Stefan Pettersson (soccer player)

Stefan Pettersson
Stefan Pettersson (1988)
Personnel
birthday	March 22, 1963
place of birth	Västerås ,  Sweden
size	182 cm
position	striker
Juniors
Years	station
	IFK Västerås
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
1980-1981	IFK Västerås	31 0(4)
1982-1984	IFK Norrköping	46 (24)
1984-1988	IFK Gothenburg	78 (31)
1988-1994	Ajax Amsterdam	151 (77)
1994-1998	IFK Gothenburg	84 (28)
National team
Years	selection	Games (goals)
1983-1993	Sweden	31 (4)
Stations as a trainer
Years	station
2006	IFK Österåker
1 Only league games are given.

Stefan Pettersson (born March 22, 1963 in Västerås ) is a former Swedish football player . The offensive player, who took part in the 1990 World Cup with the Swedish national team , won the UEFA Cup with IFK Göteborg and Ajax Amsterdam . In addition to his goal risk, the striker also distinguished himself as a template provider because of his overview.

Career

First successes in Sweden and UEFA Cup victory

Pettersson played in his youth at IFK Västerås , for whom he made his debut in men's football as a teenager. In addition, he had drawn the attention of those responsible at Svenska Fotbollförbundet to himself and was deployed in various youth national teams. In 1981 he triumphed at a youth tournament in Israel when he scored all the goals for the Swedish youth team.

At the beginning of 1982 IFK Norrköping brought Pettersson to the Allsvenskan . The junior player immediately asserted himself as a regular player and played 21 of the 22 games in the 1982 season in his debut season in the Swedish elite series . With the club, however, he occupied only one relegation place and had to relegate to the second division after a 2-0 defeat in the first leg despite a 1-0 return success against BK Häcken with the team. There he immediately showed his goal danger. With 17 goals this season in the second division season in 1983, he led the multiple national champions back to the Allsvenskan and crowned himself the top scorer. Then national coach Lars Arnesson nominated him for a North American tour of the Swedish national team following the season. In the 4-0 victory over the Barbadian national team on November 19, he made his debut in the national jersey when he started alongside Tord Holmgren , Anders Palmér , Bernt Ljung and Ingemar Erlandsson . After he had come to a brief assignment as a substitute against the US national team at the beginning of the following year , he was initially not considered further.

After Pettersson had made his debut for IFK Norrköping in the Allsvenskan and the first half of the 1984 season was accrued for the club in the top division, he moved within the league to IFK Göteborg . Initially a supplementary player, who only made a minor contribution to winning the championship at the end of the year, he fought for a regular place on the offensive the following year. With five goals in the regular season, he was the club's third-best internal scorer behind Torbjörn Nilsson and Johnny Ekström, on the one hand he helped the club to reach the championship finals and on the other hand he played his way back into the national team, for which he played two more internationals during the season. In the championship finals he became the best shooter of his team, in the two semi-final wins against Malmö FF he scored three of the four goals scored. He was also among the scorers in the final against local rivals Örgryte IS . In the 2-4 defeat in the first leg he met the interim 1-0 lead, in the second leg he managed the goal to 3-2 final, which meant the runner-up and the UEFA Cup 1986/87 .

Under coach Gunder Bengtsson , Pettersson failed in the 1986 season with his club in the semi-finals of the championship finals, in the European Cup he moved with the team around team captain Glenn Hysén , Peter Larsson , Thomas Wernersson , Stig Fredriksson , Roland Nilsson and Michael Andersson after successes over TJ Sigma ZTS Olomouc , BSG Stahl Brandenburg , KAA Gent , Inter Milan and FC Swarovski Tirol entered the final for the second time in the club's history, where they met the Scottish club Dundee United . In the first leg at home in Ullevi , Pettersson scored the only goal of the encounter with a header in the 38th minute of the game, before Lennart Nilsson made the preliminary decision in the second leg with the 1-0 opener, as the Scots could only equalize through John Clark . At the same time, he had finally played his way into the national team in the fall of 1986 and was used regularly from then on.

Also in the Allsvenskan season 1987 Pettersson convinced as a goalscorer. Behind Lasse Larsson , Thomas Lundin and Mats Magnusson , he placed fourth on the regular-time goalscorer list with ten goals this season. He also appeared as a goalscorer in the final round and thus contributed to winning the championship again, as in the final Malmö FF was defeated after a 1-0 home win and a 1-2 away defeat due to the away goals rule .

