Jacob "Nees" Neestrup Hansen (born 8 March 1988) is a Danish professional football manager and former player who is the manager of Danish Superliga club F.C. Copenhagen.
 Neestrup with Copenhagen in 2008 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Jacob Neestrup Hansen | ||
| Date of birth | 8 March 1988 | ||
| Place of birth | Copenhagen, Denmark | ||
| Height | 1.84 m (6 ft 0 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Midfielder | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Copenhagen (Manager) | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1994–1998 | Fremad Amager | ||
| 1998–2007 | KB | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2007–2009 | Copenhagen | 2 | (0) |
| 2009–2010 | Stavanger | 0 | (0) |
| 2010–2011 | Hafnarfjörður | 6 | (0) |
| 2011 | Fremad Amager | ||
| International career | |||
| 2007 | Denmark U20 | 2 | (0) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 2013–2018 | Copenhagen U17[1] | ||
| 2018–2019 | Copenhagen (assistant) | ||
| 2019–2020 | Viborg | ||
| 2021–2022 | Copenhagen (assistant) | ||
| 2022– | Copenhagen | ||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
A former midfielder, Neestrup emerged from the FC Copenhagen youth academy, but saw his career mostly diminished due to injuries. After retiring in 2011, he embarked on a career in management. He was appointed head coach of second-tier 1st Division club Viborg in June 2019, after having worked as an assistant at Copenhagen the season before.
Career
Although his first team debut came on 20 September 2006 in the Danish Cup, he was not promoted to the first team before the summer 2007.[2] He was injured only two minutes into his professional debut. The injury subsequently ruled him out for 8 months.[3]
After recovering, Neestrup made his Danish Superliga debut in the last match of the 2006–07 season against Vejle Boldklub.
In May 2010, Neestrup was signed by reigning Icelandic champions FH Hafnarfjörður. His stint with the club was not successful, being sidelined for large parts of the season due to injuries and a car accident.[4] After six months, he returned to Denmark to sign with fourth-tier Denmark Series club Fremad Amager.[5]
Coaching career
On 20 June 2019, it was confirmed that Neestrup had been appointed as the manager of Viborg FF for the upcoming season.[6]
On 22 December 2020, it was announced that Neestrup would leave Viborg at the end of the year and return to F.C. Copenhagen as assistant manager of Jess Thorup. He left Viborg in 1st place in the 2020–21 Danish 1st Division.[7]
On 20 September 2022, he was announced as new manager of F.C. Copenhagen following the sacking of Jess Thorup.[8]
Despite being placed 9th out of 12 and being 10 points off 1st place when he took over, Neestrup still eventually guided them to win the Danish Superliga and the Danish Cup.[9] On 12 December 2023, he guided them to the knockout stages of the Champions League, being placed second in a group with Bayern Munich, Galatasaray and Manchester United.[10]
Managerial statistics
- As of 31 May 2023
| Team | Nat | From | To | Record | Ref | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % | |||||
| Viborg |  | 20 June 2019 | 31 December 2020 | 54 | 31 | 13 | 10 | 116 | 65 | +51 | 57.41 | [11] |
| Copenhagen | | 20 September 2022 | Present | 85 | 46 | 18 | 21 | 167 | 104 | +63 | 54.12 | [12] |
| Total | 139 | 77 | 31 | 31 | 283 | 169 | +114 | 55.40 | — | |||
Honours
Player
Copenhagen
Manager
Copenhagen
References
External links
- F.C. København profile (in Danish)
- Jacob Neestrup national team profile at the Danish Football Association (in Danish)
- Jacob Neestrup at DR (in Danish) (archived)