Jacob Friis (football manager)

Jacob Fischer Friis (born 11 December 1976) is a Danish professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of Danish Superliga club Viborg.

Jacob Friis
Personal information
Full name Jacob Fischer Friis[1]
Date of birth (1976-12-11) 11 December 1976
Place of birth Aalborg, Denmark[2]
Team information
Current team
 Viborg (head coach)
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1999–2001 Aalborg Chang
2001–2003 AaB
Managerial career
2003–2006 AaB II (assistant)
2006–2008 Tigres UANL (assistant)
2008–2015 AaB U19
2016–2018 AaB (assistant)
2018–2020 AaB
2021 Hobro (assistant)
2021–2022 Denmark Women U19
2022– Viborg
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Playing career

Friis was team captain of the AaB reserve team playing in the fourth tier Denmark Series before retiring due to injury in 2002–03.[3] Beside AaB, he also played for two years for Aalborg Chang (1999–01).[4]

Managerial career

Beginnings

Friis started his career as a coach in connection with a job as an assistant coach for AaB's seventh-tier Series 3 team.[5] He then continued as an assistant coach for AaB's reserves, playing in the fourth-tier Denmark Series, where he remained until the summer of 2006.[3]

In the summer of 2006, Friis travelled to Mexico, where he was to teach English at Instituto CEFI and coach their football team.[3] However, the job as a football coach was not satisfactory for Friis,[3] and instead an opportunity arose for Friis to be part of the coaching staff around Monterrey's university team, Tigres UANL.[3]

AaB

When Allan Kuhn resigned as a result of a finding a new coaching job at Malmö FF, Friis became the new assistant coach at AaB in January 2016 under head coach Lars Søndergaard. He had already been promised a promotion to the assistant coaching position from the summer of 2016, but these plans were advanced with the premature change of head coach.[6]

Søndergaard was dismissed in December 2016.[7] Morten Wieghorst signed with AaB as their new head coach in early-January 2017,[8] and Friis was appointed his main assistant with Thomas Augustinussen as second assistant.[9] He signed an ongoing contract extension at the end of March 2018.[9]

In the fall of 2018, AaB won just one match out of 12 possible,[10] and Wieghorst was subsequently fired on 26 November 2018.[10][11][12] As his interim, Friis was appointed head coach for the three remaining matches in the Danish Superliga during the fall.[13] Friis' first match in charge resulted in a 1–4 win over Esbjerg fB on 1 December 2018.[14] Despite AaB losing the next match 2–4 at home to AC Horsens on 9 December,[15] Friis was still signed on a permanent deal for the remained of the 2018–19 season.[15]

Friis stepped back from the position as head coach of AaB on 29 October 2020, due to personal reasons related to his daughter fighting leukaemia.[16] Assistant Peter Feher took over as caretaker manager with Rasmus Würtz continuing as assistant.[16]

Viborg

On 3 February 2022, Friis was appointed head coach of Superliga club Viborg, leaving his job as coach of the Denmark national under-19 women.[17]

Education

In August 2015, Friis acquired the UEFA Pro Licence, also known as the 'P licence'; the highest coaching education. His final assignment was entitled Afslutningspil fra mellemrum - Mod etableret forsvar (Finishing from the red zone - against established defense).[1]

Personal life

Friis was born in Aalborg, Denmark, and grew up in Aalborg Øst where he attended Mellervangsskolen.[2] While managing AaB he lived in Vodskov northeast of Aalborg with his wife, Merle, and three children.[2][18]

Career statistics

Managerial
As of match played 8 October 2023
Managerial record by club and tenure
Team From To Record
M W D L GF GA GD Win %
AaB10 December 201829 October 2020 64 27 13 24 101 77 +24 042.19
Viborg3 February 2022present 71 32 18 21 103 86 +17 045.07
Total 135 59 31 45 204 163 +41 043.70

References
  1. Fischer Friis, Jacob (2015). "Afslutningspil fra mellemrum - Mod etableret forsvar" (PDF) (in Danish). Danish Football Association. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 November 2020. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  2. Gammelgaard, Camilla (20 January 2019). "Aalborg er fornøjeligheder, hygge og sport". aalborg:nu (in Danish). Archived from the original on 15 November 2022. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
  3. "AaB-træner tager på mexicansk eventyr". Nordjyske Medier (in Danish). 26 July 2006. Archived from the original on 14 December 2018. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  4. "BLÅ BOG: Den nu tidligere AaB-træner Jacob Friis". JydskeVestkysten (in Danish). 29 October 2020. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  5. "Friis fortsætter som cheftræner i AaB". aabsport.dk (in Danish). Aalborg Boldspilklub. 10 December 2018. Archived from the original on 14 December 2018. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  6. Frederiksen, Søren (11 January 2016). "Jacob Friis ny assistenttræner i AaB". bold.dk (in Danish). Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  7. Top, Morten (15 December 2016). "Officelt: Cheftræner Lars Søndergaard fyret i AaB". DR (in Danish). Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  8. Ritzau (2 January 2017). "AaB ansætter Morten Wieghorst som cheftræner". Fyens Stiftstidende (in Danish). Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  9. Vikkelsø Andersen, Steven (28 March 2018). "AaB forlænger med assistenttræner". TV 2 Nord (in Danish). Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  10. Asferg, Mikkel (26 November 2018). "AaB fyrer Morten Wieghorst". TV 2 Sport (in Danish). Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  11. Moshage, Bo (26 November 2018). "AaB fyrer Morten Wieghorst". Politiken (in Danish). Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  12. Hukiær, Jens (26 November 2018). "Så skete det: Wieghorst fyret i AaB". Nordjyske Medier (in Danish). Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  13. Svenningsen, Mette (30 November 2018). "AaB møder Esbjerg: Friis' første kamp i spidsen for AaB". TV 2 Nord (in Danish). Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  14. Ritzau (30 November 2018). "VIDEO Ny AaB-træner debuterer med knusende sejr i Esbjerg". DR (in Danish). Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  15. Schmidt, Martin (10 December 2018). "AaB fastansætter Jacob Friis". bold.dk (in Danish). Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  16. "Jacob Friis stopper som cheftræner i AaB af personlige årsager". DR (in Danish). 29 October 2020. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  17. "Jacob Friis bliver cheftræner i Viborg FF". DBU (in Danish). 3 February 2022. Archived from the original on 3 February 2022. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
  18. Andersen, Thomas N. (29 October 2020). "- Havde intet at tilbyde min familie". Ekstra-Bladet (in Danish). Retrieved 15 November 2022.
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