Danish football coach to Singapore

Kim Poulsen will be coaching Singapore’s national U-18 team as of January 1, 2003. He will be joining Denmark’s former U 21 coach Jan Poulsen, who has been coaching Singapore’s national A-team since December 2000.

Kim Poulsen’s initial contract is for two years with an option for extending the contract. The 43-year old Danish coach has for some years been the coach for the Danish football club Freja, a team which he has successfully brought up to be among the top teams in Denmark.

“I am looking very much forward to this,” Kim Poulsen says.

“Apart from international tournaments, they play every weekend. There will be a lot of matches and a lot of training. It’s just what I like. And the training conditions in Singapore are perfect.”

The Danish coach had a preview of what material he will be working with in Singapore during the Lyngby Cup this summer, where Singapore’s U 16 and U 21 teams participated.

“As we saw during the World Cup, the Asian players are technically good and very fast, but they lack the tactical skills of Danish players,” he says.

Still, he realises there is a long way to go. On FIFA’s world list, Denmark is number 13. The list comprises 203 nations. Singapore is currently number 118, just ahead of the Faeroe Islands and Malta..

Kim Poulsen will played his last game as coach for Freja FC on 11 November. Then he and his wife Helle Jefsen packed and moved to Singapore with their three children, Ditte (17), Mads (14) and Mille (7).

“They are all set and ready to go. The only question from Mille was, whether we would be flying and if there would be TV on the plane. When confirmed, she was ready too.”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *