Leif Karlsson

Leif Karlsson (born March 29, 1952 in Emmaboda ) is a former Swedish football player and coach. He is currently responsible for youth football at AIK .

career

Karlsson joined AIK's youth department in 1964. Here the goalkeeper went through all youth teams and from 1972 belonged to the squad of the first division team. He made his debut in the Allsvenskan on September 3, 1972 in a 1-1 draw against Örebro SK . Initially, however, he was only a substitute goalkeeper behind Ronny Gustafsson . It was not until 1975 that a real duel came about between the two, which after two years in which both played about the same number of games, was decided in favor of Karlsson. In August 1979, however, a severe knee injury slowed his career. In the following season he tried a comeback, but finally had to end his active career in 1980 at the age of 28. In total, he played 86 first and 15 second division games. His greatest successes were his call to the Swedish U23 selection in 1975, in which the Finnish selection was defeated 3-2, and in 1976 winning the Svenska Cup .

Karlsson took over the post of goalkeeping coach at AIK after his career ended. He filled the post until 1998, interrupted only by a two-year interlude at IF Brommapojkarna . In the 1980s and from 1995 to 1998 he also worked as a goalkeeper coach for Svenska Fotbollförbundet . Since 1997 he has been the sports director of the youth department at AIK.

Web links

• Entry about Karlsson at AIK