Richard Møller Nielsen

Infobox Football biography
playername = Richard Møller Nielsen


dateofbirth = birth date and age|1937|8|19|df=y
cityofbirth = Ubberud, Odense
countryofbirth = Denmark
currentclub = none
years =
clubs =
caps(goals) =
manageryears = 1962-1963
1964-1967
1968-1969
1969-1974
1974-1975
1975-1985
1978-1989
1987-1990
1990-1996
1996-1999
2000-2002
2003
managerclubs = Brobyværk IF
Odense BK
Esbjerg fB
Svendborg fB
B 1909
Odense BK
Denmark u-21
Denmark (assistant)
Denmark
Finland
Israel
Kolding FC

Richard Møller Nielsen (born 19 August 1937), nick-named Richardo, is a Danish former football (soccer) player and football manager. His greatest triumph came when he coached the Danish national football team which surprisingly won the 1992 European Championship (Euro 1992) tournament. In 1995, he was knighted as Knight 1st Degree of the Order of the Dannebrog.

Career

Richard Møller Nielsen is mostly known for his career as a coach, but he played as an active footballer in Odense BK, and was capped twice for Denmark as a defender. He stopped his career prematurely due to injury.

He coached, among others, Esbjerg fB, Odense BK and the Danish national youth team under head coach Sepp Piontek. In 1990 Sepp Pointek left his position as national coach, and a new name had to be found. Richard Møller Nielsen was mentioned early in the race for the job, but the national football association decided to look abroad for a new coach. Therefore the Danish Football Association pointed out German Horst Wohlers as the new Danish coach, but he was unable to break his contract with German club Bayer Uerdingen. It became a public farce, and Richard Møller Nielsen was finally appointed national coach.

The miracle in Sweden

The first goal for the newly appointed coach was to qualify for the Euro 1992 in Sweden. Denmark started out with a secure home victory against The Faroe Islands, but the following results in the qualification were an away draw against Northern Ireland and a 2-0 home loss against Yugoslavia. Several players left the squad including Michael Laudrup, Brian Laudrup and Jan Heintze, and several newspapers were demanding Richard Møller Nielsen to step down. Despite the critisism the team won the rest of the games in the group including a 2-1 away win against Yugoslavia. It was, however, not enough to qualify. The Danish team finished second in the group just behind Yugoslavia.

What looked like a European Championship without a Danish team was all changed due to the civil war in Yugoslavia. UEFA decided to ban Yugoslavia from participating in the championship, and Denmark was chosen as the replacement because of the team finished behind Yugoslavia in the qualification group.

The Danish team started out with 0-0 against England and a defeat against hosts Sweden. It looked like it was over after just two games, but a 2-1 winner from substituted Lars Elstrup secured a victory against France and a place in the semifinals. The defending European champions The Netherlands was the next opponent, and once again the Danish team surprised. 2-2 in the ordinary game and 5-4 in the penalty shoot-out got Denmark a place in the final. Reigning world champions Germany looked confident in the final, but Richard Møller Nielsen and his players left the field as winners with a 2-0 victory. It would become the highlight of Richard Møller Nielsen's coaching career, and it gave him the prize as World Manager of the Year chosen by World Soccer.

Another title

There were lots of expectations to the Danish team, when he European champions should qualify for the World Cup in USA. Brian Laudrup had returned to the team before the Euro 1992, but his brother who had just won the European Cup with FC Barcelona was still missing in the squad. Michael Laudrup refused to play under Richard Møller Nielsen, because he felt the coach had a too defensive approach to the game leaving no room for a creatve player like Michael Laudrup. Denmark started the World Cup qualification with three 0-0 draws, before the team finally got a 1-0 victory against Northern Ireland in Belfast. On the 25th of August 1993 Michael Laudrup made a comeback in a 4-0 victory home against Lithuania after having settled with Richard Møller Nielsen. The comeback of Denmark's most renowned player was not enough to secure a qualification place. Michael Laudrup never got the same success under Richard Møller Nielsen, as he enjoyed during the 80's with Sepp Piontek as coach and Preben Elkjær next to him in the attack. The last game of the qualification was away against Spain in Seville, and the home team won 1-0, even though the Danes had been playing 11 against 10 for most of the game.

Richard Møller Nielsen could, however, again secure a trophy for the Danish team, when Denmark participated in The Confederations Cup in 1995. This time the Danish team beat Argentina 2-0 in the final. Richard Møller Nielsen had several players from the national Danish league in his squad with players like Peter Schmeichel missing due to obligations with Manchester United.

The Danish team qualified for the Euro 1996 tournament in England, but the team failed to retain the title. Denmark was knocked out in the group stage, where the team finished third behind Croatia and Portugal. The team drew with Portugal, lost to Croatia and won against Turkey in the last game. Richard Møller Nielsen decided to leave his postion after the championship, and he is today considered the most successful coach of Denmark ever [da icon cite web | url=http://www.dbu.dk/page.aspx?id=458| title=A-landsholdets historie 1889-; 1996] .

Finland and Israel

He went on to coach the Finland national football team. As Finland manager he was very close at securing a play-off game for the 1998 World Cup in France, but a Hungarian goal in the stoppage time of the last game crushed the dream. The Finnish team also failed to qualify for the Euro 2000 in Belgium and The Netherlands.

In 2000 he took over as coach of the Israeli national team, but Israel did not succeed at securing a place among the teams in the 2002 World Cup. It would become Richard Møller Nielsen's last international job.

Afterwards he managed the Danish second division team Kolding FC before retiring in October 2003.

Honours

*European Championship 1992
* World Soccer World Manager of the Year 1992
*Confederations Cup 1995

References

External links

* [http://www.dbu.dk/lbase/coachInfo.aspx?coachid=4116 Danish national coach profile]
* [http://www.dbu.dk/lbase/playerInfo.aspx?playerid=3058 Danish national player profile]
* [http://foa.danmark.dk/portal/page?_pageid=33,23732&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL&entiId=10234721&ettyName=PERSON Order of the Dannebrog]