Dan Ekner

Ekner (r.) 1951 on a radio broadcast with Swedish football players playing in Italy

Daniel Heimer "Dan" Ekner (born July 5, 1927 in Gothenburg , † April 17, 1975 ) was a Swedish football player . The striker excelled as a globetrotter, playing in England, France, Italy, the United States, Spain, Germany and the Netherlands.

Career

Ekner began his football career with the Gothenburg club Örgryte IS . From what was then the second division, he moved to IS Halmia in Allsvenskan in 1946 . In Halmstad he only stayed one season and returned to Gothenburg in 1947 to join IFK Göteborg . At the side of the national players Gunnar Gren and Arne Nyberg , he reached midfield with the team. In the summer of 1949 he toured the United States with a team called Kamraterna FC .

1949 Ekner went to Britain to economics to study. In the fall, he received an offer from Portsmouth FC to play for the club as an amateur in the First Division . Between November and December of that year he ran on the side of Jimmy Dickinson , Peter Harris , Jack Froggatt , Jimmy Scoular and Reg Flewin in five league games in which he was unsuccessful . He was the first Swede in the English premier league to win the English championship for the second time in the club's history. It is not known whether he finished his studies, but he played for the French club Olympique Marseille the following summer . At the side of his compatriots Gunnar Johansson and Gunnar Andersson , he was used in 27 games and with eight goals this season was more dangerous than during his stay in England.

Ekner stayed only one season in France and moved to Italy, where several compatriots such as Nils Liedholm , Bror Mellberg or Bertil and Gunnar Nordahl were already under contract. Ekner's new employer was AC Florence , where he was the first Swede in the club's history. With ten goals this season, he contributed to the club's fourth place in Serie A in his first year . After he was granted only one goal in the following season, he moved on to league rivals SPAL Ferrara , where he ran another season in Serie A and scored five goals in 31 games.

After a total of 91 games in Serie A, Ekner left Italy in 1954. He then returned to the United States, where he joined the Chicago Vikings . After a year he returned to Europe and was hired by Atlético Madrid , where he was used alongside players like Adrián Escudero and Enrique Collar . Again he only stayed one season and then moved on to Rot-Weiss Essen . In 1958 he moved to PSV Eindhoven , where he was one of the club's first foreigners alongside Trevor Ford and Steve Mokone . In 1960 he returned to Sweden and ended his career at Örgryte IS and Västra Frölunda IF .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ sover.net: "The Year in American Soccer - 1949" ( Memento of the original from March 15, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed on December 2, 2009) 
2. ↑ Harris, Nick: England, Their England , Hove 2003, p. 61. Professionals from outside the Commonwealth were not allowed at the time unless there were family connections.
3. ↑ pompeyrama.com: "Pompey Appearances: Dan Ekner" (accessed December 2, 2009)
4. ↑ independent.co.uk: "Vieira handed title of England's finest import" (accessed December 2, 2009)
5. ↑ violanews.com: "Da Dan Ekner a Bjorn Runström: tutti gli 8 svedesi gigliati" ( Memento of the original from July 13, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed on December 2, 2009)  

Web links

• Dan Ekner in the database of weltfussball.de
• Article at portsmouth.vitalfootball.co.uk