| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Brian Priske Pedersen | ||
| Date of birth | (1977-05-14)14 May 1977 (age 48) | ||
| Place of birth | Horsens, Denmark | ||
| Height | 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) | ||
| Position | Defender | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Sparta Prague (manager) | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Stensballe | |||
| –1996 | Horsens fS | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1996–1997 | AC Horsens | 46 | (12) |
| 1997–1999 | Aarhus Fremad | 50 | (5) |
| 1999–2003 | AaB | 163 | (1) |
| 2003–2005 | Genk | 68 | (1) |
| 2005–2006 | Portsmouth | 30 | (0) |
| 2006–2008 | Club Brugge | 64 | (0) |
| 2008–2011 | Vejle | 61 | (0) |
| 2010 | →Midtjylland (loan) | 17 | (1) |
| 2011 | Start | 15 | (1) |
| Total | 468 | (8) | |
| International career | |||
| 1998–1999 | Denmark U21 | 15 | (0) |
| 2003–2007 | Denmark | 24 | (0) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 2019–2021 | Midtjylland | ||
| 2021–2022 | Royal Antwerp | ||
| 2022–2024 | Sparta Prague | ||
| 2024–2025 | Feyenoord | ||
| 2025– | Sparta Prague | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Brian Priske Pedersen (Danish pronunciation:[ˈpʁiːænˈpʰʁiskəˈpʰe̝(ː)ðɐsn̩]; born 14 May 1977) is a Danish professionalfootball manager and formerplayer, who is the head coach ofCzech First League clubSparta Prague. Priske played as adefender during his playing career.
He played 24 matches for theDenmark national football team from 2003 to 2007, and represented Denmark atUEFA Euro 2004. As a manager, he started his career atMidtjylland, winning theDanish Superliga title before being appointed by Belgian clubRoyal Antwerp where he departed after one season and signed with Czech club Sparta Prague. After winning three trophies with the club, he was appointed by Dutch sideFeyenoord but was sacked after half a season in charge. In June 2025, he returned to Sparta Prague as manager.
Born inHorsens, Priske started his career for Danish club Stensballe, a Horsens suburb club.[1] Still a youth, he moved to Horsens Forenede Sportsklubber (HFS), now called AC Horsens. He moved on toAarhus in 1997, before settling atAaB in 1999. There, he won theDanish Superliga championship in 1999, and captained the club at the end of his tenure. He moved to Belgian clubGenk in the summer of 2003.
When he played the full match in Denmark's 4–1 win overEngland on 17 August 2005, Priske aroused the interest of several Premiership clubs, and he joinedPortsmouth five days later for an undisclosed fee, signing a three-year deal. Priske was given a good run in the Portsmouth side byAlain Perrin, but after Perrin was sacked that November, Priske was dropped by returning managerHarry Redknapp. Many Portsmouth supporters assumed that this was because of Redknapp's disdain of using players he himself had not purchased, and speculation was rife in the January transfer window that Priske would be leaving the club.
A move away fromFratton Park never materialized, however, and following Portsmouth's poor run of form and injuries to several defenders, Priske was returned to the side for match againstManchester City on 11 March. Priske was from then an ever-present as Portsmouth then went on an excellent run of form for their final ten matches of the season, earning the club Premiership survival for another year. Since arriving from Genk, Priske had been a popular player amongst Portsmouth supporters. Many were originally unhappy that Priske had been frozen-out of the team with Redknapp's return, and felt justified in their valuation of the player after the impressive role he played in earning the club survival fromrelegation.
Priske had become a fan favourite since his arrival at Fratton Park as a result of his impressive form, but in spite of this, rumours of his departure from the south coast resurfaced during the 2006–07 pre-season. Priske revealed to the Danish media that he had been told to find a new club before the start of the next season before returning to Belgium, joiningClub Brugge in August 2006. The news was met with confusion and anger among Portsmouth fans. In Bruges, Priske competed with fan favouritesOlivier De Cock andBirger Maertens for a place in the starting line-up. Priske became a first team regular, and helped the team win the 2007Belgian Cup.
In the summer of 2008, Priske returned to the Danish Superliga to play forVejle.[2] He could not save the club from relegation to theDanish 1st Division in 2009, but stayed with the team. In the summer of 2010, he was loaned out to Superliga clubMidtjylland. On 21 January 2011, he signed forStart.
