Jesper Jensen (handballer)

Jesper Jensen (born 30 October 1977) is a former Danish handball player and current manager of the Danish women's national team. He was named World Coach of the Year (female teams) in 2021 by IHF.

Jensen comes from a handball family. He is brother of the former Danish handball player and 2004 Olympic champion, Trine Jensen. His mother played for the Danish club Vejlby-Risskov Idrætsklub, and his father was a handball referee.

Jensen won the 2008 European Men's Handball Championship with the Danish men's national handball team. He was part of the team which finished seventh in the 2008 Olympic tournament. He played all eight matches and scored 16 goals.

On 17 February 2011, Jensen stopped on the Danish men's national team after 120 games and 238 goals.

Coaching career
After his playing career Jensen became the head coach of the Vejen EH women's team in 2013. He coached them for a single season until switching to Aalborg Håndbold. In March 2016 he was fired due to disappointing results. The club was in 7th place at the time.

In 2017 he became the assistent coach at Team Esbjerg. When the club fired head coach Lars Frederiksen in May 2017, Jesper Jensen was promoted to head coach. Jensen has announced, that he does not intend to continue, when his contract expires in the summer 2024. He will at that time be replaced by Swedish coach Tomas Axnér.

In 2020, he was named head coach of the Danish women's national team, a position he has held simultaniously with the position at Team Esbjerg. He coached Denmark at the 2020 European Women's Handball Championship. He won silver with the Danish women's national team at the 2022 European Women's Handball Championship and, the next year, bronze at the World Championship.