After weeks of speculation, the new Whitecaps head coach has reportedly been found.
Late into Sunday night, it was reported by GlassCity on Twitter that Jesper Sørensen will be the Vancouver Whitecaps head coach. On Monday, Manuel Veth of Transfermarkt and Tom Bogert of GiveMeSport both confirmed that Sørensen will indeed be Vancouver’s new head coach. Har Johal of Daily Hive also reported that the Whitecaps will announce their new head coach on Tuesday morning.
Area 51 Sports Network can also confirm these reports. It’s happening and it’s about time.
Sørensen replaces Vanni Sartini, who was fired in November after the Whitecaps lost in round one of the MLS Cup Playoffs to LAFC for the second straight year. The new Whitecaps head coach is the sixth of their MLS era, not counting interims.
the background of the new Whitecaps head coach
Sørensen played a 15-year career as a midfielder. From 1991 to 2006, he played for his hometown club AGF Aarhus (three stints), Ikast FS, (on loan) FC Copenhagen and AB. He spent his entire career in his native Denmark. He also represented his country at the U17, U19 and U21 levels.
The Whitecaps will be Sørensen’s first time working abroad. His entire coaching career up to this point has been in Denmark. For the first time in their MLS era, Vancouver has hired a coach with experience in head coaching at the top level.
He returned to AGF in 2009 and was an assistant coach there until 2013. Sørensen’s first head coaching job was with Silkeborg IF. He had a 22-10-22 record over 54 matches and won the Danish second-tier title earning them promotion in his first season. That was Sørensen’s first trophy as a manager and his only one to date. But he was fired on December 8, 2014, due to Silkeborg recording a very low amount of points.
Sørensen returned to AGF for another assistant gig in June of 2015. But in December, he got another opportunity to take the wheel, this time with FC Federicia in the second division. He was there until June of 2018 and had a 34-23-21 record and 1.42 points per match. Sørensen guided Federicia to sixth, eighth and sixth-place finishes.
After leaving, Federicia, Sørensen took a year off and in 2019, joined Brøndby IF as an assistant coach. In 2021, he helped Brøndby win the Danish Super League title.
That summer, Sørensen decided to take his talents to the international stage. He was named the head coach of the Danish U21 team. He guided them to the qualification of the 2023 U-21 Euro play-offs. But Denmark’s U21s lost to Croatia over two legs.
Despite renewing his contract with the Danish U21s in December 2022, Sørensen returned to Brøndby a month later. This time, he was their head coach.
Sørensen guided them to a fifth-place finish in his first half-season. In his first full season, he almost lifted the Danish Super League title with Brøndby, but they lost to AGF 3-2 at home on the final day. As a result, FC Midtjylland beat them to the top of the mountain by just one point.
Sørensen was fired by Brøndby on December 11, 2024, after a poor run of form. He left the club with a 37-17-19 record and a 1.75 points-per-match record.
Next stop: Vancouver.
It turns out Sørensen is familiar with Canada. According to an article from Danish journalist Mikkel Fuhr Nielsen of Tipsbladet.DK, during his year off before he took the assistant coach job with Brøndby, Sørensen lived in Toronto. That is where his wife got a job as a doctor.
What does Sørensen bring to the table tactically?
An article about Sørensen from the Danish website 3Point.DK written by Kasper Pedersbæk provides a very good explanation of his time with Brøndby and his tactics.
We don’t know much about Sørensen or the Danish league, so we did our research to the best of our abilities and this article translated by Google from Danish really helped.
The article mentions the word control a lot. That is the best word to describe his tactical style. Brøndby were a possession-based side based on control and caution. The team was known for being cautious with the ball and waiting for the right time to pounce.
Brøndby’s possession stats went from 51.1% to 53.4% and finally, 53.6% in Sørensen’s three seasons.
