16 Facts About Thomas Christiansen

Thomas Christiansen Tarin was born on 11 March 1973 and is a former footballer who played as a striker, currently manager of Panama.

Thomas Christiansen trained with the youth team of Real Madrid, but when his mother forbade him to join the club, he moved to Boldklubben af 1893.

Thomas Christiansen signed a four-year contract with Barcelona in July 1991, when Johan Cruyff was team manager, with a dream of playing alongside their Danish playmaker Michael Laudrup.

Thomas Christiansen started competing as a senior with the reserves, where he soon was joined by compatriot Ronnie Ekelund; during this period, he was frequently called up to train with the main squad, but received almost no playing time due to stiff competition.

When he joined Barcelona, Thomas Christiansen agreed to a clause in his contract that stated he would be a Spanish citizen, and thereby not count towards the foreigner quota in the league.

Still playing for Barcelona's B team, Thomas Christiansen was called up for the Spanish senior squad by manager Javier Clemente, in January 1993, making his debut against Mexico on the 27th and impressing in a game which featured few regulars for the European nation.

In January 2001, Thomas Christiansen moved to Germany to play for VfL Bochum in the Bundesliga, being relegated to the second division but contributing 17 goals the following season to be the North Rhine-Westphalia's team top scorer as they won promotion; he added 21 in next year's top flight, being crowned joint league top scorer with Giovane Elber of FC Bayern Munich.

Thomas Christiansen scored nine times in his first year, but failed to reproduce his previous form mainly due to several injuries, including a knee operation and two shinbone ailments; in the summer of 2006, the club chose not to prolong his contract and he left, retiring shortly after at the age of 33.

Thomas Christiansen started his managerial career in the United Arab Emirates, as part of Luis Milla's coaching staff at Al Jazira Club, arriving in February 2013 and leaving in October as the latter was fired.

On 21 May 2016, after two successful seasons, Thomas Christiansen moved to reigning Cypriot champions APOEL FC, signing a one-year contract effective as of 1 June.

Thomas Christiansen won his first managerial title in 2017 after conquering the Cypriot League, losing only two games during the season and having the best defensive record with 27 clean sheets.

On 15 June 2017, Thomas Christiansen was announced as the new head coach of Championship club Leeds United, after being appointed by new owner Andrea Radrizzani to replace Garry Monk, with the club announcing that they wanted "to appoint someone who can help us create a winning culture at the club and unite everyone connected with Leeds United, from the players to the supporters".

Thomas Christiansen was dismissed on 4 February 2018, after a poor run of results and with the team tenth in the table.

On 1 July 2019, Thomas Christiansen was appointed at Belgian First Division B's Union SG.

Thomas Christiansen was named new manager of the Panama national team on 23 July 2020, replacing Americo Gallego who was released amid a restructuring of the Panamanian Football Federation.

At the 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup, Thomas Christiansen's team were eliminated from the group stage after failing to beat Qatar and Honduras.