While at AaB, Priske made his debut for the Danish national team in February 2003. He was a part of the Danish squad at theEuro 2004, and played 14 minutes in the 0–0 group game withItaly, coming on as a substitute to replaceChristian Poulsen. Following retirement and injuries in the Danish defense, Priske became a more consistent member of the national team. In the2006 World Cup qualification stage he played 10 out of 12 matches, though Denmark did not qualify for the finals. He played one game in theUEFA Euro 2008 qualification, a 1–2 loss toNorthern Ireland in November 2007, after which he was dropped from the national team.[3]
Priske served as assistant ofMidtjylland andCopenhagen from 2011 to 2019. When Kenneth Andersen resigned as manager of Midtjylland on 19 August 2019, Priske succeeded him. At first, he was a caretaker manager for eleven games, until he got promoted to a head coach. In his first campaign as a head coach in the2019–20 season, Priske and Midtjylland won theDanish Championship 14 points ahead of second place Copenhagen, despite only having half of their budget. By winning the championship, Priske and Midtjylland had to play three rounds of UEFA Champions League qualification matches to get to theChampions league group stages. They beatLudogorets 1–0,Young Boys 3–0 and then on 30 September 2020 they beatSlavia Prague 4–1.
On 29 May 2021, Priske signed a new contract for two seasons withRoyal Antwerp.[4][5]
On 31 May 2022, Priske was named the new head coach ofSparta Prague.[6] On 23 May 2023, Sparta Prague drew 0–0 withSlovácko to clinch their firstCzech First League title in nine years. They also reached the final of the Czech cup that season.[7] Priske became the first foreign manager to win the Czech league (excluding SlovaksJozef Jarabinský andJozef Chovanec).[8] He was chosen as manager of the2022–23 season by the League Football Association (LFA).[9]
On 20 October 2023, Priske extended his contract with Sparta Prague until 2026.[10] On 14 December 2023, Priske and AC Sparta Prague qualified for the knockout stages of the UEFA Europa League after beatingAris Limassol 3–1 and finishing second in a group also featuringReal Betis andRangers.[11] After advancing pastGalatasaray in the knockout stages (6–4 on aggregate),[12] they were knocked out byLiverpool in the Round of 16 (2–11 on aggregate).[13] On 18 May 2024, Sparta Prague won 5–0 atMladá Boleslav to clinch the Czech First League title for the second time in two years.[14] Sparta also wonCzech Cup.[15] Priske was chosen as the manager of the2023–24 season by League Football Association (LFA).[16]
On 12 June 2024, Dutch clubFeyenoord announced that it had signed Priske as the club's new head coach on a three-year contract.[17] In Priske's first official game as Feyenoord head coach on 4 August 2024, Feyenoord beatPSV Eindhoven onpenalties after a 4–4 draw to win theJohan Cruyff Shield. Priske initially implemented a 3–4–3 formation, but changed that to a 4–3–3 formation after criticism and a 1–1 draw in the first league game against promoted sideWillem II.[18] However, in September 2024, Feyenoord continued to drop points and suffered a 0–4 defeat againstBayer Leverkusen in theUEFA Champions League. In October 2024, Feyenoord won away games againstGirona andBenfica in the Champions League and beatTwente,Go Ahead Eagles andUtrecht in theEredivisie, before losingDe Klassieker toAjax. In the remainder of 2024, Feyenoord won five of their seven games in the Eredivisie and came back from 3–0 down to draw 3–3 againstManchester City and beat Priske's former clubSparta Prague in the Champions League. After Feyenoord started 2025 with a defeat against Utrecht and a draw against Willem II, there were rumours Priske would leave the club after the home game againstBayern Munich in the Champions League. However, after Feyenoord won that game 3–0 to qualify for theknockout phase, he remained Feyenoord's head coach.[19] In the following weeks, Feyenoord suffered their largest-ever Champions League defeat againstLille (6–1), lost away to Ajax in the Eredivisie and were knocked out in theKNVB Cup quarter-finals by PSV Eindhoven. On 10 February 2025, two days after a 3–0 win in theRotterdam derby againstSparta Rotterdam, Priske was sacked as head coach following "inconsistent results and a lack progress".[20]
On 8 June 2025, Priske was appointed again as Sparta Prague manager, signed a multi-year contract.[21]
His sonAugust Priske is also a professional footballer.[22]
AaB
Club Brugge
Midtjylland
Sparta Prague
Feyenoord