Brøndby also became a sound defensive side under Sørensen. In 2023-24, their opponents xG was at 1.26 per game which was the lowest among all Danish Super Liga sides. The following year, it was at 1.29 per game, the fourth lowest in the league at the time Sørensen was fired.
In terms of attack, they did quite well and earned a reputation as an attacking side. Brøndby recorded an xG of 1.63 per 90 in 2022-23, (fifth highest) 1.50 per 90 in 2023-24, (also fifth highest) and in 2024-25, 1.78 per 90. (second highest)
In terms of formation, Sørensen’s preferred formation is a 3-4-2-1. Sartini primarily used a 3-4-3, 3-1-4-2 or a 3-4-1-2. This does contradict Whitecaps sporting director and CEO Axel Schuster’s comments on wanting the team to play a back four.
However, Sørensen has played a 4-3-2-1 with the Danish U21s and played a hybrid 3-5-2 in the 2023-24 season with Brøndby. That season with Brøndby seemed to be very attack-minded. So it seems he is a pragmatist and wants solid defensive structure and his team to be an attacking side but not too chaotic and more patient.
There is one big difference between him and Sartini: Pressing. Under Sartini, he constantly wanted the Whitecaps to press and his high-pressing system looked very exciting when it worked. But Sørensen seems to want his teams to be less aggressive without the ball.
Pedersbæk’s article states press intensity decreased from 10.8 to 12.9 in 2024-25. Sørensen’s Brøndby also used short passes that were horizontal and backward. The long ball proportion under Sørensen decreased from 11% to 9%.
Aside from the poor run of form and despite the high xG, Brøndby never realized their offensive potential under Sørensen and that led to his dismissal. He had the ideas but in the end, the potential was never realized.
Here are a couple of highlight videos of Brøndby under Sørensen. It is a small sample size (as the longer highlight videos on Youtube only showed replays for some reason) but from the look of things, Brøndby really relied on counter-attacks and played a low to mid-block. However, there are times when they would get caught on the counter as well.
Is Sørensen a good fit for the Whitecaps? Can he take them to greater heights?
Schuster has found his guy.
This is an interesting appointment. It’s not an exciting one and some will (and probably are) definitely be underwhelmed by this. Sørensen isn’t a big name and let’s face it, the Whitecaps and big names sound like a contradiction. But it seems he is an upgrade on Sartini, though not a huge one.
The new Whitecaps coach has experience as mentioned. Sure, he lacks a big trophy cabinet other than his second-division title. However, this proves he has the knowledge and ability to win a league title.
Sørensen also brings a clear soccer identity. Controlled possession-based soccer can either be exciting or boring. It depends on how the team uses that possession. By the sound of it, Sørensen’s cautious and controlled approach does not seem that exciting. However, the likes of Ryan Gauld, Stuart Armstrong and Brian White as well as at least one additional attacker can make it exciting.
Given the current depth chart and if the 3-4-2-1 is used, Gauld and Armstrong could end up paired together as the two 10s instead of Armstrong playing further back as an eight. It is up to Sørensen to see where he would like to play Armstrong or Ali Ahmed.
For instance, would he want Ahmed on the wing or in the middle?
After all, goals are what bring the thrill. xG is nice but the Whitecaps have been inconsistent in the final third under Sartini. Could Sørensen turn that around?
Vancouver has been an up-and-down defensive team under Sartini as well. It will be interesting to see if he does go with the three of the back. How could the wingbacks not get exposed on the transitions?
This is an appointment that could work. Sørensen may not have Sartini’s personality, but he has a good tactical sense.
This is also on Schuster too. For the first time since he arrived in 2019, he got to pick a coach, and this is now his team only. Firing Sartini was a gamble, and hiring Sørensen is also one.
The Whitecaps need to go from good to great, and time will tell if Sørensen is the guy to take them to the top of the mountain.
Now they need to sign some players and let the new Whitecaps head coach cook. Time is ticking. They leave for Marbella, Spain for training camp and preseason on Tuesday afternoon.
