Jon Dahl Tomasson

Early career

Born in Copenhagen, son of Bjarne Tomasson and Leila Dahl Petersen, Tomasson first started playing football as a five-year-old in the youth team of Solrød. At nine years of age, he moved to the biggest club in the area, Køge. In November 1992, at 16, he made his senior debut for the club. During the next two years he helped the club to get promoted twice in a row: at the end of the 1993 season, when the club was promoted from the Denmark Series to the second Division; and at the end of the 1994 season, when the club was promoted to the first Division.

Heerenveen

In December 1994, aged 18, he agreed on a transfer from Køge to the Dutch club Heerenveen, of the Eredivisie. A first-team regular by the 1995–96 season, Tomasson was the club top scorer for the season as well, netting 14 goals in 30 league matches. He increased this tally in the 1996–97 season to 18, and was top-scorer for the club once again. On top of that, he also won the Best Dutch Football Talent of 1996, beating the likes of Boudewijn Zenden and Patrick Kluivert to the prize.

Newcastle United

His success attracted the interest of other clubs, and he completed a high-profile move to FA Premier League club Newcastle United in July 1997. Newcastle's manager at the time, Kenny Dalglish, saw Tomasson as the perfect link-up player to England national team striker Alan Shearer. The partnership initially worked well, with Tomasson impressing during a pre-season friendly…

Tomasson scored 10 goals in 16 games for the national under-19 team, and was awarded 1994 Danish U-19 Player of the Year. In all, he scored 27 goals in 37 matches for various national youth selections. After two good seasons with Heerenveen, Tomasson got a call-up to the Denmark national team, and he made his debut on 29 March 1997, against Croatia. During his time at Newcastle, reduced playing time saw Tomasson dropped by the Denmark national team, and he was not selected to play at the 1998 FIFA World Cup. When he moved to Feyenoord, Tomasson was once more called up for the Denmark national team in August 1998, and with six goals in seven matches of the Euro 2000 qualification, he quickly became an important part of the Danish team, playing as an attacking midfielder behind striker Ebbe Sand. He played in all Denmark's three matches at the main Euro 2000 tournament, but did not score as Denmark were eliminated in the group stage. Before moving to Milan, he played for Denmark in the 2002 FIFA World Cup, where he scored four goals in as many games. Tomasson played for Denmark at Euro 2004, where he scored three goals in four games and was selected for the Euro 2004 Team of the Tournament. On 28 May 2010, Denmark coach Morten Olsen announced that the player would be part of the final squad of 23 participating in the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. On 24 June, he scored against Japan in a 3–1 defeat as Denmark went out of the competition. He was rated by FIFA as the best…

Early coaching career

Tomasson retired on 6 June 2011, and became assistant coach at Dutch club Excelsior. He became the club's head coach at the beginning of the 2013–14 season. His debut was a 2–2 Eerste Divisie draw at home to Helmond Sport, and he took the Rotterdam-based team to the last 16 of the KNVB Cup before losing 2–1 at home to PEC Zwolle on 17 December. Eredivisie side Roda JC sacked their head coach Ruud Brood on 15 December 2013, and signed Tomasson eleven days later, on a 31⁄2-year deal, effective 3 January. He made his debut 15 days later in a 2–2 draw at his former club Heerenveen. After the second half of the season, which resulted in relegation, he was dismissed on 26 May 2014. On 19 June 2015, Tomasson was appointed as the new assistant manager of Vitesse. On 7 March 2016, he was appointed as an assistant coach of the Danish national team. During a 31⁄2-year tenure, he helped the Danish national team qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup and the 2020 UEFA European Championship. The team did not lose a game for three years.

Malmö

On 5 January 2020, Tomasson was appointed as the new manager of Swedish Allsvenskan side Malmö. He led the team to the 2020 Allsvenskan title in his first season with the club, winning Malmö its 21st Swedish Championship. In his second season with Malmö, he took the club to the group stage of Champions League after succeeding in four qualification rounds, including beating Rangers in the third round and…

Tomasson has two sons, Luca (born in 2008) and Liam (born in 2012), with his Danish wife Line Dahl Kongeskov Tomasson. He lives with his family in the Netherlands. Tomasson is of Danish, Finnish and Icelandic heritage.