Michael Schjønberg

Born in Esbjerg, Schjønberg started his career as an attacking midfielder for hometown club Esbjerg fB, playing in 103 first team matches in total. He and Esbjerg teammate Jesper Kristensen went to a training session with Esbjerg native Allan Nielsen at Nielsen's German club FC Bayern Munich in the winter of 1989.

Hannover 96

When Bayern's amateur team coach Hans-Dieter Schmidt later became manager of German club Hannover 96, he remembered Schjønberg and offered him a contract. In 1990, Schjønberg moved abroad to play for the 2. Bundesliga side. At Hannover, he was converted to a defensive player, and eventually settled in as left wingback. He won his first trophy as a senior player, when the club surprisingly beat top flight Borussia Mönchengladbach, to win the 1991–92 DFB-Pokal. The game ended in a penalty shoot-out, where Schjønberg scored the deciding kick to secure the triumph for Hannover 96. Unhappy with the new contractual offer from Hannover 96, Schjønberg looked ready to move back to Denmark to play for OB in summer 1992. After the DFB-Pokal win, he received an improved contract, and became team captain. However, he had a hard time getting into the Danish national team. After 123 league games and 12 goals for Hannover 96, he looked around for a new club in the summer of 1994.

OB

Schjønberg moved to OB in 1994, in a transfer deal worth DKK 700,000. The transfer came, as Schjønberg felt more likely to secure a place in the Danish national team…

Schjønberg made his debut for the Denmark national team in the 1995 King Fahd Cup in January 1995. He played all three of Denmark's matches at the tournament, which they eventually won. He was also selected for the 1996 European Championship, where he played in Denmark's last two group games before elimination. After this memorable domestic season, Schjønberg was selected to play for Denmark at the 1998 World Cup in France, where he played four of Denmark's five matches before elimination. He began the tournament as Denmark's starting left wingback, but eventually lost the place to Jan Heintze as the tournament progressed. He was called up to represent Denmark at Euro 2000, and started in Denmark's three matches before elimination. The last group match against the Czech Republic on 21 June 2000, would be Schjønberg's last game for the national team.

After ending his active football career, Schjønberg changed into the coaching business when he became youth coach at 1. FC Kaiserslautern in July 2003. He moved to Denmark in July 2004, to coach Danish Superliga club Herfølge BK, alongside his good friend Allan Nielsen. Herfølge BK were relegated to the Danish 1st Division, but Schjønberg kept his job. In November 2005, he became assistant coach of Hannover 96 to manager Peter Neururer. When Neururer was fired in September 2006, Schjønberg deputised as head coach for a single DFB-Pokal match, where Hannover 96 eliminated Dynamo Dresden. When Hannover 96 hired Dieter Hecking as new head coach, he brought Dirk Bremser with him as assistant coach, and Schjønberg became the coach of the amateur ranks of the club. From 4 April 2007 until 7 November 2007 he was sports director of 1. FC Kaiserslautern. In the summer of 2008, he was appointed new sporting director of Danish club FC Vestsjælland and was named as the head coach of the club on 1 April 2009, Schjønberg replaced Jeppe Tengbjerg. He was sacked on 29 June 2011 due to a poor finish to the 2010–11 season. In January 2013, he was appointed as first-team coach with the Norwegian side Vålerenga Fotball. Vålerengas manager, Kjetil Rekdal, knew Schjønberg from his time at Kaiserslautern where he had worked under him. In November 2014, he was appointed manager of Nest-Sotra Fotball in the Norwegian First Division. He was sacked already in May 2015. In the summer of 2016, he became…

Hannover 96

DFB-Pokal: 1991–92 1. FC Kaiserslautern

Bundesliga: 1997–98 Denmark

King Fahd Cup: 1995