Niels-Christian Holmstrøm

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Niels-Christian Holmstrøm
Personal information
Full name Niels-Christian Holmstrøm
Date of birth February 23, 1947 (1947-02-23) (age 61)
Place of birth    Copenhagen, Denmark
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
1967-1969
1969-1970
1970-1971
1971-1974
1974-1977		 Kjøbenhavns Boldklub
ADO Den Haag
HFC Haarlem
Kjøbenhavns Boldklub
Girondins de Bordeaux		    
National team
1968-1969
1968-1976		 Denmark U-21
Denmark		 5 (2)
15 (4)
Teams managed
1978-1979
1980-1983
1984-1986
2001		 Kastrup BK
Boldklubben 1903
Kjøbenhavns Boldklub
F.C. Copenhagen

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only.
* Appearances (Goals)

Niels-Christian Holmstrøm (born February 23, 1947) is a Danish former football player, manager, chief consultant in Team Danmark and sports director of Danish football club F.C. Copenhagen. In his position as striker, he guided Kjøbenhavns Boldklub to two Danish Championships. He played 15 A nationals for the Danish national team and scored four goals.

Currently he is chairman for Kjøbenhavns Boldklub and a "special consultant" for F.C. Copenhagen.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Born in Copenhagen, he started his career at Kjøbenhavns Boldklub (KB), where he was the top goal-scorer in the Danish championship in 1968 as he guided the club to its 13th championship trophy. Holmstrøm played 6 Danish under-21 national team matches and scored 2 goals, in 1968 and 1969. His last two under-21 national games came after he had already debuted for the Danish senior national team on December 4 1968 against the Republic of Ireland. He went on to play four national team matches, before he moved abroad to play professionally for Dutch clubs ADO Den Haag and HFC Haarlem. As professional players were not allowed in the national team, his national team career went on a hiatus. His professional career was quickly over, as he suffered a career-ending injury and was declared medically unfit to play football.[1]

He refused to end his career, and returned to play for KB. Holmstrøm re-entered the national team in 1973, and he scored 3 goals in a national team match against Indonesia on September 3 1974 (final score 9-0), and was selected as the Danish team captain in the next 3 national team games. In 1974, he repeated his 1968 feat, as he was league top-scorer in KB's 14th Danish championship win. Following that season, he won the 1974 Danish Footballer of the Year award. He moved abroad once more in 1974, to play for FC Girondins de Bordeaux in France until his retirement in 1977. As the Danish rule of amateurism had been abolished in 1971, he continued to play for Denmark, and his last match for the national team came on November 17 1976 against Portugal.

Following his retirement, he managed Danish club Kastrup BK, with such success he earned the "Manager of the Year in Denmark" award in 1979. He also managed Boldklubben 1903 and KB before he ended his maanger career in 1986. He became sports director of F.C. Copenhagen in 1999, where he took the temporary role of manager in 2 games, when manager Kent Karlsson surprisingly left the club in September 2001. He ended his job at F.C. Copenhagen in 2006, after he had helped new sports director Carsten V. Jensen ease into the position.

Niels-Christian Holmstrøm is currently working as a consultant and a board member for FC Copenhagen. He also serves as a member of the board of UEFA's Club Forum, as well as the chairman of KB; one of the two clubs behind FC Copenhagen (the other one being B1903).

In 2006 Holmstrøm released his critically acclaimed, and successful memoirs, "Livet er for kort til lange afleveringer - erindringer med mening" ("Life is to short for long passings - memoirs with a meaning"), which is available in Danish from Lindhardt og Ringhof Publishing. In the book Holmstrøm writes about his passion for his sport, football, and the many other aspects of sport in general, which he had worked with through the years. Holmstrøm has no problems in putting down and mentioning several otherwise widely respected names in Danish sport throughout the book.

Holmstrøm is well-known for his outspoken manners, which had given birth to many classic quotes, which is still cited and loved by the fans of FC Copenhagen today. A few examples are "Hvis Per Bjerregaard holder op med at lyve om os, så skal vi nok lade være med at fortælle sandheden om ham!" ("If Per Bjerregaard [Chairman of local rivals Brøndby IF] stops lying about us, we won't tell the truth about him!", and "Hellere løve for èn dag, end lænkehund hele livet" ("[I'd] rather be a lion for one day, than a chained dog for one entire life").

[edit] Honours

[edit] References

  1. ^ Jens Kristensen, "Krudttønde - nu med mikrofon", Fyens Stiftstidende, June 23, 2006

[edit] External links

Awards
Preceded by
Hans Aabech		 Danish Football Player of the Year
1974		 Succeeded by
Henning Munk Jensen
v • d • e
F.C. Copenhagen – Managers

Johansen (1992–92) • Kristensen (1994) • Johansen (1994–95) • Schäfer (1995–96) • Brink (1996–97) • Karlsson (1997–98) • Brink (1998) • Andersen (1999) • Brink (1999–2000) • Hodgson (2000–01) • Karlsson (2001) • Holmstrøm (2001) • Backe (2001–05) • Solbakken (2006–)
Languages