Nils Liedholm

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Nils Liedholm
Personnel
birthday October 8, 1922
place of birth Valdemarsvik ,  Sweden
date of death November 5, 2007
Place of death Cuccaro Monferrato ,  Italy
size 182 cm
position midfield
Men's
Years station Games (goals) 1
1943-1946 IK Sleipner 60 (24)
1948-1949 IFK Norrköping 48 (22)
1949-1961 AC Milan 359 (81)
National team
Years selection Games (goals)
1946-1958 Sweden 23 (12)
Stations as a trainer
Years station
1961-1963 AC Milan (assistant coach)
1963-1966 AC Milan
1966-1968 Hellas Verona
1968-1969 AC Monza Brianza
1969-1971 Varese FC
1971-1973 AC Florence
1973-1977 AS Roma
1977-1979 AC Milan
1979-1984 AS Roma
1984-1987 AC Milan
1987-1989 AS Roma
1992 Hellas Verona
1997 AS Roma
1 Only league games are given.

Nils Liedholm (born October 8, 1922 in Valdemarsvik , † November 5, 2007 in Cuccaro Monferrato ) was a Swedish football and bandy player and football coach who has achieved much of his success in Italian football .

The player

The club career

As a child and teenager, Nils Liedholm first played for IK Sleipner , in whose second division he was already used at the age of 14; This can on the one hand be explained by the low level of playing strength of Swedish football between the world wars, especially since this sport only played a subordinate role there, but on the other hand it also indicates how early the qualities of this striker had developed. And Liedholm was a "training obsessed" man who trained with the ball for hours and would also have been a good all -rounder: he liked to run short and long distances and also practiced high jump, shot put and javelin, because he was convinced of that too to benefit on the soccer field. From 1938 to 1946 he represented the colors of Valdemarsvik IF before he - still as an amateur, because professional football did not exist in Sweden for a long time - with IFK Norrköping one of the larger clubs in the country brought him. With this club Liedholm was twice Swedish champion in the following three years.

Gre-No-Li : Liedholm (r.) With his compatriots Gren and Nordahl in the AC Milan jersey

The reputation of the playmaker, usually in the half-left attack position, later in midfield , had penetrated into southern Europe because of his participation in the Olympics in 1948 , and that's why Liedholm laced his football boots for AC Milan from the 1949/50 season . Although he had an extraordinarily successful debut in Serie A (37 appearances, 18 goals), at this point in time it was not foreseeable that he would stay with the Rossoneri for twelve years . The legendary "Gre-No-Li-Sturm", consisting of Gunnar Gren , Gunnar Nordahl and Liedholm, who had won the gold medal at the 1948 Olympics, came together here. In the twelve years with Milan , Nils Liedholm was four times Italian champion and four times runner-up, completed 359 Serie A games and scored 81 goals himself. At European level he won the Coupe Latine twice and was in the final of the European Champions' Cup in 1958 . In 1961, at the age of almost 39, Liedholm said goodbye as a player - but the Tifosi should be able to enjoy the Swedes in the country's stadiums for a long time to come.

The national player

Nils Liedholm has only played 21 international matches for the Swedish national football team because AC Milan often refused to release him. At the 1958 World Cup in his home country, Liedholm, now almost 36 years old, was not only present, he also played five of the six Swedish matches there - he was spared in the last group game against Wales - and also scored two goals (one of them in the final against Brazil ) and accepted the silver medal and congratulations on the runner-up in the world championship as the captain of his eleven.

Ten years earlier he had even won gold: at the soccer tournament of the 1948 Summer Olympics in London .

The trainer

Twelve months after his departure as a player, Nils Liedholm was responsible for the training of the Milan professionals for the first time in 1963 , and that for the next three years. From 1966 to 1968 he worked at Hellas Verona and led them to the Serie A . This was followed by engagements at AC Monza (1968/69), Varese FC (1969–1971; promotion to Serie A) and Fiorentina (1971–1973).

The really successful years in the new role off the field only followed now, and they were characterized by the change between only two clubs: Liedholm coached AS Roma from 1973 to 1977 , then returned to AC Milan and won his first there in 1979 Master's title as a coach. From 1979 to 1984 the Roma again benefited from his skills, which he also helped to the championship and three cup titles and which he led to the final of the European championship cup in 1984 . Then AC Milan was again his employer until 1987, then AS Roma again until 1989. There, at the age of almost 67, he ended his more than half a century highly successful career in football. The Swede had played a key role in shaping football in Italy for 40 years, including 20 years at AC Milan and 11 years at AS Roma. He set a milestone with the introduction of modern spatial coverage , which had not been used in Italy until then.

Life after the active time

After that, he could not let go of football entirely: in 1991/92 he helped out at Hellas Verona and in 1996/97 again at "his" AC Milan. Nils Liedholm owned a winery near the town of Alessandria in the Piedmontese province of Asti , the Azienda Agricola Villa Boemia , which he ran with his son. In this respect, too, the Swede had become a real Italian.

In 1999 the Swedish Post issued a stamp with Liedholm's portrait.

successes

As a player

As a trainer

Web links

Commons : Nils Liedholm  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Liedholm, Nils
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swedish soccer player and soccer coach
DATE OF BIRTH October 8, 1922
PLACE OF BIRTH Valdemarsvik
DATE OF DEATH November 5, 2007
Place of death Cuccaro Monferrato