Lars Lagerbäck

Lars Lagerbäck

Lars Lagerbäck in 2014
Personal information
Full name Lars Edvin Lagerbäck
Date of birth (1948-07-16) 16 July 1948
Place of birth Sweden
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1960–1969 Alby FF
1970–1974 Gimonäs CK
Teams managed
1977–1982 Kilafors IF
1983–1985 Arbrå BK
1987–1989 Hudiksvalls ABK
1990–1995 Sweden U21
1996–1997 Sweden B
1998–1999 Sweden (assistant)
2000–2009 Sweden
2010 Nigeria
2011–2016 Iceland

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.


Lars Edvin "Lasse" Lagerbäck (pronounced [ˈlɑːʂ ˈlɑːgɛrˈbɛk];[1] born 16 July 1948 in Katrineholm) is a Swedish former football manager and player, who was most recently the joint manager of Iceland, alongside Heimir Hallgrímsson.

He is best known as the former manager of the Swedish national team. He managed the Swedish national team from 1998 until 2009, leading Sweden in five consecutive championships. He resigned as manager in 2009 after Sweden's failure to qualify for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. Apart from his coaching duties, Lagerbäck has in recent years been a pundit on Premier League and UEFA Champions League broadcasting on Swedish television.[2]

Career

Raised in Ovansjö, Medelpad, in his youth, Lagerbäck played for Alby FF. When he was 13 years old, he began playing for their P16 team.

After completing his upper secondary school studies at the end of the 1960s, Lagerbäck studied political science and economics at Umeå University in northern Sweden. On the side of his studies, he also played football for Gimonäs CK under the guidance of Calle Lindelöf.[3] He continued to play there until 1974 and worked as a club clerk from 1970.[4] Over the course of the following years, he played twice for the club in the qualifying rounds to division two in the Swedish League without success. Lagerbäck himself played midfielder, but was often an unused substitute.

In 1974, he attended Gymnastik- och Idrottshögskolan (GIH), where he was a classmate of current assistant coach Roland Andersson.

Managing career

Club

In 1977, he was called up to the senior team. It was former teammate Kjell Pettersson that recommended him to Kilafors. He coached the Division IV team until 1982. In 1983, he moved to Arbrå IK until 1985. In 1987, he took over Hudiksvall ABK but left in 1989.[5]

Sweden

In 1990, Lagerbäck took a job with the Swedish Football Association. He began as a coach for the junior levels which included Fredrik Ljungberg. He helped Tommy Svensson and Tord Grip with the Swedish national team.[4]

In 1996, Lagerbäck took over the Sweden B national team, until 1997. In 1998, Tommy Söderberg chose him to be the assistant coach for the Swedish national team. In 2000, he was promoted to dual-coach, a responsibility he shared with Söderberg until 2004.[6] Under his guidance, the Swedish national team qualified for the Euro 2000 but was eliminated in the group stages.

In 2002, he led Sweden to the World Cup, where Sweden were drawn in the 'group of death', together with England, Argentina and Nigeria. Sweden won the group but subsequently lost against Senegal in the first knockout round. In 2004, Sweden qualified for their third straight championship. In the Euro 2004, Sweden made it to the quarter-finals where they lost to the Netherlands.[7] That same year, Tommy Söderberg left the Swedish national team to coach the U21 team.

After the departure of Söderberg, Lagerbäck appointed Roland Andersson as assistant coach. In 2006, Lagerbäck took Sweden to their fourth consecutive championship, the first time in Swedish history. He led Sweden to the 2006 World Cup, losing against Germany 2–0 in the knockout stage.[5] Under Lagerbäck, Sweden also qualified for UEFA Euro 2008, however they were eliminated in the group stage after losing 2–0 against Russia. The team's early dismissal from the tournament led sport columnists to ask Lagerbäck to be sacked.[8] Despite this, he signed an extension, which kept him until the end of the 2010 FIFA World Cup campaign. After Sweden's unsuccessful qualification campaign, Lagerbäck resigned.[9]

Nigeria

On 26 February 2010, Lagerbäck signed a 5-month (renewable) contract that would see him lead Nigeria in the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.[10] The nomination resulted in allegation that him and his agent, Greg Keenan from Aspire Management, bribed the Nigerian officials. Other candidates for the job confirmed that Nigerian officials asked for bribes during the nomination process. Despite Nigeria's poor performance in the World Cup, the Nigeria Football Federation offered Lagerbäck a contract extension for another two years. Lagerbäck declined the offer. Around this time, Lagerbäck was a candidate for the position of manager of the Welsh national team.[11]

Iceland

On 4 October 2011, KSÍ's chief executive Geir Þorsteinsson reported that talks had begun over the appointment of Lagerbäck as the new manager of the Icelandic national team. The appointment was then confirmed ten days later.[12] Under Lagerbäck, Iceland qualified for the play-off stage of the qualification tournament for the 2014 World Cup, but Croatia were the victors over two legs.[13] Shortly thereafter Lagerbäck signed a new contract, this time as joint manager with his former Iceland assistant Heimir Hallgrímsson, who took over as sole manager with Lagerbäck's retirement following Euro 2016.[13][14]

Managerial statistics

Sweden Sweden

Role From To Record
GWDLWin %Unbeaten %
Joint manager 2000 2004 5926231044.0783.05
Sole manager 2004 2009 7231172443.0666.67
Overall 2000 2009 13157403443.5174.05

Nigeria Nigeria

Role From To Record
GWDLWin %Unbeaten %
Manager 2010 2010 723228.5771.43

Iceland Iceland

Role From To Record
GWDLWin %Unbeaten %
Sole manager 2011 2013 2083940.0055.00
Joint manager 2013 2016 321371240.6362.50
Overall 2011 2016 5221102140.3859.62

References

  1. ↑ Pronounced in isolation: [ˈlɑːʂ ˈlɑːgɛrˈbɛk]
  2. ↑ "Viasat förlänger med Lagerbäck" (in Swedish). Viasat Sport. 19 August 2014. Retrieved 4 July 2016.
  3. ↑ "Guide to Sweden". Sky Sports.
  4. 1 2 http://www.aftonbladet.se/sportbladet/article386906.ab
  5. 1 2 http://www1.uefa.com/tournament/teams/team=127/profile=1/index.html
  6. ↑ "Lagerback: I love my job". FIFA. 3 July 2007. Retrieved 20 April 2009.
  7. ↑ http://fotboll.expressen.se/landslaget/1.1831396/lagerback-hoppas-man-gloms-bort-snabbt
  8. ↑ "Krönikörer kräver Lagerbäcks avgång". Dagens Nyheter (in Swedish). 19 July 2008. Retrieved 20 April 2009.
  9. ↑ "Eriksson in line for Sweden post". Simon Austin. 19 October 2009. Retrieved 24 October 2009.
  10. ↑ "Nigeria appoint Lars Lagerback as coach for World Cup". BBC Sport. 2010-02-27. Retrieved 2010-02-27.
  11. ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/26437379
  12. ↑ "Lagerback tekur við landsliðinu (Staðfest)" (in Icelandic). Fótbolti.net. 2011-10-14. Retrieved 2011-10-14.
  13. 1 2 "Lagerbäck og Heimir áfram með landsliðið" (in Icelandic). mbl.is. 2013-11-25. Retrieved 2013-11-25.
  14. ↑ "Lagerbäck: Vil ljúka ferlinum á stórmóti" (in Icelandic). mbl.is. 2013-11-25. Retrieved 2013-11-25.
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