Michael Manniche

Michael Manniche
Personal information
Full name Michael Manniche
Date of birth (1959-07-17) 17 July 1959
Place of birth Copenhagen, Denmark
Height 1.92 m (6 ft 4 in)
Playing position Centre forward
Youth career
1971–1977 Brønshøj
Senior career*
Years Team Apps† (Gls)†
1977–1979 Brønshøj 47 (20)
1980–1983 Hvidovre 77 (23)
1983–1987 Benfica 89 (47)
1987–1992 B 1903 128 (47)
1992–1994 FC Copenhagen 37 (7)
1996 FC Copenhagen 3 (0)
Total 381 (144)
National team
1981–1987 Denmark 11 (2)

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.

† Appearances (goals)

Michael Manniche (born 17 July 1959) is a Danish retired footballer who played as a centre forward.

Even though he played professionally for four clubs in his country, he is best known for his spell with Benfica in Portugal.

Football career

Born in Copenhagen, Frederiksberg Municipality, Manniche started his career with Brønshøj Boldklub in 1977, signing for Hvidovre IF three years later and helping it to the Danish Cup in 1980 and the Superliga in the following year; in August he made his debut with Denmark, appearing as a second-half substitute in a friendly with Nordic neighbours Finland (2–1 win) – in total, he would win 11 caps in six years, but did not attend any major international tournament.

In the middle of 1983 Manniche moved abroad, signing with defending Primeira Liga champions S.L. Benfica. In his first season he helped the team retain the championship, scoring 11 goals in only 21 matches. Additionally, he netted twice in the 1985 Portuguese Cup final win against FC Porto (3–1), winning another league trophy in 1987.

Having played 132 official matches with 75 goals for Benfica, Manniche was affectionately known as "O Tosco" (Portuguese slang for a person/player with few or no technical abilities). In the decades following his retirement, he stayed firmly connected to the club, either watching games, mediating in business negotiations or supplying training equipment.

In 1987, 28-year-old Manniche returned home, joining Boldklubben 1903 – on 1 July 1992, it merged with Kjøbenhavns Boldklub to become F.C. Copenhagen. In its first year of existence, the club won the league; he played his last match on 17 April 1994, and became a coach for small Danish amateur sides.

Manniche returned to Copenhagen in 1996, as an assistant manager. After a string of poor results he made a short comeback as a player, at the age of 37, calling it quits shortly after.

Honours

Hvidovre
Benfica
FC Copenhagen

References

    External links

    This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Friday, February 26, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.