Martin Retov

Martin Retov (born 5 May 1980) is a Danish football coach and former player.

He works as the assistant coach of Brøndby IF.

He has played more than 200 games for Brøndby IF.

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.

He made 88 appearances in the Danish 1st Division, in which he scored 12 goals.

Retov began his career at Køge Boldklub, joining their youth team in 1996 and making his first-team debut in 1999.

Later, he moved to Køge Boldklub, where he eventually made his debut in the Danish 1st Division (second highest division) on 2 May 1999, starting in a 2–0 loss to Glostrup FK.

At this point, Retov was 18 years old and a student at Solrød Gymnasium, an upper secondary school.

After six months, Retov established himself in the starting-eleven of the first team, coached by Henrik Jensen.

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 signed a one-and-a-half year contract extension on 20 August 2001.

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.

While still recovering for his toe-injury, Retov signed for defending Danish champions Brøndby IF.

He had been scouted by former Brøndby-legend John "Faxe" Jensen while the latter was a player-coach at Herfølge Boldklub.

In a Danish 1st Division match between Køge and Herfølge, Retov had kicked "Faxe" in the head and received a red card for the offense, which had impressed the Herfølge player-coach who would later become assistant coach at Brøndby.

He therefore became one of the first signings new Brøndby IF head coach Michael Laudrup.

He made his debut for Brøndby in a 1–1 home draw with Levski Sofia in the UEFA Cup on 3 October 2002.

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.

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 Danish Cups.

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.

Born in Rødovre, Capital Region of Denmark, Retov started his career in the youth teams of Danish club Rishøj Idrætsforening at age 8, where he played together with his friends from school.

In his early playing days, Retov was a striker.

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.

In 2008, Retov was signed by Hansa Rostock for a fee believed to be €1 million.

On 8 July 2008, Retov joined German 2. Bundesliga side Hansa Rostock, who had recently been relegated from the highest tier.

The club had paid his release clause of around €1 million, of which German businessman Carsten Maschmeyer paid €850,000, money which he later reclaimed in court.

Retov thus became the fourth Dane to play for Hansa Rostock, following in the footsteps of Kim Madsen, David Rasmussen and Thomas Rasmussen.

He made his debut for the Ostseestädter on 9 August 2008 in a DFB-Pokal away win over Holstein Kiel, while debuting in the 2.

Bundesliga on 18 August in a 2–2 away draw against MSV Duisburg in which he played a full 90 minutes.

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.

In the following season, Retov only missed one Superliga-match as Brøndby won its 10th championship.