Brian Priske Pedersen (born 14 May 1977) is a Danish professional football manager and former player, who is the current head coach of Eredivisie club Feyenoord. Priske played as a defender during his playing career. He played 24 matches for the Denmark national football team from 2003 to 2007, and represented Denmark at UEFA Euro 2004.

Club career

Born in Horsens, Priske started his career for Danish club Stensballe, a Horsens suburb club. Still a youth, he moved to Horsens Forenede Sportsklubber (HFS), now called AC Horsens. He moved on to Aarhus in 1997, before settling at AaB in 1999. There, he won the Danish Superliga championship in 1999, and captained the club at the end of his tenure. He moved to Belgian club Genk in the summer of 2003. When he played the full match in Denmark's 4–1 win over England on 17 August 17, Priske aroused the interest of several Premiership clubs, and he joined Portsmouth five days later for an undisclosed fee, signing a three-year deal. Priske was given a good run in the Portsmouth side by Alain Perrin, but after Perrin was sacked that November, Priske was dropped by returning manager Harry Redknapp. Many Portsmouth supporters assumed that this was because of Redknapp's disdain of using players he himself had not purchased, and speculation was rife in the January transfer window that Priske would be leaving the club. A move away from Fratton Park never materialized, however, and following Portsmouth's poor run of form and injuries to several defenders, Priske was returned to the side for match against Manchester City on 11 March. Priske was from then an ever-present as Portsmouth then went on an excellent run of form for their final ten matches of the season, earning the club Premiership survival for another year. Since arriving from K.R.C. Genk, Priske has been a popular player amongst Portsmouth supporters. Many were originally unhappy that Priske had been frozen-out of the team with Redknapp's return, and felt justified in their valuation of the player after the impressive role he played in earning the club survival from relegation. Priske had become a fan favourite since his arrival at Fratton Park as a result of his impressive form, but in spite of this, rumours of his departure from the south coast resurfaced during the 2006–07 pre-season. Priske revealed to the Danish media that he had been told to find a new club before the start of the next season before returning to Belgium, joining Club Brugge in August 2006. The news was met with confusion and anger among Portsmouth fans. In Bruges, Priske competed with fan favourites Olivier De Cock and Birger Maertens for a place in the starting line-up. Priske became a first team regular, and helped the team win the 2007 Belgian Cup. In the summer of 2008, Priske returned to the Danish Superliga to play for Vejle BK. He could not save the club from relegation to the Danish 1st Division in 2009, but stayed with the team. In the summer of 2010, he was loaned out to Superliga club Midtjylland. On 21 January 2011, he signed for Start.

International career

While at AaB, Priske made his debut for the Danish national team in February 2003. He was a part of the Danish squad at the Euro 2004, and played 14 minutes in the 0–0 group game with Italy, coming on as a substitute to replace Christian Poulsen. Following retirement and injuries in the Danish defense, Priske became a more consistent member of the national team. In the 2006 World Cup qualification stage he played 10 out of 12 matches, though Denmark did not qualify for the finals. He played one game in the UEFA Euro 2008 qualification, a 1–2 loss to Northern Ireland in November 2007, after which he was dropped from the national team.

Managerial career

Midtjylland

Priske served as assistant of Midtjylland and Copenhagen from 2011 to 2019. When Kenneth Andersen resigned as manager of FC Midtjylland on 19 August 2019, Priske succeeded him. At first he was a caretaker manager for eleven games, until he got promoted to a head coach. In his first season as a head coach in the 2019–20 season, Priske and Midtjylland won the Danish Championship 14 points ahead of second place Copenhagen, despite only having half of their budget. By winning the championship, Priske and Midtjylland had to play three rounds of UEFA Champions League qualification matches to get to the Champions league group stages. They beat Ludogorets 1–0, Young Boys 3–0 and then on 30 September 2020 they beat Slavia Prague 4–1.

Royal Antwerp

On 29 May 2021, Priske signed a new contract for two seasons with Royal Antwerp.

Sparta Prague

On 31 May 2022, Priske was named the new head coach of Sparta Prague. On 23 May 2023, Sparta Prague drew 0–0 with Slovácko to clinch their first Czech First League title in nine years. They also reached the final of the Czech cup that season. Priske became the first foreign manager to win the Czech league (excluding Slovaks Jozef Jarabinský and Jozef Chovanec). He was chosen as manager of the 2022–23 season by the League Football Association (LFA). On 20 October 2023, Priske extended his contract with Sparta Prague until 2026. On 14 December 2023, Priske and AC Sparta Prague qualified for the knockout stages of the UEFA Europa League after beating Aris Limassol 3–1 and finishing second in a group also featuring Real Betis and Rangers. After advancing past Galatasaray in the knockout stages (6–4 on aggregate), they were knocked out by Liverpool in the Round of 16 (2–11 on aggregate). On 18 May 2024, Sparta Prague won 5–0 at Mladá Boleslav to clinch the Czech First League title for the second time in two years. Sparta also won Czech Cup. Priske was chosen as the manager of the 2023–24 season by League Football Association (LFA).

Feyenoord

On 12 June 2024, Dutch club Feyenoord announced that it had signed Priske as the club's new head coach.

Personal life

His son August Priske is also a professional footballer.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

AaB Club Brugge

Manager

Midtjylland Sparta Prague Feyenoord