Thom Åhlund

Thom Åhlund (born February 17, 1953 ) is a former Swedish football player . The defender , who remained connected to football after his active career as a coach and official, played briefly for the Swedish national team in 1979 .

Career

Eleven years on the field for Hammarby IF

Åhlund played in his youth with the Stockholm clubs Djurgårdens IF and IF Brommapojkarna . Before the first division season in 1973 , he moved within the city to Hammarby IF in the Allsvenskan . In a team dominated by young players such as Mats Werner , Ola Blumenberg , Kenneth Ohlsson , Ronnie Hellström , Jan Sjöström or Billy Ohlsson - all under the age of 25 - the defensive player under coach Olle Nyström immediately became a regular and reached eighth place in the table with the club . Even under Nystöms successors Björn Bolling , Tom Turesson and Bengt Gustavsson , he was one of the regular players in the following seasons and regularly played with the team in the middle of the table.

In the summer of 1979 national coach Georg Ericson Åhlund called into the national selection. On August 15, he made his debut on the occasion of a 2-0 defeat against the Norwegian national team on the side of Olle Nordin , Hans Borg , Rutger Backe , Jan Möller and Ingemar Erlandsson in the national jersey . By year's end, he was still three more games on the court - including a mandatory bet at 1: 1 draw in the context of qualifying for the European Championship finals in 1980 against the Luxembourg national team , in which Nico Braun via penalty for early management of Luxembourg and Anders Grönhagen the Goalscorers were - before his national team career ended after four games without a personal goal. With the number of games decreasing due to injury in the following years, he reached the championship finals in the 1982 season on the side of Michael Andersson , Peter Gerhardsson , Thomas Dennerby and Mats Werner as second in the regular season behind IFK Göteborg . After successes over Örgryte IS and IF Elfsborg , the club reached the final without Åhlund's involvement, in which the Gothenburg club , under Gunder Bengtsson , prevailed with a 3-1 second leg win despite a 2-1 away win by Hammarby IF in the first leg. Åhlund was in the 1983 season in eight games of the season to use, he ended after 224 games in the Allsvenskan, in which he had scored nine goals, his higher-class career at the end of the season.

Active as a trainer and functionary

Åhlund first worked as a player- coach at the lower-class amateur clubs Skövde AIK and IF Friska Viljor from Örnsköldsvik , before he hung up his boots in 1989 and took over the coaching position at third division Umeå FC . He was released from office in the summer of the following year.

Åhlund then studied and worked as a therapist with victims of abuse. In 1996, however, he returned to football when his former teammate Billy Ohlsson brought him as an assistant coach to the fourth division Syrianska FC . With the target agreement to lead the club in the second division within five years, the duo managed to move up to the third division in 1999, but in the summer of 2001 the club separated from the coaching team.

Åhlund returned to Hammarby IF in the Allsvenskan before the 2002 season as assistant coach to Anders Linderoth . After a ninth place in the first year, the runner-up followed behind Djurgårdens IF and then the team placed in the front of the table. He was initially under the late 2006 as the successor to the Danish club Viborg FF changed Linderoth to continue working as an assistant coach Tony Gustavsson , he resigned from this position shortly before the start of the 2007 season . In December 2008 the club brought him back to the club as head of sports for the youth sector. His first year in office ended successfully in the youth field, as on the one hand the renowned youth tournament Sankt Erikscupen was won and on the other hand the youth team won the championship of Juniorallsvenskan . At the same time, however, the Allsvenskan team was in danger of relegation. The club's management then dismissed Gustavsson at the end of August 2009 and installed Åhlund as his successor. However, even under his leadership the success failed and the team around Patrik Gerrbrand , Igor Armaş , Sebastian Castro-Tello , Christian Traoré and Fredrik Söderström ended the series in last place in the table. For the 2010 second division season Hammarby IF signed Michael Borgqvist as the new coach and Åhlund returned to his old post as head of sport. In September 2010, however, he canceled his contract.

In December 2010, Åhlund took over the training with third division Akropolis IF in Division 1 .

Web links

• Thom Åhlund in the database of weltfussball.de

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} svenskafans.com: "Thom Åhlund: Syrianska kommer alltid finnas i mitt hjärta!" (Accessed on October 19, 2010)
2. ↑ ufc.se: "UFC: s historia 1987–1996, de 10 första åren." ( Memento of August 13, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) (accessed October 19, 2010)
3. ↑ hammarbyfotboll.se: "Thom Åhlund slutar sin tjänst som assisterande tränare" ( Memento of the original from March 28, 2007 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 October 19, 2010) 
4. ↑ hammarbyfotboll.se: "Thom Åhlund ny sportchef för ungdomsverksamheten"  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed on October 19, 2010)  
5. ↑ hammarbyfotboll.se: "Thom Åhlund - en stor Hammarbyprofil" ( Memento of the original from September 24, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been 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 October 19, 2010) 
6. ↑ svenskafans.com: "Extra: Åhlund tar över Hammarby" (accessed on October 19, 2010)
7. ↑ hammarbyfotboll.se: "Thom Åhlund fullföljer sin uppsägning" ( Memento of the original from September 24, 2010 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 October 19, 2010) 
8. ↑ fotbolltransfers.com: "Thom Åhlund tar över Akropolis" (accessed on February 1, 2011)