Lennart Söderberg

Kurt Lennart Söderberg (born July 7, 1941 in Torpshammar ) is a Swedish former athlete who competed in both football and ice hockey in the highest Swedish league. Following his active career, he worked as a football coach . The defender , who came to an international match for the Swedish national football team in 1965 , coached clubs in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Cyprus. Because of his aggressive use as a player, he was nicknamed "Liston" after the American boxer Sonny Liston .

Career

Player career

Söderberg began playing football at Råsunda IS as a child in 1948 . Two years later he moved within Solna to the youth of the AIK , for which he was also active in ice hockey. At the age of 15 he made his debut for the club's ice hockey team, and in 1959 he made his first appearance for the football team in the Allsvenskan . Briefly active for GIF Sundsvall in 1961 , he returned to AIK the following year. After the footballers were relegated to the second division, he became one of the pillars in the promotion campaign. In the middle of the decade he was finally a regular, national coach Lennart Nyman appointed him to the national team . In the 1: 2 defeat against Brazil he was on the side of Lennart Wing , Orvar Bergmark , Kurt Hamrin and Ove Grahn for the only time in the national jersey , although he was in the squad several times.

Söderberg was a regular at AIK until 1966. After he had missed the 1967 season due to injury , he left the club in 1968 after 85 first division games and a goal towards Ljusdals IF . At the second division he replaced Jens Lindblom as player-coach, who had broken his leg. They trained together until 1970 before Söderberg returned to AIK. However, he could no longer play in the team and ended his active career.

Coaching career

The first coaching station after the final end of his career was from 1971 the amateur club Ulriksdals SK , for which he briefly returned to the field in 1972. In 1973 he took over the third division club Gefle IF , which he led in his first season as the responsible coach in the second division. It was similar for him at his next station, Västerås SK , which was taken over in 1975 . After the rise in the first year he missed with the club as third in the table of the northern season of the second division barely the march into the Allsvenskan, but succeeded in 1977 as a season winner before Sandvikens IF the rise. The newcomer fought in the first division season 1978 against relegation, with one point behind the last non-relegation place occupied by fellow climbers Åtvidabergs FF , Söderberg missed relegation with the team as bottom of the table. He then stayed two seasons with the club in the second division, before hiring before the start of the second division season in 1981 with league rivals IFK Eskilstuna . Surprisingly, he led the club to the relay win, in the relegation games against Kalmar FF the team remained without a win and thus did not return to the first division. However, the team could not build on this success and played in the relegation battle, but was able to keep the class with three points ahead of the relegation places.

1983 Söderberg took for the first time an offer from abroad and took over the Norwegian club Odds BK . He was immediately successful with this third division team and rose to the second division with him. There, however, the team had no chance and went down again together with Lyn Oslo and Brumunddal Fotball . Therefore, he returned to Sweden and trained in the sequence Västerås SK (1984), Vasalunds IF (1985-1986) and Gefle IF (1987-1989) in the second division. In 1990 he received another offer from abroad, this time he was drawn to the Danish club Ikast FS . He led the club in third place in the UEFA Cup , but in the debut season of the Superliga in 1991 , the club was in danger of relegation and parted ways with Söderberg.

In 1993 Söderberg returned to the coaching bench and took over the amateur club Syrianska FC before briefly coaching the Cypriot club Anorthosis Famagusta the following year . He then hired again at Västerås SK, but ended his contract at the end of the 1994 season. In 1996, however, he returned and led the club again in the Allsvenskan. Again, the club could not assert itself in the first division and was relegated straight away. In the meantime, however, he had separated from his trainer. This then took over the in the second division in danger of relegation IFK Malmö . Since he also missed relegation here, his contract ended at the end of the season. In 1998 he trained again IFK Eskilstuna, after heart problems he stepped shorter.

In 2001 Söderberg trained the Köpings FF before returning to Västerås SK as a consultant. In early 2004, the club signed him again as a coach, but after a racist statement he was removed from office a week before the start of the 2004 second division season . Nevertheless, he remained connected to the club as a functionary.

Controversy

In the course of Söderberg's coaching career, there were repeated controversies due to various statements. At the beginning of the first division season in 1997 there were discussions as to whether the squad of the promoted Västerås SK was set up according to Aryan criteria, as there were no foreign players in it and Söderberg had made negative comments about unpronounceable names, especially among foreign players of the competitors. Two years later, his statements about sports and homosexuals led to accusations of homophobia.

In 2004 Söderberg verbally abused a player in a preparation game. As a result, his then club Västerås SK dismissed him a week before the start of the season.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ aftonbladet.se: “” Liston ”sparkas efter sitt rasistiska påhopp” (accessed on June 1, 2011)
2. ↑ aftonbladet.se: "Liston: Det är jävligt orättvist" (accessed June 1, 2011)

Web links

• aik.se: "LENNART" LISTON "SÖDERBERG -" AIK: ARE SÅ DET SMACKAR OM DET ""