Kasper Hjulmand Is Leading Denmark With Trust And Purpose At The World Cup

Before Kasper Hjulmand took charge of the Denmark men’s national team, he undertook a mission to better understand the identity of the Nordic nation.

The head coach spoke to between 25 and 30 people from different areas of Danish society. They included former prime minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt, ex-Denmark head coaches Morten Olsen and Bo “Bosse” Johansson, and leading musicians and actors. He also spoke to CEOs of leading Danish companies like Lego and shipping giant Maersk.

“If I’m the manager of a team, of an organization, I must know the core – the fundamental identity of what I’m representing,” Hjulmand tells me in an exclusive interview ahead of the World Cup, which begins Nov. 20.

“We talked about, what is Denmark? What’s the identity? I think we have four companies in the top 50 sustainable companies in the world. So when do we have success? Why do we have success?

“Number two is the playing philosophy because then you play accordingly to your identity. It’s important when people go and see us play, they can see who we are. We can win, we can lose, but we have to show and we have to play like who we are.”

Three themes that emerged, and became the core values of the team, were team spirit, courage and trust. Denmark, a country of nearly 6 million, leads the world in social trust and this is reflected in the culture of the soccer team.

“If I say something, I mean it. If the player says something to me, I think they mean what they say,” Hjulmand, 50, says.

“So trust is fundamental in our society in Denmark, and I think it’s a competitive edge for us. And it’s a competitive edge for our national team.”

World Cup coaches will welcome any advantage. Each of the 32 coaches has a challenge with its own specific circumstances.

Belgium coach Roberto Martínez led the country to third, its highest ever finish, at the 2018 finals. But he must handle the added pressure of what may be the last chance for the “golden generation” of players to win a trophy.

Gareth Southgate, the England manager, received praise for the fun and relaxed environment – including bowling sessions and riding inflatable unicorns – he created for players at the 2018 World Cup, where England reached the semi-final. This year, with some old faces and some new additions to the squad, does he stick with those methods or try something new?

Diego Alonso, the Uruguay boss, must follow in the footsteps of the legendary Óscar Tabárez, who oversaw the men’s national team for an unprecedented 15 years.

All must create the culture for players to shine in an intense and high-pressure environment playing for soccer’s biggest prize.

For Denmark, that means encouraging players to “liberate themselves” within the values framework the squad has agreed. It also means having self-belief as the team takes on Tunisia, France and Australia in Group D before potentially reaching the knockout stage.

“As a small country to reach out and try to beat the big guys, we need not to see ourselves as underdogs, not always have that mentality,” Hjulmand, who started as Denmark head coach in July, 2020, says.

“We have to have the courage to play accordingly to be one of the best because we are very ambitious.”

The culture Hjulmand and his team have nurtured was tested last summer. Christian Eriksen, one of Denmark’s stars, collapsed on the pitch during a match against Finland having suffered a cardiac arrest.

“Sometimes you can stress people and then you see what’s the core. Is it really culture or is it just words on the wall?” Hjulmand says.

“With Christian last year, what happened? We were very quick. The paramedics, they saved a life. The teammates, they screened for Christian. They helped Sabrina, the wife of Christian, they were so caring. The country reacted with trust and care. So, that was a test of our values.”

Remarkably, Denmark recovered from the incident to reach the semi-final. Hjulmand’s sensitivity and empathy in comforting his players led the Danish BT newspaper to call him “the leader of the year”.

It was six years previously that Hjulmand had a meeting which convinced him soccer can be about more than winning.

In February, 2015, he was sacked as manager of German club Mainz 05 and considering returning to coach junior teams. He met Tom Vernon, a former Manchester United scout who founded Right To Dream. The unique organization has academies in Ghana and Egypt providing graduate pathways for student athletes – either a professional soccer career or a sporting scholarship at a prestigious U.S. university.

In December, 2015, Right To Dream bought Danish Superliga club FC Nordsjaelland (FCN), the first time a European soccer club had been purchased by an African not-for-profit.

“I spent 17, 18 years maybe in football with coaches with just one ambition, which was to win. And (Vernon) tried to convince me that it was a good idea for an NGO to buy a professional football club. My first reaction was: that’s crazy,” Hjulmand says.

“Then when I thought about it, I could just feel that was right. We still want to win. But we do it with a purpose of helping as many children as possible, to give them a pathway no matter where they are in the world.”

Hjulmand, who was assistant then manager of FCN from 2008 to 2014, returned for a second spell as manager in 2016.

“I think that was very, very important for me. I think (Vernon) saved my coaching because at that point I was very disillusioned in the football business,” he says.

“Those years gave me exactly what I needed. I’m very competitive, I want to win. That’s not a thing in this business I don’t like, but we can do something right with this platform.

“It’s okay to be ambitious, it’s okay to have successful organizations, but we have to, all of us, give something back to the planet and to the next generation. That’s the one thing we all have in common.”

Hjulmand, who is a UNICEF ambassador and member of Common Goal, has helped instill purpose in the national team. As well as being ambitious, one of the team’s values is to be “generous”.

“I think the way we are raised in Denmark, the way we go to school, the way we go to football, we learn that we are part of something bigger. We are a part of a team. So I think in Denmark we have a very good model to create teams,” Hjulmand says.

The national team established a shared vision that on the surface has little to do with soccer: to help make Denmark the best country in the world to be a child.

When the squad are together, 10 to 15 minutes is spent reinforcing “Why are we here? What’s the whole purpose? What’s our culture?” Hjulmand says. The coaching staff prepare motivational videos of footage shot across Denmark, including children playing in the national team jersey.

“We have a vision that we want to be ambitious and win but we want to give something back to the children so that’s the whole meaning for us,” Hjulmand says.

“That’s the purpose of our work. We think we can help the next generation. After the public schools, I think football clubs in Denmark are the second biggest cultural institution. So we can do so much good if we, in that vision of trying to win, give back to the children, to the boys and girls in the country.

“We set this frame every time we meet, the first day. We know why we are here.”