Nikolaj Jacobsen

Nikolaj Bredahl Jacobsen (born 22 November 1971) is a Danish professional handball coach and former handballer who is currently the coach of the Danish national team. He was named World Coach of the Year in 2019 and 2021 by the IHF. He is the first manager of a national team to win four consecutive world championships (2019–2025).

As a coach, Jacobsen won the 2013 Danish Handball League with Aalborg Håndbold and led Rhein-Neckar Löwen to back-to-back German Handball-Bundesliga championships in the 2015–16 and 2016–17 seasons. He is the first Danish manager to win the German Bundesliga.

During his playing career, Jacobsen predominantly played as a left wing and most prominently represented the Danish club GOG Håndbold and the German club THW Kiel. He won three Danish Handball League championships with GOG, as well as three Handball-Bundesliga championships and two European EHF Champions League titles with Kiel. Jacobsen played 148 games and scored 584 goals for the Denmark men's national handball team from 1991 to 2003, and was named Danish Handball Player of the Year in 1993 and 1999. He holds the Danish record for the most goals scored in a single international match, with 15.

Playing career Born in Viborg, Nikolaj Jacobsen moved with his parents to Southern Funen as a child, and began playing handball at the age of 11. He was a skilled association football player as well, and was among the most talented Danish youth football players, while also playing for the Denmark youth national handball team. He became known as a highly skilled player, able to score goals with a wide variety of shots. Under coach Bent Nyegaard, Jacobsen and GOG won the 1992 Danish Handball League, and the following year, Jacobsen was named Danish Handball Player of the Year. He helped GOG win the 1995 and 1996 Danish Handball Leagues, and became top goalscorer of the Danish 1997 season, with 205 goals scored.

In 1997, at the age of 26, Jacobsen moved to German Handball-Bundesliga team TSV Bayer Dormagen. Jacobsen scored 189 goals in 28 Bundesliga matches during the 1998 season, though Bayer Dormagen finished in 14th place, and were eventually relegated. However, Jacobsen had caught the attention of reigning Bundesliga champions THW Kiel, and following one year at Bayer Dormagen, he moved on to Kiel.

At Kiel, Jacobsen was coached by Croatian coach Zvonimir Serdarušić, and it was here he became one of the best left wingmen in the world. When Jacobsen complained that Stefan Lövgren would not pass him the ball, Lövgren replied: "When you talk nicely, you will get the ball." The previous record of 14 goals in a game had been set by Flemming Hansen in 1971, and had been equalled by left wingman Lars Christiansen in another game against Greece, only four days before Jacobsen broke the record. Jacobsen was once again named Denmark Handball Player of the Year in 1999, and was selected for the 1999–2000 Bundesliga All-Star Team. The injury became a recurring problem, and over the following three seasons, Jacobsen played only 72 games, scoring 331 goals for Kiel. Unable to fully recover from his injury, Jacobsen left Kiel in 2004 and moved back to Denmark to become player-coach.

He was included in the European Handball Federation Hall of Fame in 2023.

Coaching career Nikolaj Jacobsen moved to Viborg HK in the Danish Handball League, the club of his birth town of Viborg. While at Viborg HK, Jacobsen undertook a teacher education, Jacobsen scored 71 goals in 28 league games for Viborg during his time at the club,

It was time for Jacobsen to become head coach, At the 2020 Olympics Denmark had to be contend with a silver medal, as they lost to France.

At the 2021 World Men's Handball Championship in Egypt he won his second consecutive title. At the tournament, Denmark would also beat the record for most World Championship matches in a row without losing with 19, taking the record from France.

Two years later he won his third World Cup title, which made Denmark the first men's team the first men's team to win three consecutive world championship titles. They beat Spain in the semifinal and France in the final.

The 2024 Olympics would become one of the most dominant performances ever seen by a national team, when Denmark won every single match and beat Germany in the final 39-26, which was the biggest ever win in an Olympics final.

A year later he won his fourth World Championship title out of four possible, making Denmark the only team, men's or women's, to have done so. They also beat the record for largest average win margin at the tournament with +13.4. This was the stated goal he had before the tournament, as it was the last international tournament he had not won.

Honours Player EHF Cup: 2002, 2004 German Championship: 1999, 2000, 2002 German Cup: 1999, 2000 Danish Handball League: 1992, 1995, 1996

Manager German Championship: 2016, 2017 2015 German Cup: 2018 Danish Championship: 2013 World Men's Handball Championship: 2019, 2021, 2023, 2025 European Men's Handball Championship: 2026 2024 2022 Olympic Games: 2024 2020

Individual Danish "Handball Player of the Year": 1993, 1999 IHF World Coach of the Year (male teams): 2019, 2021 EHF Hall of Fame: 2023