Nils Johan Semb

Nils Johan Semb ( born February 24, 1959 in Horten ) is a former Norwegian football player who worked after end of his career as a football coach and functionary. He gained as coach of the Norwegian national team, with whom he first qualified in its history for a European Championship finals tournament Nationwide awareness.

Career

Semb played his entire playing career at FK Ørn -Horten in his hometown. As a youth player he was called several times in the Norwegian junior national teams. After 1976 debut for the club in the second-rate second divisjon in the men's team, he won the following year with the youth team of the club to the Norwegian National Cup. By 1985, he ran on for the club, having commuted between second and third Norwegian league. In 230 games the offensive player scored 62 goals. In parallel, he studied sports science and made a teacher training.

After his retirement Semb began a coaching career. Initially, he worked with his hometown club FK Ørn -Horten in the third division, before in 1988 he took over the coaching job at second division Eik -Tønsberg. In 1990 he moved to the Norwegian Football Association and served as assistant to Egil Olsen, the Norwegian U-21 national selection. After Olsen was moved up to coach the senior team, he held the same position under Benny Lennartsson. In 1992, he moved on as his successor to head coach of the youth team. Through its close cooperation with Olsen moved several talents from the U-21 team in the A- state selection, which qualified for the World Championships in 1994 and 1998. Therefore, he took over in 1998 after leaving his post as Olsen's coach.

Semb tried to start his work to establish a national coach a more aggressive style of play. After a defeat against Latvia and a draw against Albania, he returned to the defensive -oriented game system of his predecessor and qualified with the state selection for the European Championships 2000. The team around players like Ole Gunnar Solskjær, John Carew, Andre Bergdølmo and Erik Mykland able to start after a goal by Steffen Iversen a 1-0 win over Spain. However, after a 0-1 defeat against Yugoslavia, the team retired by a final 0-0 draw from because of the poorer for direct comparison of the Yugoslav selection from the tournament. The subsequent qualification for the 2002 World Cup was mixed and with only ten points missed Semb with the national team in fourth qualifying Group 5 behind Poland, Ukraine and Belarus to participate in the final tournament. The qualifying round of the European Championship 2004 was somewhat more successful, as the team qualified behind group winners Denmark for the play- off matches. After a 1:2 away defeat to kick off Semb failed with the selection after a 0-3 home defeat in the return leg.

Subsequently, the association Semb gave birth in late 2003 from his duties and replaced him with Åge Hareide. Semb henceforth worked in the youth field of the Union and joined in parallel as an expert and commentator on Norwegian television first with Canal and later at TV2 in appearance. Over time, several offers were presented to him, to be active as a coach in the Tippeligaen. This he refused, however.

After long negotiations, Semb took over as successor by Per -Mathias Høgmo in November 2009 the post of " Toppfotballsjef " at the Norwegian Association.

605259
de