England national football team
The England national football team represents England in association football and is controlled by the Football Association, the governing body for football in England. England is the joint oldest national football team in the world, alongside Scotland, whom they played in the world's first...
and a defeat against hosts Sweden
Sweden national football team
The Swedish national football team represents Sweden in association football and is controlled by the Swedish Football Association, the governing body for Football in Sweden. Sweden's home ground is Råsunda Stadium in Stockholms län and their head coach is Erik Hamrén. Sweden made their first...
. It looked like it was over after just two games, but a 2-1 winner from substituted Lars Elstrup
Lars Elstrup
Lars Dahl Elstrup is a Danish former professional footballer, who played for a number of Danish clubs, as well as Dutch club Feyenoord and Luton Town in England...
secured a victory against France
France national football team
The France national football team represents the nation of France in international football. It is fielded by the French Football Federation , the governing body of football in France, and competes as a member of UEFA, which encompasses the countries of Europe...
and a place in the semifinals. The defending European champions The Netherlands was the next opponent, and once again the Danish team surprised. 2-2 in the ordinary game and 5-4 in the penalty shoot-out got Denmark a place in the final. Reigning world champions Germany looked confident in the final, but Richard Møller Nielsen and his players left the field as winners with a 2-0 victory. It would become the highlight of Richard Møller Nielsen's coaching career, and it gave him the prize as World Manager of the Year chosen by World Soccer
World Soccer Magazine
World Soccer is an English language football magazine published by IPC Media. It specialises in the international football scene. Its regular contributing writers include Brian Glanville, Sid Lowe and Tim Vickery. World Soccer is a member of the European Sports Magazines , an umbrella group of...
.
Another title
There were lots of expectations of the Danish team, foremost that the European champions should qualify for the World CupFIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, often simply the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association , the sport's global governing body...
in the USA. Brian Laudrup had returned to the team before the Euro 92, but his brother who had just won the European Cup
UEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League, known simply the Champions League and originally known as the European Champion Clubs' Cup or European Cup, is an annual international club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations since 1955 for the top football clubs in Europe. It...
with FC Barcelona was still missing in the squad. Michael Laudrup refused to play under Richard Møller Nielsen, because he felt the coach had too defensive an approach to the game leaving no room for a creative player like Michael Laudrup.
Denmark started the World Cup qualification with three 0-0 draws, before the team finally got a 1-0 victory against Northern Ireland in Belfast. On the 25th of August 1993 Michael Laudrup made a comeback in a 4-0 victory home against Lithuania after having settled with Richard Møller Nielsen. The comeback of Denmark's most renowned player was not enough to secure a qualification place. Michael Laudrup never got the same success under Richard Møller Nielsen, as he enjoyed during the 80s with Sepp Piontek as coach and Preben Elkjær next to him in the attack. The last game of the qualification was away against Spain in Seville
Seville
Seville is the artistic, historic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain. It is the capital of the autonomous community of Andalusia and of the province of Seville. It is situated on the plain of the River Guadalquivir, with an average elevation of above sea level...
, and the home team won 1-0, even though the Danes had been playing 11 against 10 for most of the game.
Richard Møller Nielsen could, however, again secure a trophy for the Danish team, when Denmark participated in The Confederations Cup in 1995. This time the Danish team beat Argentina 2-0 in the final. Richard Møller Nielsen had several players from the national Danish league
Danish Superliga
The Danish Superliga is the current Danish football championship tournament, and administered by the Danish Football Association. It is the highest association football league in Denmark and is currently contested by 12 teams each year, with 2 teams to be relegated, which proves to be one of the...
in his squad with players like Peter Schmeichel
Peter Schmeichel
Peter Bolesław Schmeichel MBE is a retired Danish professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper, and was voted the "World's Best Goalkeeper" in 1992 and 1993...
missing due to obligations with Manchester United.
The Danish team qualified for the Euro 1996
1996 UEFA European Football Championship
The 1996 UEFA European Football Championship was hosted by England, who won the right to host the tournament ahead of bids from Austria, Portugal and the Netherlands. It was the tenth European Football Championship, which is held every four years and endorsed by UEFA. It was the first to use the...
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. Richard Møller Nielsen decided to leave his position after the championship, and he is today considered the most successful coach of Denmark ever.
Finland and Israel
He went on to coach the Finland national football teamFinland national football team
The Finland national football team represents Finland in international football competitions and is controlled by the Football Association of Finland....
. As Finland manager he was very close at securing a play-off game for the 1998 World Cup
1998 FIFA World Cup
The 1998 FIFA World Cup, the 16th FIFA World Cup, was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. France was chosen as host nation by FIFA on 2 July 1992. The tournament was won by France, who beat Brazil 3-0 in the final...
in France, but a Hungarian goal in the stoppage time of the last game crushed the dream. The Finnish team also failed to qualify for the Euro 2000
2000 UEFA European Football Championship
The 2000 UEFA European Football Championship, or Euro 2000, was the 11th UEFA European Football Championship, which is held every four years and organized by UEFA, association football's governing body in Europe....
in Belgium and The Netherlands.
In 2000 he took over as coach of the Israeli
Israel national football team
The Israel national football team is the national football team of Israel, controlled by the Israel Football Association .Israel National Football is the direct successor of the Eretz Yisrael National Team during British Mandate...
national team, but Israel did not succeed at securing a place among the teams in the 2002 World Cup
2002 FIFA World Cup
The 2002 FIFA World Cup was the 17th staging of the FIFA World Cup, held in South Korea and Japan from 31 May to 30 June. It was also the first World Cup held in Asia, and the last in which the golden goal rule was implemented. Brazil won the tournament for a record fifth time, beating Germany 2–0...
. It would become Richard Møller Nielsen's last international job.
Afterwards he managed the Danish second division team Kolding FC
Kolding FC
Kolding FC is a Danish football club based in Kolding, currently playing at the second highest level in Danish domestic football, the 1st division. On November 11, 2006, the club received permission from the Danish FA to sign contracts...
before retiring in October 2003.
Honours
- European ChampionshipUEFA European Football ChampionshipThe UEFA European Football Championship is the main football competition of the men's national football teams governed by UEFA . Held every four years since 1960, in the even-numbered year between World Cup tournaments, it was originally called the UEFA European Nations Cup, changing to the current...
1992 - World Soccer World Manager of the Year 1992
- Confederations Cup 1995
- Danish Football ChampionshipDanish football championsThe Danish football champions are the winners of the highest league of football in Denmark. The title has been contested since 1913, in a varying form of competitions. Since 1991, the winners have been found through the Danish Superliga championship...
1977, 1982 - Danish CupDanish CupThe Danish Cup is the official "knockout" cup competition in Danish football, run by the Danish Football Association. The cup has been contested annually since 1955...
1983