Jacob Neestrup

Neestrup with Copenhagen in 2008
Personal information
Full name	Jacob Neestrup Hansen
Date of birth	(1988-03-08) 8 March 1988 (age 38)
Place of birth	Copenhagen, Denmark
Height	1.84 m (6 ft 0 in)
Position	Midfielder
Youth career
1994–1998	Fremad Amager
1998–2007	KB
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2007–2009	Copenhagen	2	(0)
2009–2010	Stavanger	0	(0)
2010–2011	Hafnarfjörður	6	(0)
2011	Fremad Amager
International career
2007	Denmark U20	2	(0)
Managerial career
2013–2018	Copenhagen U17[1]
2019–2020	Viborg
2022–2026	Copenhagen
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

Jacob Neestrup Hansen (born 8 March 1988) is a Danish professional football manager and former player who most recently served as head coach of Copenhagen.

A former midfielder, Neestrup emerged from the FC Copenhagen youth academy, but saw his career mostly diminished due to injuries. After retiring in 2011, he embarked on a career in management. He was appointed head coach of 1st Division club Viborg in June 2019, after having worked as an assistant at Copenhagen the season before. From October 2022 until March 2026, he was the head coach at Copenhagen. During his tenure, he led the team to two Danish Superliga titles and two Danish Cups.

Career

Although his first team debut came on 20 September 2006 in the Danish Cup, Neestrup was not promoted to the first team before the summer 2007.^[2] He was injured only two minutes into his professional debut. The injury subsequently ruled him out for 8 months.^[3][4]

After recovering, Neestrup made his Danish Superliga debut in the last match of the 2006–07 season against Vejle Boldklub.^[5]

In May 2010, Neestrup was signed by reigning Icelandic champions FH Hafnarfjörður. His stint with the club was not successful, being sidelined for large parts of the season due to injuries and a car accident.^[6] After six months, he returned to Denmark to sign with fourth-tier Denmark Series club Fremad Amager.^[7]

Coaching career

On 20 June 2019, it was confirmed that Neestrup had been appointed as the manager of Viborg FF for the upcoming season.^[8] In his first season at the club he guided the team to a third place in the 2019-20 Danish 1st Division.^[9]

On 22 December 2020, it was announced that Neestrup would leave Viborg at the end of the year and return to F.C. Copenhagen as assistant manager of Jess Thorup. He left Viborg in 1st place in the 2020–21 Danish 1st Division.^[10] He was replaced by Lars Friis,^[11] who would go on to win the Danish 1st Division and secure promotion to the Danish Superliga.^[12]

On 20 September 2022, Neestrup was announced as new manager of F.C. Copenhagen following the sacking of Jess Thorup.^[13] Despite being placed 9th out of 12 and being 10 points off 1st place when he took over, Neestrup still eventually guided the club to win the Danish Superliga and the Danish Cup.^[14] On 12 December 2023, he guided them to the knockout stages of the Champions League, being placed second in a group with Bayern Munich, Galatasaray and Manchester United.^[15]

In the 2024–25 season, Neestrup and Copenhagen won double again, beating FC Midtjylland by just a single point in the league and beating Silkeborg IF in the cup final.^[16][17]

In the 2025–26 season, Copenhagen missed the championship group for the first time in the modern Superliga format.^[18] After losing the two opening matches in the relegation group to Odense Boldklub and FC Fredericia, Neestrup was fired and replaced by Bo Svensson.^[19] At the time Copenhagen were without a win in 8 matches, which was the most of any team in Superliga.

In the Champions League Copenhagen reached the league phase, where they would go out in 31st. They got two wins against Kairat Almaty and Villarreal CF.^[20]

Managerial statistics

As of match played 15 March 2026

Honours

References

External links

• F.C. København profile (in Danish)
• Jacob Neestrup national team profile at the Danish Football Association (in Danish)
• Jacob Neestrup at DR (in Danish) (archived)