Ove Christensen
Ove Christensen (born 26 March 1950) is a Danish football manager who is currently the director of football of Danish fourth tier club Silkeborg KFUM. He has managed a number of Danish Superliga clubs, and won the Danish women's championship with Fortuna Hjørring. Coaching career Christensen started his career coaching lower-league clubs, beginning with Brønderslev IF in 1982. He managed Vrå IF, before moving to the women's topflight Elitedivisionen team Fortuna Hjørring in 1985, staying there for three years. He spent four years with men's team Nørresundby Boldklub, guiding the club to the second-tier Danish 1st Division in 1991, with players such as later Danish champions Henrik Rasmussen and Jan Pedersen. He joined Fortuna Hjørring for a second stint in 1994, guiding the club to the Double in 1995, by winning both the Elitedivisionen and the Danish Women's Cup. In 1995, Christensen was hired by Viborg FF in the men's Danish 1st Division, and guided the club to the top-flight Danish Superliga. He managed the club to the eighth-place finish of the Danish Superliga 1995-96 season. In the following season, the club ended up 11th, and was relegated to the 1st Division. He was allowed to retain his position at the club, and promptly guided the club to promotion for the Superliga the following season. In the Danish Superliga 1998-99 season, he once more secured another eighth-place finish. In July 1999, he was appointed by the Danish Football Association as manager of the Denmark national under-18 football team, as Viborg agreed to release him from his contract. In practicality, he also served as Flemming Serritslev's assistant coach of the Denmark national under-21 football team, and led that team on a few occasions. He left the position after a year, as he accepted the offer of coaching Superliga club AGF. He only spent six months in AGF, placing the team in ninth place after the first half of the Danish Superliga 2000-01 season. In the winter break, Christensen handed in his resignation, criticizing the AGF management for a lack of support and presence. Less than two weeks later, he was appointed head coach of rival Superliga team AB, looking to avert relegation. He guided the team to a 10th place, nine points free of the relegation zone. The team also reached the 2001 Danish Cup final, but lost 1–4 to Silkeborg IF. In the following two seasons, Christensen led AB to fifth and ninth-place finishes, respectively. He could not agree a contract extension with AB in the summer 2003, and left the club six months before time. He was appointed manager of his old club Viborg FF a few days later. He managed Viborg to two seventh-place finishes in his first two seasons with the team. As Viborg lost 2–3 to Silkeborg IF on March 12, 2006, Christensen set a record of 285 matches as coach in the Superliga, breaking the former record set by Peter Rudbæk. As the positive surprise of the Danish Superliga 2005-06 season, Viborg finished in fourth