Nilsson leaves Copenhagen post

Roland Nilsson has parted company with FC Copenhagen after less than eight months in charge of the Danish champions. The former Sweden defender succeeded in guiding Copenhagen to their customary berth at the top of the domestic Superliga but has paid the price for failing to secure a place in the UEFA Champions League group stages and their subsequent elimination from the UEFA Europa League. Nilsson agreed a three-year contract with the club in May after guiding Malmo to the title in his homeland last season, but Copenhagen chief executive Anders Horsholt admitted that the relationship had failed as there was "no agreement" between Nilsson and the board over the future direction of the club. In a statement, Copenhagen confirmed that sporting director Carsten V Jensen would take over Nilsson's role, while maintaining the responsibilities of his previous post. "After an evaluation of the first six months of this season, the management of FC Copenhagen has decided to end their relationship with head coach Roland Nilsson," read the statement on fck.dk. "As a consequence, the club have pooled the positions of sporting director and head coach, meaning Carsten V Jensen is now the new manager of FCK." Horsholt added: "We wanted to bring management closer to the squad and the squad closer to management. Therefore, this was a logical decision. We must recognise that in a new partnership there are always some unknowns that we cannot predict. "We note that in this case there was no agreement between FC Copenhagen and Roland Nilsson on how the team should be continued, and therefore our ways parted. FC Copenhagen has nothing to defer to Roland Nilsson's professionalism and personality, and we wish him luck in his future coaching roles." Jensen, who twice won the Danish title as a player with Brondby in the 1990s and has previously worked as an assistant coach at Copenhagen, said he welcomed the opportunity to return to a hands-on role. "I look forward to the challenges that I have received in connection with my new responsibilities at FC Copenhagen," he said. "I welcome the opportunity to once again take to the training pitch and to have direct responsibility for working with the players in training and match days."