 Nielsen managingAaB in 2011 | |||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | (1961-12-28)28 December 1961 (age 64) | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Frederiksberg, Denmark | ||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.92 m (6 ft 4 in) | ||||||||||||||||
| Position | Centre back | ||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||||
| 1980–1986 | Brønshøj | 230 | (34) | ||||||||||||||
| 1987–1989 | Brøndby | 91 | (7) | ||||||||||||||
| 1989–1991 | Aston Villa | 79 | (4) | ||||||||||||||
| 1992–1994 | AGF | 62 | (7) | ||||||||||||||
| Total | 462 | (52) | |||||||||||||||
| International career | |||||||||||||||||
| 1979–1980 | Denmark u19 | 9 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 1983–1985 | Denmark u21 | 11 | (1) | ||||||||||||||
| 1983–1992 | Denmark | 54 | (3) | ||||||||||||||
| Managerial career | |||||||||||||||||
| 2000–2001 | AGF Aarhus (assistant) | ||||||||||||||||
| 2001–2008 | Horsens | ||||||||||||||||
| 2009–2010 | Brøndby | ||||||||||||||||
| 2010–2015 | AaB | ||||||||||||||||
| 2015–2018 | OB | ||||||||||||||||
| 2019– | Silkeborg | ||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||||||||||||||||
Kent Nielsen (born 28 December 1961) is a Danish professionalfootballmanager and former player, who is currently the head coach ofSilkeborg IF. He was named coach of the year by theDanish Football Association in 2014 after winning both theDanish Superliga and theDanish Cup withAaB. He started his coaching career ascaretaker manager ofAGF, before getting his breakthrough withAC Horsens, guiding the club to promotion to the top-flight Superliga championship in 2005. He has also coached Superliga clubsBrøndby IF andOB. He has the record for most games managed in the Danish Superliga.[1]
In his active career, Nielsen played as acentre back. He won twoDanish championships and a Danish Cup trophy with Brøndby IF. He played three years in England withAston Villa, before ending his career after winning the Danish Cup withAGF. He played 54 games and scored three goals for theDenmark national team, winning theEuro 1992 championship.
The son of formerDanish internationalErik Nielsen, Kent Nielsen started his career in Erik's former clubBrønshøj Boldklub (in Copenhagen), alongside his brother Tommy. Kent Nielsen switched to the Danish teamBrøndby IF in 1987, with whom he won the 1987 and 1988Danish championships, as well as the 1989Danish Cup. Following 91 first team games for Brøndby,[2] Nielsen left the club in 1989. He was bought by English clubAston Villa for a reported £500,000transfer fee,[3] and secured himself a place in the starting line-up in his two first seasons with the club. New Aston Villa managerRon Atkinson did not see Nielsen as fitting into his4–4–2 tactics and brought in replacementShaun Teale,[3] and Nielsen looked to leave the club. In early 1992, he moved back to Denmark, to play forAGF. He won the 1992 Danish Cup with AGF, before he retired in 1994.
Nielsen started his international career with theDenmark national under-19 football team in July 1979. He was called up for theDenmark national under-21 football team in May 1983. Following two under-21 games, he made his debut for the seniorDanish national team on 5 October 1983 in a1984 Summer Olympics qualification game againstPoland, making him the last Brønshøj player until this date, to represent the club on the national squad. He then reverted to the under-21 team. He played his second senior international game in January 1985, and was selected by national team managerSepp Piontek for the Danish squad at the1986 World Cup, but spent the entire tournament as an unused substitute. He was a part of Olympic managerRichard Møller Nielsen's team for the1988 Summer Olympics qualification tournament, but was not called up to Piontek's squad for theEuro 1988.
Under new national team manager Richard Møller Nielsen, Kent Nielsen became a constant member of the Denmark squad. After his return to AGF, he was selected to represent Denmark at theEuro 1992. Nielsen played four of Denmark's five games, including theEuro 1992 final againstGermany, where he most famously cleared the ball off the goalline with abicycle kick, avoiding a goal fromKarl-Heinz Riedle. He ended his international career following the 2–0 win against Germany.
Following his retirement, Nielsen spent years as an amateur football manager until he and former Danish internationalLars Lundkvist took over as co-managers ofAGF in April 2000. He and Lundkvist kept AGF from being relegated, but left the club after the season end. In 2001, he was appointed manager ofDanish 1st Division clubAC Horsens, which he managed topromotion for theDanish Superliga. Against all odds, he led the team to survive the2005–06 Superliga season. His success continued during the following season, and he was named 2006 Danish Coach of the Year. In the2007–08 season, his team finished in a historic fifth place, despite having one of the lowest budgets in the league.
Eventually, Nielsen's achievements with Horsens caught the attention of other clubs. In January 2009, he signed a four-year contract with his former club Brøndby IF. He managed Brøndby to 17 victories in 38 games. In March 2010, he was sacked, following a 1–3 defeat toHB Køge.[4]
On 11 October 2010 he replacedMagnus Pehrsson as manager ofAaB. He led the club to the 2013–14 Danish Superliga championship and the 2013–14 Danish Cup.
In 2015 he became the head coach ofOB, where he was for 3 years. He was fired due to the team's bad results.[5]
Afterwards he was as the head coachSilkeborg IF in theDanish 1st Division in August 2018 to replacePeter Sørensen after a bad start to the season. He would begin in the job from the season after due to an operation after an injury.Michael Hansen was the interim coach in the mean time, and during this season the team was promoted, so Nielsen took over the Superliga team in 2019.[6]
In hisfirst season at the club, the team was relegated due to the Superliga changing structure and going from 14 to 12 teams. The club decided however to stick with him, and the season afterwards they were promoted.[7]
In the2021-22 season Silkeborg took bronze-medals as a newly promoted team. Two years later Kent Nielsen's Silkeborg won theDBU Pokalen in 2024, beatingAGF 1-0 in the final.[8]
In the last round of the 2025-26 Autumn season he turned 600 matches managed in the Danish Superliga, which is a record.[1]
| Team | Nat | From | To | Record | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | Win % | |||||||
| Horsens |  | 1 July 2001 | 31 December 2008 | 261 | 104 | 67 | 90 | 039.85 | |||
| Brøndby | | 1 January 2009 | 25 March 2010 | 48 | 20 | 11 | 17 | 041.67 | |||
| AaB | | 11 October 2010 | 30 June 2015 | 184 | 77 | 46 | 61 | 041.85 | |||
| OB | | 1 July 2015 | 21 May 2018 | 110 | 40 | 23 | 47 | 036.36 | |||
| Silkeborg | | 1 July 2019 | Present | 261 | 107 | 58 | 96 | 041.00 | |||
| Total | 864 | 348 | 205 | 311 | 040.28 | ||||||
Denmark squads | |||||||||||||
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