players, whose constant pressure on the opponent, combined with the necessary technical and tactical skills, went on to dominate the Danish championship for half a decade. After a few seasons of stable play and secondary finishes in the domestic league, the big turn-around for the club came in the 1995–96 UEFA Cup when Liverpool F.C. was eliminated, and including that season, Brøndby won three Danish championships in a row. The success of the team under Skovdahl concluded in qualification for the 1998–99 UEFA Champions League tournament, as the second Danish team (after AaB in 1995). In all, Skovdahl won four Danish championships and three Danish Cups and guided Brøndby to a number of individual results in the European competitions. Aberdeen In 1999, he moved to become a popular manager of Scottish side Aberdeen F.C. in the top-flight Scottish Premier League (SPL) division. Aberdeen overachieved in Scotland in the eighties and early nineties, but the club started to decline from 1995. By 1999, heavy in debt and not capable of matching the Old Firm in the transfer market, the Dons needed to appoint a successful coach who could work with a small budget. So the club went for the fashionable idea of appointing a successful foreign coach, Ebbe Skovdahl. In Skovdahl's first season at Aberdeen, the club finished bottom of the 1999–2000 Scottish Premier League, but Aberdeen avoided a potential relegation play-off due to Falkirk not meeting the SPL stadium requirements. Despite overseeing one of the poorest sides in Aberdeen's recent history in his first season in charge, Skovdahl proved popular with the fans. In that first year he brought in many foreign signings, with mixed success, and among his signings were Arild Stavrum, Hicham Zerouali, and Roberto Bisconti. The one highlight of Skovdahl's first season was that Aberdeen reached both the 2000 Scottish League Cup Final and the 2000 Scottish Cup Final, but they lost both finals to Celtic and Rangers respectively. In the following season Aberdeen's fortunes improved domestically, but were knocked out of the 2000–01 UEFA Cup by Irish side Bohemians on the away goals rule. This was the first time that a Scottish club had been knocked out of European competition by Irish opposition. The next year Aberdeen improved dramatically as Skovdahl guided them to 4th place in the 2001–02 Scottish Premier League. Young players such as Kevin McNaughton, Russell Anderson, Philip McGuire, striker Darren Mackie, and