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Martin Retov (; born 5 May 1980) is a Danish professional football manager, currently in charge of Hvidovre IF, and former player who played as a midfielder. He has played more than 200 games for Brøndby.
Retov began his career at Køge Boldklub, joining their youth team in 1996 and making his first-team debut in 1999. He experienced promotion to the Danish Superliga in the 2001–02 season, and after making 89 league appearances for Køge he moved to Brøndby IF. He played an influential role at the club for six seasons and was a key member of the team that won the domestic double in 2004–05 and three . In 2008, Retov was signed by Hansa Rostock for a fee believed to be €1 million. He became a regular and team captain during his time in Germany, but also suffered relegation to the 3. Liga in 2010. He ended his career at AC Horsens where he played between 2010 and 2015.
Retov has represented Denmark at under-21 and senior levels. He made his Denmark debut in 2004 and went on to gain six caps without scoring any goals.
After his active career, Retov embarked on a career in coaching, having been the assistant coach of AGF under-17, Brøndby under-17, and the assistant and caretaker coach of Brøndby's first team. In 2024, he was appointed head coach of Danish 1st Division club AC Horsens, where he had formerly been a player.
In 2002, Køge earned promotion to the Danish Superliga and would compete in the 2002–03 season. Retov only played 10 minutes for Køge in the Superliga, before suffering a toe-injury.
Retov quickly became a mainstay in the Brøndby team, and formed a successful duo with Morten Wieghorst in central midfield. He reached second place in the league table with the club during the 2002–03 and 2003–04 seasons, being voted Brøndby's 2004 Player of the Year. In the following season, Retov only missed one Superliga-match as Brøndby won its 10th championship. He also took part in the 2005 Danish Cup victory on the road to completing Brøndby's the Double triumph.
During the 2005–06 season, Brøndby ended in second place again and only reached sixth place during the 2006–07 season, which meant that Retov missed out in European football for the first time during his tenure at Brøndby. However, he was part of the team that won the 2006–07 Royal League by beating archrivals F.C. Copenhagen 1–0 in the final on 15 March 2007.
The 2007–08 Superliga season was horrific for Brøndby, only ending in eighth place after gaining five points from the first seven matches. However, the club won the Danish Cup – Brøndby's sixth – as Retov scored the decisive 3–2 winning goal in the 85th-minute of the final to beat out Esbjerg fB. The goal effectively meant that Brøndby reached the UEFA Cup qualification rounds.
In the following season, Retov only made 24 appearances for the club after receiving a seven-game suspension due to an opponent on 28 March 2010 in a match against FC St. Pauli. Therefore, he was not eligible to play while Hansa Rostock struggled in the lower end of the league table. In the end, the club suffered relegation to the 3. Liga after losing over two legs in the relegation play-offs to FC Ingolstadt 04. The relegation triggered a clause in his contract, which meant that Retov became a free agent after the relegation became a fact.
Citing the fact that he was now "an important piece" for the club, Retov scored his first goal for the club on 17 July 2011 in a 3–0 home win at Forum Horsens Arena over HB Køge, a merger project of his first professional club, Køge Boldklub. On 3 January 2012, Retov signed a two-year contract extension with Horsens after growing out to become an important player in the first team. Horsens surprisingly finished the regular season in fourth place, granting them access to the 2012–13 Europa League third qualifying round, but missing out on a third place in the last game of the season; a 3–0 loss to champions FC Nordsjælland. Despite missing out on bronze medals, Retov called the season "fantastic" after the club had only reached promotion to the highest division two years prior. He finished the season with seven goals in 35 appearances in all competitions, and was awarded the 2011–12 Player of the Season in Horsens at a season-ending party at Scandic Hotels in Horsens after having earlier won the 2011–12 Fighter of the Season at a sponsor event.
Before relegation, Retov had stated that he would follow the team down a division, which he stayed true to by signing a three-year contract extension on 15 July. He made his first appearance in the Danish second tier since leaving Køge Boldklub in 2002, on 28 July in a fixture against AB which Horsens won comfortably 4–1. Horsens would, however, fail its mission to return directly to the Superliga after one season, ending on a disappointing fifth place in the table. Retov, retaining his role as captain, made 28 appearances in all competitions, scoring three goals.
Following the season, in which Horsens only reached a disappointing mid-table finish, Retov was released after having lost his place as a starter for the team. He effectively retired as a professional player on 6 August 2015, citing a desire to begin coaching.
He debuted for the senior team on 28 April 2004 in a Exhibition game against Scotland, coming on as a late substitute for then Brøndby-teammate Morten Wieghorst as Denmark won 1–0.
The day after head coach Alexander Zorniger was sacked on 18 February 2019, Retov was appointed as caretaker manager of Brøndby with Matthias Jaissle as his assistant. As caretaker, Retov led Brøndby to a fourth place finish, eventually beating Randers FC 4–2 at home in the European play-offs in order to secure a place in the first qualifying round of the 2019–20 Europa League.
After Niels Frederiksen was appointed head coach for the 2019–20 season, Retov continued as his assistant together with newly appointed Jesper Sørensen. On 5 March 2020, Retov was placed in home quarantine after having met with former Brøndby-player and teammate Thomas Kahlenberg, who had tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in Denmark. Kahlenberg had been infected at a birthday party in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Retov played a part in Brøndby IF's championship in the summer of 2021 as one of two assistants to Niels Frederiksen, along with Jesper Sørensen. Retov continued on as assistant coach to Jesper Sørensen, when he took over as the new head coach in the winter of 2023.
On March 1, 2025 Horsens fired Retov. Martin Retov stopper i AC Horsens, achorsens.dk, 1 March 2025
| + Managerial record by team and tenure | ||||
| Brøndby (caretaker) | 19 February 2019 | 30 June 2019 | ||
| AC Horsens | 1 July 2024 | 1 March 2025 | ||
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