Ulrik Wilbek

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Ulrik Wilbek (born April 13, 1958) is a Danish team handball coach. He has been head coach for the Danish men's national handball team from 2005.^[1] He led the Danish team to win the 2008 European Men's Handball Championship in Norway, and obtained bronze medals both at the 2006 European Men's Handball Championship in Switzerland and at the 2007 World Men's Handball Championship in Germany.

[edit] Women's handball

Wilbek's first international successes came as coach for the Danish Women's national youth team in the late 1980s. Here he first coached players like Anja Andersen and his wife-to-be Susanne Munk Lauritsen. A few years later, he was asked to be coach for the national A-team, which nearly was closed in the early 1990s due to bad results. Wilbek took the challenge and promoted a couple of the youth players, and the team had its first success as finalist in the 1993 World Women's Handball Championship, losing only after extra time.

In the following years, Wilbek was in the lead of the team, that became one of the most succesful national handball teams of all times and at the same time one of the most popular teams in Danish sport. The team was European Champions in 1994 and won bronze medals at 1995 World Championship. The peak of the team was reached at the end of 1997, when the team was reigning World (1997), European (1996) and Olympic Champions (1996). This marked the end of Wilbek's career as coach for the women's national team, having won everything.

[edit] Club handball

Wilbek's initial work as a handball coach was in his own club, Virum Sorgenfri Håndboldklub, in 1985-88 (elite men). Just turned 30, he came to Viborg HK as a coach for the ambitious women's team, which by then had just been promoted to the Danish top league. Within a few years, he led the club to their first medals (silver i 1991), and the Danish National team now wanted him as a coach for the women team.

After five extremely successful years as national coach, Wilbek again turned towards club coaching. He was reappointed as coach for Viborg HK's elite women, and again he showed his excellence: The team became national champions for four consecutive years and reached the final in the 2001 EHF Champions League.

He now needed new challenges and turned towards the club's men's team in the early 2000s. This marked Wilbek's least successful period as a coach with no medals won. But he was still popular within the national handball association, and in 2005 he was appointed coach of the national men's team. In 2006 he led the team to a 3. place finish at European Championships and in 2007 they finished as nr. 3 in The World Championship. In 2008 he led the team to first place in the 2008 European Men's Handball Championship.

[edit] References

1. ^ "Denmark" European Handball Federation (Retrieved on January 27, 2008)