Kasper Hjulmand (born 9 April 1972) is a Danish football manager and a former player. He was most recently the head coach for the Denmark national team. As a manager he led Nordsjælland to their first ever Danish Superliga title in 2012. After a brief stint at Mainz 05, he returned to Nordsjælland in 2016 before being appointed coach of Denmark in 2020, following which he guided the national team to the semi-finals of UEFA Euro 2020. He has also qualified Denmark for 2022 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2024.

Background

He was born 9 April 1972, in Gandrup, a small town with 1,500 inhabitants about 15 kilometres east of the city of Aalborg, and grew up in the town of Auning, a town with about 3,000 inhabitants on the peninsula of Djursland. His parents were teachers. As a 19-year-old, he started at Vejle Sports Academy, where he had the subjects volleyball, psychology and philosophy. After his time at the sports academy, he studied Sports science at the University of Copenhagen, and has a B.Sc degree in Sports science with a specialisation in coaching. For a short period he also studied Sports Management at the University of North Florida (UNF) in the US.

Playing career

A defender, Hjulmand began his career with Randers Freja in 1987 where he played four years, and then signed with Herlev IF in the winter of 1992. He played with Herlev IF two seasons and then moved to B.93 in the winter of 1995. He also played for the North Florida Ospreys in 1994, scoring six goals in 18 appearances. After three seasons with B93 at the age of 26 Hjulmand was forced to retire as a football player due to a knee injury.

Coaching career

Early career

Hjulmand became head coach of Lyngby from 1 January 2006 until 7 July 2008 when he became an assistant coach with Nordsjælland. He was named the successor of Morten Wieghorst at Nordsjælland taking over from 1 July 2011 until 18 May 2014 when he had his final match as head coach of Nordsjælland; a 2–2 draw against Brøndby. Nordsjælland won their first ever Danish championship with Hjulmand as head coach, despite having one of the lowest budgets in the league. He also guided them to the UEFA Champions League group stages.

Mainz 05

On 15 May 2014, Hjulmand was confirmed as Thomas Tuchel's successor at Mainz 05 for the following season. His first two matches in charge was in the Third qualifying round of the Europa League. In the first leg against Asteras Tripoli, Mainz won 1–0, and in the second leg, Mainz lost 3–1 and they got knocked out of the campaign. Then, Mainz were knocked out in the first round of the DFB-Pokal after losing to Chemnitzer FC in a shoot–out. In his first eight league matches, Mainz were undefeated and in third place. After this, Mainz won only one of their 13 matches and dropped down to 14th place. At this point, on 17 February 2015, he was sacked. His final match was a 4–2 loss to Borussia Dortmund.

Return to Nordsjælland

On 15 December 2015, it was announced that Hjulmand would return as manager of Nordsjælland as of 1 January 2016. Hjulmand managed to get the team back on track and the club finished ninth in the 2015–16 Danish Superliga. In the following two seasons, he led Nordsjælland to a sixth and third place. In January 2019, Hjulmand was linked with Anderlecht, but Nordsjælland wanted a compensation that Anderlecht did not want to pay, and instead Fred Rutten was appointed. Following the failed contract with Anderlecht, Hjulmand announced that he would leave Nordsjælland in the summer of 2019 at the end of his contract. On 25 March 2019, Hjulmand left Nordsjælland by mutual consent, after having secured a spot in the Championship round of the 2018–19 Danish Superliga.

Denmark national team

In June 2019, it was announced that Hjulmand would replace Åge Hareide as manager of the Denmark national football team, when Hareide's contract expired after the UEFA Euro 2020 tournament. Hareide did not lead the team at the Euro 2020, since the tournament was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the Euro 2020, Hjulmand led Denmark to the semi-finals, in which they lost 2–1 after extra-time and a controversial penalty against England. He later led Denmark to finish second in their group in the 2022–23 UEFA Nations League A, only one point behind Croatia. In the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Denmark finished last in their group with one draw and two defeats, in which they scored only once in the tournament. In the UEFA Euro 2024, Denmark finish second in their group and faced Germany in the round of 16, but lost 2-0. On 19 July 2024, Hjulmand resigned as Danish national coach.

Coaching record

Honours

Managerial

Lyngby Nordsjælland