Torbjörn Nilsson

Torbjörn Nilsson

Personal information
Full name	Torbjörn Anders Nilsson
Date of birth	(1954-07-09) 9 July 1954
Place of birth	Västerås, Sweden
Position(s)	Striker
Youth career
1966–1970	Jonsereds IF
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1971–1974	Jonsereds IF	80	(50)
1975–1976	IFK Göteborg	49	(34)
1976–1977	PSV Eindhoven	11	(2)
1977–1982	IFK Göteborg	114	(62)
1982–1984	1. FC Kaiserslautern	65	(22)
1984–1986	IFK Göteborg	49	(31)
1986–1990	Jonsereds IF	40	(14)
Total		408	(215)
International career
1976–1985	Sweden	28	(9)
Managerial career
1988–1990	Jonsereds IF
1991–1993	Örgryte IS
1994–1995	IK Oddevold
1997–1999	Västra Frölunda IF
2001	BK Häcken
2002–2004	Sweden U-21
2008–2013	Kopparbergs/Göteborg FC
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Torbjörn Anders Nilsson (born in Västerås, 9 July 1954) is a Swedish former football striker and coach. He is considered to be one of the best Swedish footballers of all time, having won the Swedish championship twice and the UEFA Cup once with IFK Göteborg, where he spent most of his career. He also had a less successful spell in the Netherlands with PSV Eindhoven and a better one in Germany with 1. FC Kaiserslautern. Nilsson has had various levels of success as a manager.

Playing career

Nilsson was born in Västerås on 9 July 1954, and raised in Hallstahammar. He and his family (father Göte, mother Daisy, the brothers Rolf and Bosse and sister Rose-Marie) moved to Partille, outside Gothenburg, before he started school, and he began his footballing career in Jonsereds IF at the age of seven or eight. Nilsson joined IFK Göteborg for the 1975 season, and helped the club climb back to the top tier of Swedish football, Allsvenskan, by winning Division 2 in 1976. He tried his luck abroad with PSV Eindhoven, but returned to IFK after only one season. He then helped the team to a treble in 1982, the Swedish championship (IFK won both Allsvenskan and the title-deciding play-off), Svenska Cupen, and the UEFA Cup. He was awarded Guldbollen, the Swedish footballer of the year award, for his heroics.

Nilsson moved to Kaiserslautern in Germany, where he played two seasons, and was about to move to Benfica when his former Göteborg manager Sven-Göran Eriksson left that club. Instead, Nilsson moved home to Gothenburg and his former club. When he ended his playing career after three seasons due to knee problems, Nilsson had led the club to another Swedish Championship, and nearly a European Cup final in 1986. IFK was eliminated by FC Barcelona after having won the home leg 3–0. They lost the away match by the same score. Nilsson still regrets not taking a penalty in the ensuing penalty shootout, which forced two young and inexperienced players — Roland Nilsson and Per Edmund Mordt — to the spot. Both missed their penalties.

It is a mystery to a lot of Swedes how Nilsson with all his talent never really made it big when playing for PSV and Kaiserslautern, but according to himself he was too shy to make it in those rougher top club environments.

Despite Nilsson's so-so stays abroad, and his short career in the Swedish national team — for whom he played only 28 matches and scored nine goals — he is considered to be one of the greatest Swedish footballers of all time. He declined to play for the national team for four years in the early 1980s when he was at his prime, the most important reason for this was a conflict between him and the coach Lars 'Laban' Arnesson, who mixtured a lot with different formations, which did not suit the playing style that Nilsson liked. He instead concentrated on his club team, but made a comeback in the national team in 1984, scoring a goal in the 3–1 win against Portugal in the 1986 World Cup qualification. Nilsson was elected to the Swedish football Hall of Fame in 2003.

Coaching career

After ending his professional playing career, Torbjörn Nilsson acted as playing manager for his youth club Jonsereds IF, before becoming manager of Örgryte IS, then in Division 1, in 1991. The club was relegated to Division 2, but managed to advance two divisions into Allsvenskan the next year, thanks to the Swedish league system at the time. The luck did not last, however, and Örgryte was relegated from the highest league in 1993. Nilsson moved to IK Oddevold from Uddevalla, and brought the club to Allsvenskan for the first time in its history in 1995. He left his job after the season and did not take a new one for a year.

He then took the job as manager of Västra Frölunda IF in 1997, and for the third time coached a team to a promotion to Allsvenskan. He stayed as manager for Västra Frölunda for two seasons and led the club to a fifth and seventh place, the two best seasonal results the club has enjoyed. He took another one-year break before starting his fourth spell as manager for a Gothenburg club, BK Häcken, in 2001. He only stayed for one year, not being able to keep the club in the highest league. Instead he became the manager of the Sweden under-21 team, leading the team through a successful qualification to the 2004 UEFA U-21 Championship, where the team narrowly lost the semi-final and third place matches after penalty shootouts and extra time, respectively. He did not coach any team between 2004 and 2008, but then resumed his managerial career in Gothenburg's best women's team, Kopparbergs/Göteborg FC.

Honours

Club

IFK Göteborg

• Swedish Champion: 1982, 1984
• Winner of Svenska Cupen: 1979, 1982
• Winner of the UEFA Cup: 1981–82
• Semi-finalist in the European Cup: 1985–86

Individual

• Winner of Guldbollen: 1982
• Top scorer in Allsvenskan: 1981
• Top scorer in the European Cup: 1984–85 (7 goals), 1985–86 (6 goals)
• Top scorer in the UEFA Cup: 1981–82 (9 goals)

Career table

Club	Season	Dom. league		Dom. cup		Int. cup		Other		Total
		App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals
Jonsereds IF	−1970	Youth football
Total	–1970	Youth football
Jonsereds IF	1971–74	?	?	?	?	0	0	?	?	?	?
Total	1971–74	?	?	?	?	0	0	?	?	?	?
IFK Göteborg	1975	25	14	2	0	0	0	15	11	42	26
	1976	24	20	1	3	0	0	23	25	48	48
Total	1975–76	49	34	3	3	0	0	38	36	90	74
PSV Eindhoven	1976–77	?	?	?	?	0	0	?	?	?	?
Total	1976–77	?	?	?	?	0	0	?	?	?	?
IFK Göteborg	1977	6	3	2	1	0	0	4	1	12	5
	1978	25	8	5	7	0	0	15	16	45	31
	1979	25	11	5	6	4	0	15	10	49	27
	1980	25	14	4	1	4	4	18	14	51	33
	1981	26	20	3	4	6	7	19	18	54	49
	1982	7	6	2	3	6	2	14	17	29	28
Total	1977–82	114	62	21	22	20	13	85	76	240	173
1. FC Kaiserslautern	1982–83	33	9	?	?	8	4	?	?	?	?
	1983–84	32	13	?	?	2	2	?	?	?	?
Total	1982–84	65	22	12	7	10	6	?	?	≥87	≥35
IFK Göteborg	1984	17	14	2	2	4	6	9	6	32	28
	1985	22	8	3	2	6	6	17	11	48	27
	1986	10	9	3	1	4	2	17	15	34	27
Total	1984–86	49	31	8	5	14	14	43	32	114	82
IFK Göteborg totals	1975–86	212	127	32	30	34	27	166	144	444	329
Jonsereds IF	1988–90	?	?	?	?	0	0	?	?	?	?
Jonsereds IF totals	1971–90	?	?	?	?	0	0	?	?	?	?
Career totals	1971–86	≥277	≥149	≥44	≥37	44	33	≥166	≥144	≥531	≥364