Jesper Jensen (handballer)

Jesper Jensen
Jesper Jensen in 2018
Personal information
Born (1977-10-30) 30 October 1977 (age 47)
Aarhus, Denmark
Nationality Danish
Height 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Playing position Central back
Club information
Current club Denmark (manager)
Youth career
Team
 HEI Skæring
Senior clubs
Years Team
–1999
 Team Esbjerg
1999–2013
 Skjern Håndbold
National team
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2001–2011
 Denmark 120 (238)
Teams managed
2013–2014
 Vejen EH
2014–2016
 Aalborg Håndbold
2017–2024
 Team Esbjerg
2020–2025
 Denmark
2025–
 Ferencvárosi TC
Medal record
Men's handball
Representing  Denmark
World Championship
Bronze medal – third place 2007 Germany
European Championship
Gold medal – first place 2008 Norway
Bronze medal – third place 2006 Switzerland
Junior World Championship
Gold medal – first place 1997 Turkey

Jesper Jensen (born 30 October 1977) is a former Danish handball player and current manager of the Danish women's national team.[1] He was named World Coach of the Year (female teams) in 2021 by IHF.[2]

Jensen comes from a handball family. He is brother of the former Danish handball player and 2004 Olympic champion, Trine Jensen.[3] His mother played for the Danish club Vejlby-Risskov Idrætsklub, and his father was a handball referee.[4]

Jensen won the 2008 European Men's Handball Championship with the Danish men's national handball team. He was part of the team which finished seventh in the 2008 Olympic tournament. He played all eight matches and scored 16 goals.[5]

On 17 February 2011, Jensen stopped on the Danish men's national team after 120 games and 238 goals.[6]

Coaching career

After his playing career Jensen became the head coach of the Vejen EH women's team in 2013. He coached them for a single season until switching to Aalborg Håndbold. In March 2016 he was fired due to disappointing results. The club was in 7th place at the time.[7]

In 2017 he became the assistant coach at Team Esbjerg.[8] When the club fired head coach Lars Frederiksen in May 2017, Jesper Jensen was promoted to head coach.[9] Jensen has announced, that he does not intend to continue, when his contract expires in the summer 2024. He will at that time be replaced by Swedish coach Tomas Axnér.[10]

Danish women's coach

In 2020, he was named head coach of the Danish women's national team, a position he has held simultaneously with the position at Team Esbjerg. He coached Denmark at the 2020 European Women's Handball Championship.[11][12] He won silver with the Danish women's national team at the 2022 European Women's Handball Championship and, the next year, bronze at the World Championship.

References

  1. ^ EHF profile
  2. ^ "Danish Delight in the 2021 IHF World Players and Coaches of the Year Awards". IHF. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
  3. ^ "IHF Men's Junior World Championship" (PDF). IHF. Retrieved 5 September 2005.
  4. ^ "Trine Nielsen". Europamester.dk.
  5. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Jesper Jensen". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 4 December 2016.
  6. ^ Jesper Jensen stopper på landsholdet Archived 28 January 2019 at the Wayback Machine (in Danish)
  7. ^ Hansen, Søren (18 March 2016). "Jesper Jensen fyret i Aalborg: Stopper øjeblikkeligt" ["Jesper Jensen fired at Aalborg - Stops immediately"] (in Danish). TV 2.
  8. ^ "Jesper Jensen bliver assistent for Esbjergs mesterhold" ["Jesper Jensen to be the assistant coach at Esbjerg's championship team"] (in Danish). Fyens Stiftstidende. 4 January 2017.
  9. ^ Asferg, Mikkel (31 May 2016). "Esbjerg-formand: - Jesper Jensen er fremtidens mand" ["Esbjerg's chairperson: Jesper Jensen is the man for the future"] (in Danish). TV 2.
  10. ^ Selmann, Philip (17 May 2023). "Svensk landstræner afløser Jesper Jensen i Team Esbjerg" ["Swedish national team coach will replace Jesper Jensen at Team Esbjerg"] (in Danish). Danmarks Radio.
  11. ^ "Kvindelandsholdets EM-trup er udtaget". DHF. Archived from the original on 10 November 2020. Retrieved 10 November 2020.
  12. ^ "2020 European Championship Roster" (PDF). livecache.sportresult.com. 3 December 2020. Retrieved 3 December 2020.[permanent dead link‍]