Claus Nørgaard

Claus Nørgaard (born 17 December 1979) is a Danish professional football coach, who is assistant head coach of Premier League club Brentford.

Claus Nørgaard
Personal information
Date of birth (1979-12-17) 17 December 1979
Place of birth Herning Municipality, Denmark[1]
Position(s) Midfielder
Team information
Current team
 Brentford
(assistant head coach)
Youth career
Years Team
0000–1995 Ikast FS
Managerial career
0000–2003 Herning Fremad U15
2003–2008 Vejle BK U15
2008–2009 Vejle BK U17
2012 IK Skovbakken
2012–2013 Vejle Kolding U19
2016–2017 Denmark U16
2016–2017 Denmark U18
2016–2017 Denmark U20
2017–2018 Sønderjyske
2019 Esbjerg fB (caretaker)
2022 Denmark U18

In a nomadic career as a head and assistant coach at domestic and international level, Nørgaard has coached several Denmark youth international teams and Superliga club Sønderjyske. His move to Premier League club Brentford in December 2022 was his first role outside his native Denmark.

Coaching career

Early years

As a youth footballer, Nørgaard grew up learning from his father Benny, who had two Danish Superliga seasons as head coach of Ikast FS in 1993–94 and 1994–95.[2] Nørgaard followed his father to Herning Fremad, but the effects of a bicycle accident led to him quitting his playing career in order to become head coach of the club's U15 team.[3] He moved into Vejle BK in 2003 and held various youth roles, which culminated in his appointment as head coach of the U17 team on 1 January 2008.[1] In 2009, Nørgaard was appointed as a full-time national youth coach at the DBU and served in the role until 2012,[4] when he was appointed to his first senior head coaching role at 2nd Division club IK Skovbakken on 3 January 2012.[5] In May 2012, Nørgaard departed the club in order to join Vejle Kolding (then-the continuation of Vejle BK) as U19 head coach.[6][7] In January 2013, Nørgaard was appointed to the role as assistant head coach of the first team at the club.[8]

2013–2018

In June 2013, Nørgaard joined Superliga club Brøndby as one of two assistants to head coach Thomas Frank.[9] He had previously worked under Frank at the DBU.[9] Nørgaard remained in the role until the end of the 2015–16 season and took up the role of head coach of the Denmark U16 and U18 teams on 1 July 2016.[10][11] Nørgaard's teams went undefeated during the first half of the 2016–17 season (which included two additional matches in charge of the U20 team) and he departed to take up the head coaching role of Superliga club Sønderjyske on 5 January 2017.[4][12] Signing a 2+1⁄2-year contract,[4] Nørgaard indicated during the first half of the 2018–19 season that he would not seek to extend it.[13] He was sacked in December 2018.[13]

2019–2022

On 18 April 2019, Nørgaard was named as assistant head coach of Superliga club Esbjerg fB.[14] Following the sacking of head coach John Lammers on 16 September 2019,[15] Nørgaard was named caretaker manager and presided over six matches prior to the appointment of Lars Olsen.[16][17] Nørgaard was retained in his role as assistant head coach and departed the club at the end of the 2020–21 season.[18] On 1 June 2021, Nørgaard returned to Vejle BK for the second time as head of coaching.[1] In early September 2021,[19] he transitioned to the role of assistant to new head coach Peter Sørensen.[20] Nørgaard remained with the club until 31 August 2022.[21]

2022–present

In July 2022, Nørgaard was named as the head coach of Denmark U18 and he took up the role on 1 September 2022.[22] He presided over six matches before moving to England to join Premier League club Brentford as assistant to head coach Thomas Frank on 5 December 2022.[12][23] The appointment marked the third time he had worked as Frank's assistant.[23] Together with first team coach Kevin O'Connor, his day-to-day role entails focusing on the defence.[24]

Personal life

Nørgaard grew up in Lind,[25] Herning Municipality and has a bachelor's degree in sport.[2] Taking inspiration from his father Benny, Nørgaard supplemented his part-time football coaching income by working as a teacher.[2] He taught at Løsning School and as of January 2012, was teaching at Jelling Seminarium.[5] As of April 2021, Nørgaard was living in Vejle.[1]

