The Vancouver Whitecaps have found their next head coach.
Daily Hive can confirm that Jesper Sørensen has been hired by the club, with a formal announcement set for Tuesday morning. The 51-year-old is making the move overseas from his native Denmark, where he coached Brøndby IF in the Danish Superliga for the past two seasons.
Sørensen was let go by Brøndby on December 11 after the club posted seven wins, six draws, and four losses, good for fifth place after 17 Superliga matches. Brøndby nearly won the Danish Superliga championship last season under Sørensen, finishing just one point behind the champions.
A midfielder during his playing days, Sørensen has over 200 matches of experience as a head coach and more than 300 as a player. Previous to his time as head coach of Brøndby IF, he led Denmark’s U21 club (2021-2023), as well as Danish club teams Fredericia (2015-2018) and Silkeborg (2013-2014).
Sørensen has been described as a demanding coach whose teams have been well-balanced with offensive creativity and defensive organization. His club finished second in goals-for (44) and first in goals-against (20) for a league-best +24 goal differential last season.
The sixth MLS head coach in Whitecaps history, Sørensen follows Vanni Sartini (2021-2024), Marc Dos Santos (2018-2021), Carl Robinson (2013-2018), Martin Rennie (2011-2013), and Teitur Thordarson (2007-2011). Tom Soehn (2011) and Craig Dalrymple (2018) also coached in Vancouver, but as interim managers.
The challenge for Sørensen will be to get Vancouver to the next level and challenge for an MLS Cup, which is something no coach has been able to accomplish since the Whitecaps entered MLS in 2011.
Vancouver made the playoffs in three of four seasons under Sartini, who was fired on November 25. The Whitecaps won two postseason matches last year under the popular Italian manager but failed to get past Round 1 during his tenure. The Western Conference semi-final remains the furthest the Whitecaps have gone in the MLS Cup Playoffs, making it there in 2015 and 2017.
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