World Cup participation and renewed triumph in Europe

Pettersson made a name for himself outside of Sweden through his appearances with IFK Göteborg in European Cup and as a national player. In the summer of 1988 coach Kurt Linder , who was replaced by Antoine Kohn after a failed start to the season , brought the Swedish striker to Ajax Amsterdam in the Dutch Eredivisie . At the club, which was battered by financial problems, he immediately became a regular player and regular goalscorer, who ranked behind 19-time goalscorer Romário in the Eredivisie's goalscoring list with 17 goals this season . As second in the table, he moved with the team in the UEFA Cup 1989/90 , in which the club met the Austrian representative FK Austria Wien . After goalkeeper Franz Wohlfahrt had been hit by a projectile in the second leg , Ajax was eliminated from the competition and was excluded from the European Cup for the following season. Personally, the season for Pettersson was overshadowed by a stroke of fate when he tore a cruciate ligament during the season . Thus, he helped only in eleven season games in which he scored three goals, alongside the team, which is studded with young talents such as Dennis Bergkamp , Bryan Roy , Frank and Ronald de Boer , to the 23rd championship title in the club's history.

Recovered in the spring of 1990, Pettersson was back in the national team for the preparatory games for the World Cup finals in Italy. Ultimately, national coach Olle Nordin nominated him for the finals, in which he was still used as a substitute in the opening defeat against the Brazilian national team . In the following games against Scotland and Costa Rica he was in the starting line-up, after each 1: 2 defeat he missed the final round of the tournament with the selection as bottom group.

Under coach Leo Beenhakker , Pettersson just missed defending his title in the season following the World Cup. Only because the goal difference was two goals worse, the tied rival PSV Eindhoven prevailed. In the course of the season, the striker was again temporarily out due to an injury, but still contributed 13 goals. After Beenhakker's departure in the fall of 1991, Louis van Gaal took over the position of head coach. Although he only finished second with the club, in the 1991/92 UEFA Cup the team moved into the final against Torino Calcio via Örebro SK , FC Rot-Weiß Erfurt , CA Osasuna , KAA Gent and CFC Genoa . In the 2-2 draw in the first leg at the Stadio delle Alpi , he scored the second European Cup final goal of his career when he scored a 2-1 lead with a penalty. Ajax defied a 0-0 draw in the second leg and was the new titleholder due to the away goals rule. Shortly before the end, Pettersson was the victim of an attack by the Turin defense in which he fell on the corner flag and broke his collarbone . So he fell out for the 1992 European Championship in Sweden.

In the following two years Pettersson remained a regular at Ajax. In 1993 he reached the final of the national cup with the team, in which he entered the list of goalscorers in the 6-2 win over SC Heerenveen alongside Edgar Davids , Dennis Bergkamp, Dan Petersen and the two-time goalscorer Marc Overmars . While he was eliminated from the 1993/94 European Cup Winners' Cup with the club in the quarter-finals, he won the championship title alongside Jari Litmanen , Clarence Seedorf , Marc Overmars and Finidi George .

Champion in Sweden and end of career

In the summer of 1994 Pettersson returned to the reigning Swedish champions IFK Göteborg after six years. With the team around Magnus Erlingmark , Pontus Kåmark , Jesper Blomqvist and Joachim Björklund , he caused a sensation in the 1994/95 UEFA Champions League when, after a 2: 4 opening defeat against Manchester United - Pettersson was next to Stefan Rehn the goalscorer for the Swedish club in Old Trafford - the team remained unbeaten in the group stage and won the group ahead of ManU, FC Barcelona and Galatasaray Istanbul . After a 0-0 draw against FC Bayern Munich in the Munich Olympic Stadium , the team was eliminated from the competition after a 2-2 draw in the second leg due to the away goals rule.

Nevertheless, the return to Sweden was successful for Pettersson, at the end of the Allsvenskan season in 1994 he won the Von Rosens Cup as national champion with the team supervised by Roger Gustafsson as well as in the 1995 season . Although he often had to pause due to injury in the following season , he won the title hat-trick alongside Andreas Andersson , Teddy Lučić and Niclas Alexandersson . Until his end of career in 1999 because of persistent knee problems, he ran for the club in the Allsvenskan, another title win he was denied.

In 2006 Pettersson tried briefly as a coach of the fourth division IFK Österåker .

Achievements and Awards

• UEFA Cup winners: 1987, 1992
• Swedish champion: 1984, 1987, 1994, 1995, 1996
• Dutch champions: 1990, 1994
• Dutch cup winner: 1993

Web links

• Stefan Pettersson in the database of weltfussball.de

Individual evidence

Commons : Stefan Pettersson  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

1. ↑ dn.se: "Stefan Pettersson tränare i Österåker" (accessed on August 24, 2010)