Managerial statistics
As of match played 21 November 2022[12][16][26]
Managerial record by team and tenure
Team From To Record
PWDLWin %
IK Skovbakken 4 January 2012 5 January 2017 15 5 1 9 033.3
Denmark U16 1 July 2016 5 January 2017 2 2 0 0 100.0
Denmark U18 1 July 2016 5 January 2017 4 1 3 0 025.0
Denmark U20 1 July 2016 5 January 2017 2 2 0 0 100.0
SønderjyskE 5 January 2017 17 December 2018 78 26 17 35 033.3
Esbjerg fB (caretaker) 16 September 2019 27 October 2019 6 2 1 3 033.3
Denmark U18 1 September 5 December 2022 5 3 1 1 060.0
Total 112 41 23 48 036.6

References
  1. Christensen, Lars. "Claus Nørgaard ny Head of Coaching i VB". Vejle Boldklub. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
  2. Thøgersen, Troels Bager. "Født til et liv som fodboldtraener". Ekstra Bladet. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
  3. Hansen, Jørgen. "I mesterlære som træner hos sin egen far". Dansk Træner Union (in Danish). Retrieved 7 December 2022.
  4. "Blå bog Sønderjyskes nye cheftræner". DR (in Danish). 5 January 2017. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
  5. Engmann, Jesper. "Skovbakken får talenttræner". Jyllands-Posten. Retrieved 7 December 2022.
  6. "Skovbakken-træner rykker til VBK". bold.dk (in Danish). 8 May 2012. Retrieved 6 December 2022.
  7. "Kolding IF får licensen tilbage fra VBK". bold.dk (in Danish). 2 November 2012. Retrieved 6 December 2022.
  8. "Ny assistenttræner i VBK". DR (in Danish). 9 January 2013. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
  9. "Claus Nørgaard er ny assistenttræner i Brøndby IF". brondby.com (in Danish). Retrieved 5 December 2022.
  10. "Claus Nørgaard rykker til DBU til sommer". brondby.com (in Danish). Retrieved 5 December 2022.
  11. "DBU-boss glad for ny U-landstrænerstruktur". bold.dk (in Danish). 4 April 2016. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
  12. "Landsholdsdatabasen". DBU (in Danish). Retrieved 5 December 2022.
  13. Tøfting, Nicolai Skovsgaard (17 December 2018). "Nørgaard stopper omgående i SønderjyskE". bold.dk (in Danish). Retrieved 5 December 2022.
  14. Poulsen, Kenni (18 April 2019). "Claus Nørgaard ny assistenttræner i Esbjerg fB". efb.dk (in Danish). Retrieved 5 December 2022.
  15. "Superligaklub har fyret cheftræneren". Jyllands-Posten (in Danish). 16 September 2019. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
  16. "Claus Norgaard manager profile and live statistics updates". Sofascore. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
  17. "Lars Olsen ist neuer Cheftrainer bei Esbjerg fB". Der Nordschleswiger (in German). 28 October 2019. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
  18. Poulsen, Kenni (17 April 2021). "Claus Nørgaard stopper efter sæsonen". efb.dk (in Danish). Retrieved 5 December 2022.
  19. "VB skifter ud i trænerstaben: Tidligere superliga-træner kommer tæt på førsteholdet". vafo.dk (in Danish). 6 September 2021. Retrieved 6 December 2022.
  20. Abedeny, Daniel. "Han er ham med fløjten – og meget mere". Vejle Boldklub. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
  21. Pelch, Morten. "DBU henter Claus Nørgaard i Vejle Boldklub". Vejle Boldklub. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
  22. "Ungdomslandstræner vender tilbage til DBU". DBU (in Danish). Retrieved 5 December 2022.
  23. "Claus Nørgaard appointed". www.brentfordfc.com. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
  24. "Claus Norgaard explains his responsibilities as first team assistant head coach". www.brentfordfc.com. Retrieved 20 April 2023.
  25. Kristiansen, Kenneth. "SønderjyskE's træner begyndte i Fremad". Herning Folkeblad (in Danish). Retrieved 5 December 2022.
  26. "Stillinger og resultater". DBU (in Danish). Retrieved 6 December 2022.
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