Steve Cooper named Brondby manager hours after Nottingham Forest upheaval

Steve Cooper has been appointed manager of Danish Superliga club Brondby, the club announced Tuesday, a surprise return to coaching abroad that came on the same day Nottingham Forest sacked Nuno Espirito Santo and hired Ange Postecoglou.

Brondby dismissed Frederik Birk earlier in the week with the club fourth in the Danish top flight. Cooper, 45, will take charge immediately and faces an early test against rivals Copenhagen in Brondby’s next fixture.

Cooper left English football after a brief spell at Leicester City and resisted offers from Championship clubs to accept the Scandinavia job, according to reports. The move marks a return to management for a coach who guided Nottingham Forest back to the Premier League and later had a short tenure with the East Midlands rivals.

Cooper’s coaching career began within the Football Association, where he worked with England’s youth sides and led the under-17 team to World Cup success. He later impressed at Swansea City before being appointed Nottingham Forest manager in 2021. He won promotion via the Championship play-offs in 2022 and kept Forest in the Premier League before being dismissed in December 2023; Nuno Espirito Santo replaced him at the City Ground. Cooper then spent five months in charge of Leicester at the start of last season before being sacked in November.

Brondby, one of Denmark’s most historically successful clubs, has not won the national title more than once in the past two decades, and club officials framed Cooper’s hiring as part of a push to return to trophy contention. The club did not immediately release details of the length of Cooper’s contract or the full composition of the coaching staff he will bring to Denmark.

The appointment also highlights the limited number of British managers working in Europe’s top leagues, a point raised in coverage of the move. Reports listed a small group of British coaches currently employed abroad or in top-tier domestic jobs, a situation that has constrained some coaches’ opportunities to gain experience outside the United Kingdom.

Cooper told club sources he was attracted by the opportunity to develop as a coach in a different environment with distinct tactical and sporting demands. Brondby’s hierarchy signalled the expectation to challenge domestically and in European competition where qualification remains an objective.

Nottingham Forest’s managerial change unfolded on Tuesday when the club dismissed Nuno Espirito Santo after 629 days in charge and appointed Ange Postecoglou as his successor. The Forest moves and Cooper’s appointment came within hours of each other, drawing attention across English and Danish media to the coinciding shifts in club leadership.

Brondby prepare for a Copenhagen derby that will be watched closely as the first competitive window for Cooper in Danish football. The club’s immediate priorities include stabilising results and closing the gap on the Superliga leaders as the season progresses.