Björn Nordqvist

Björn Nordqvist
Personnel
birthday	October 6, 1942
place of birth	Hallsberg ,  Sweden
size	178 cm
position	Central defender
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
1961-1972	IFK Norrköping	245 (7)
1972-1975	PSV Eindhoven	101 (0)
1975-1988	IFK Gothenburg	83 (2)
1979-1980	Minnesota kicks	61 (1)
1980-1983	Örgryte IS	72 (0)
National team
Years	selection	Games (goals)
1963-1978	Sweden	115 (0)
1 Only league games are given.

Björn Nordqvist (born October 6, 1942 in Hallsberg ) is a former Swedish football player who played 115 international matches for Sweden from 1963 to 1978.

career

Clubs, 1952 to 1983

Nordqvist spent his youth at his hometown club Hallsberg IFK. He played soccer in summer, ice hockey or bandy in winter, depending on where he was needed. Bandy was his "second love" and has also helped him to get into top-class physical condition for competitive sports. For Hallsberg he played 49 league games with five goals from 1958 to 1960 and moved to IFK Norrköping in the port city in the province of Östergötland in 1961 , where he won the championship twice in the Allsvenskan at the beginning, in 1962 and 1963 . In 1969 he triumphed with a 1-0 win against AIK Solna-Stockholm in the cup competition. In the 1962-63 European Cup and 1963/64 Nordqvist difference with the team from the Idrottspark against Benfica and AC Milan each made in the second round. In the 1969/70 European Cup Winners' Cup , FC Schalke 04 was the final destination. Nordqvist, who moved from midfield to stopper position at IFK, played 468 point and cup games for Norrköping from 1961 to 1972, scoring 26 goals. In 1968 he was named Sweden's Footballer of the Year.

At the age of 30 he ventured abroad and moved to PSV Eindhoven in the Dutch honor division. With PSV he won the cup in 1974 with a 6-0 win against NAC Breda and won the championship in 1975. In the 1974/75 European Cup Winners' Cup, he prevailed with Eindhoven in the quarter-finals against Benfica Lisbon and only failed in the semi-finals at Dynamo Kiev . He then ended his activity at PSV Eindhoven and went back to IFK Göteborg in Sweden with his long-time national team colleague Ove Kindvall . In 1979 he was able to win the Cup again and then moved overseas and hired at Minnesota Kicks until 1980. Björn Nordqvist ended his career in Sweden. From 1980 to 1983 he was the player-coach at Örgryte IS in Gothenburg and ended his career in 1983. He played over 1,100 games in 23 years, including over 450 for the championship.

The active soccer player Nordqvist was recognized for his distinctive positional play, tactical discipline, robust but always fair physical effort and a safe header game.

National team, 1963 to 1978

After his debut on April 4, 1963 in the international game against Hungary, which was lost 4-0, one could not imagine the 15-year career in the national team for the player from IFK Norrköping. He was then only a member of the regular cast from 1966 and was then involved in the three soccer world championships in 1970 , 1974 and 1978 . In the qualifying games before the 1970 World Cup, the 2-0 victory over France on October 15, 1969 decided. In Mexico, coach Orvar Bergmark brought him against Italy and Uruguay. The team led by Nordqvist, Ove Kindvall and Bo Larsson was eliminated on points with Uruguay after the group games with two goals conceded. Before the 1974 World Cup in Germany, a playoff on November 27, 1973 in Gelsenkirchen against Austria decided who would prevail in the qualification. Sweden won 2-1 goals on a bitterly cold November evening on the snow floor. Coach Georg “Abi” Ericson said after this game about his stopper who had completed his 71st international match: “It is like a good wine, the older it gets, the better it is.” In the World Cup tournament, the captain held in the group games the defense against the Netherlands and Uruguay and also played the three games against Poland, Germany and Yugoslavia in the final round. The performance of the Swedish team was impressive not only in the game against the hosts. With Ralf Edström , Ove Grahn , Ronnie Hellström , Bo Larsson, Roland Sandberg and Conny Torstensson , Stopper and team captain Nordqvist also had internationally proven experts at his side. The veteran played his 109th game in the Blågult at the 1978 World Cup in Argentina in a 1-1 draw against Brazil. His ninth and tenth world championship games followed against Austria and Spain. With the record game of 115 international matches, Nordqvist ended his international career after the European Championship qualifier on October 4, 1978 in the Rasunda Stadium in Stockholm against Czechoslovakia - two days before his 36th birthday.

successes

• Swedish champion : 1962, 1963
• Swedish cup winner : 1969
• Dutch football champion : 1975
• Dutch cup winner : 1974

Next to the sports field

In the mid-eighties he gained popularity again in his homeland as an actor in the twelve-part television series "Äshöjdens BK". Nordqvist was employed by a lottery company.

literature

• Michael Horn: Lexicon of international soccer stars. Verlag Die Werkstatt, Göttingen 2004, ISBN 3-89533-466-9 .
• The 100 of the century, football, Rowohlt TB, 1996, ISBN 3-499-16458-2
• Klub der Hunderter, Sportverlag Berlin, 1989, Nachtigall / Baingo / Friedemann, ISBN 3-328-00306-1

See also

• List of football players with at least 100 international matches