Börje Tapper

Börje Tapper (r.) 1964 with his son Staffan

Börje Tapper (born May 20, 1922 - April 8, 1981 ) was a Swedish football player . The striker , who took part in the 1950 World Cup with the Swedish national team , won the Swedish championship title and the national cup three times.

Career

Tapper started playing football at Håkanstorps BK . As a teenager he moved to Malmö FF . Here he moved up to the men's team, for which he competed in the Allsvenskan . He achieved his first major success with the team at the side of Kjell Rosén , Erik Nilsson and Helge Bengtsson in the 1943/44 season , when they won the first Swedish championship title in the club's history with five points ahead of IF Elfsborg and AIK . In the same year he reached the final of the Svenska Cup with the team , which he decided almost single-handedly with three goals in the 4-3 victory over IFK Norrköping .

In the following years, Tapper played regularly with the club for the championship title. The people in charge of Svenska Fotbollförbundet honored Tapper's contribution in autumn 1945 when he made his debut in the national jersey in a 6-1 victory over the Finnish national team on September 30th that year . He made a decisive contribution to the victory with five goals. Nevertheless, he could not assert himself in the national team and was only used sporadically, as Gunnar Gren was set on his position in the storm row . In the years 1946 and 1947 further cup successes came before the team strengthened with players like Karl-Erik Palmér or Stellan Nilsson again won the Von Rosens Cup for the championship title in the season 1948/49 . The following year she defended the title by remaining undefeated throughout the season and allowing only two draws.

In the summer of 1950, Tapper was part of the national team at the World Cup tournament in Brazil. In the course of the tournament, however, he remained without commitment and thus contributed at best morally to third place behind world champions Uruguay and Brazil . Nevertheless, like many of his compatriots, he moved to Italy after the tournament. In Genoa 1893 he was used in seven games and therefore only stayed one season. Then he returned to Sweden. Once a professional, Tapper was no longer eligible to play in his home country and ended his active career at the age of 29.

In April 1981, Tapper, who had scored seven international goals as a four-time national player, died his third heart attack.

Tapper's son Staffan also played for Malmö FF and participated with the national team in the 1974 and 1978 World Cup tournaments.

Web links

• sydsvenskan.se: "Tapper hade huvudet med sig" ( Memento from May 27, 2009 in the Internet Archive )