Ebbe Skovdahl:
Ebbe Skovdahl, who passed away in 2016, 74 years old, was a fairly unknown name, when Brondby signed him from Bronshoj in 1985 and wanted him to introduce full-time professionalism for the first time in the club's history. That turned out successfully, the club won the Danish title in 1987 and reached the quarter-finals of the Champion's Club's Cup (the later Champions League) where they lost 2-1 on aggregate to later winners FC Porto.
After the impressive performances against FC Porto, Benfica brought Skovdahl to Lisbon where he struggled to implement his ideas to the squad given the language barrier. Toni, his assistant coach was given the responsibility to translate Skovdahl's ideas to the squad but something got lost in the translation. Ten wins, three draws and three defeats was uacceptable for the Portuguese giants and after just four months in charge, Skovdahl was sacked by a unamimous board and instead returned to Brondby.
Soren Lerby:
Soren Lerby is undoubtedly one of the best Danish players ever, having played for such renowned clubs as Ajax, Bayern Munich, AS Monaco and PSV Eindhoven. But his managerial career which lasted just five months (from October 1991 to March 1992) is one to be forgotten.
Lerby had never held a coaching job before but his distinguished merits as a world class midfielder for Bayern Munich certainly counted in his favour, when he was asked to take over from Jupp Heynckes in October 1991. "It was in those days that you didn't need a license to become a coach. I quickly found out that it wasn't a job for me", have Lerby said previously.
While Lerby had been a magician as a player, he lacked the same abilities as a coach and after a spell of embarrassing results, including a combined 6–3 UEFA Cup elimination by his former club B 1903, Lerby effectively ended his managerial career and became a FIFA-licensed sports agent.
Morten Olsen:
Morten Olsen was not only one of the best defenders ever to grace the game but also turned out to have brilliant tactical skills as a coach. After taking Brondby to the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup in 1991, he was signed by 1. FC Köln, back then still one of the giants in German football, where he remained for two years before moving on to Ajax in 1997.
He attracted Danish national team captain Michael Laudrup to the club, and together they won the Double of the Eredivisie championship and Dutch Cup trophy, as well as reaching the quarter-finals in the UEFA Cup. In his second year at the club, tension arose in the Ajax dressing room, as Dutch internationals Ronald de Boer and Frank de Boer boycotted training in order to leave the club in favour of Barcelona. As results then began to suffer, Olsen was sacked in December 1998.
Michael Laudrup:
Perhaps someone will wonder why Michael Laudrup is included on the list. Swansea, Mallorca, Getafe and Spartak Moscow are not big and well established clubs in Europe but Laudrup did manage to pull off quite impressive results at Getafe and Swansea. This also included him as a likely contender for coaching jobs at FC Barcelona and Real Madrid given his illustrious past at both clubs but those moves never materialized in the end.
He managed to lead Getafe, who had never won a trophy before, to the final of the Copa del Rey in 2007. A year later, he steered the unsung Spanish outfit to the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup in 2008, where they were very unfortunate to bow out of the tournament thanks to a late equaliser in extra-time from Bayern Munichs Luca Toni.
Laudrup's biggest success as a coach was undoubtedly steering Swansea City to victory in the EFL Cup (formerly Capital One Cup) final, defeating Bradford City 5-0 in 2013. This victory marked the end of a 100-year wait for major silverware for Swansea, and Laudrup himself considered it the most important trophy he had won.