Jess Thorup

 ( 1970 Births ) 

Under Thorup, Gent rallied to qualify for the Champions play-offs, finishing fifth, and reached the Belgian Cup Final, losing 2–1 to second-flight KV Mechelen for only the second occasion a club outside the top division had won the Cup in Belgium.

The result also denied Gent a place in Europe, with the top three in the league plus the winners of the Cup Final and the European Play-Off Final qualifying. But an investigation into events from the previous season, where Mechelen were determined to have made an attempt to fix the result of an end-of-season game against Waasland-Beveren on 11 March 2018 to try and prevent their relegation. Mechelen were allowed keep the Cup and their newly-secured top-flight status, after winning the Division 1B title in tandem with winning the Cup, but were banned from Europe for a season as part of the 2017–2019 Belgian football fraud scandal, resulting in all Belgian clubs moving up a place in terms of European qualification, with Gent next in line.

The Buffalos qualified for the UEFA Europa League, starting in the second qualifying round against Romanian club Viitorul Constanța. Through the other qualifying rounds, the club finally reached the group stage, where they won Group I with three wins and three draws. Gent took part in the round of 32, where they were eliminated by Roma.

With eleven weeks still to play in the 2019–20 season, the league was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with Gent lying second behind Club Brugge. Unlike most other major leagues, the Pro League decided against restarting the current season, announcing Club as champions, with Gent as runners-up taking a third qualifying round place for the 2020–21 UEFA Champions League.

After losing their first two games of the 2020–21 season to Sint-Truiden and Kortrijk, Thorup was suddenly dismissed as coach on 20 August 2020. By the time Thorup was hired by league rivals Genk as their new coach a month later on 24 September, his direct replacement at Gent, László Bölöni, would himself be fired after only three games in chanrge, with Wim De Decker taking charge, until his firing in November .

Thorup received a contract at Genk until the summer of 2023, but was at the helm for only six games before being tempted back into Danish football.

In his first season as manager of Copenhagen he guided the club to a third place finish in the Danish Superliga. This meant that the club participated in the inaugural season of the UEFA Conference League, and Thorup led his team to the Round of 16, in which they were defeated by PSV Eindhoven.

His second season in charge of Copenhagen ended with the club being crowned as Danish champions after winning the 2021–22 Danish Superliga.

The 2022–23 Danish Superliga started poorly for the club, but they managed to qualify for the 2022–23 UEFA Champions League after defeating Trabzonspor 2–1 on aggregate. Howerver, on 20 September 2022, Copenhagen announced that the club had parted ways with Thorup as their head coach, due to the poor start to the Superliga season.

In the 2024–25 Bundesliga season, he guided the team to a 12th place. However, on 23 May 2025 he was sacked by the club citing "for the further development and direction of our club" as the reason.

• Danish Superliga: 1989
• Danish Cup: 1990–91, 1992–93

• Danish 1st Division: 2011–12
• Danish Cup: 2012–13

Midtjylland

• Danish Superliga: 2017–18

Copenhagen

• Danish Superliga: 2021–22
• The Atlantic Cup runner-up (2): 2020, 2022

• EfB profile