Lars Lagerbäck

Lars Lagerbäck

File:Lars Lagerbäck in Jan 2014.jpg Lars Lagerbäck (2014)
Personal information
Full name	Lars Edvin Lagerbäck
Date of birth	(1948-07-16) 16 July 1948
Place of birth	Katrineholm, Sweden
Team information
Current team	Iceland (manager)
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1960–1969	Alby FF
1970–1974	Gimonäs CK
Managerial career
1977–1982	Kilafors IF
1983–1985	Arbrå BK
1987–1989	Hudiksvalls ABK
1990–1995	Sweden U21
1996–1997	Sweden B
1998–1999	Sweden (assistant)
2000–2009	Sweden
2010	Nigeria
2011–	Iceland
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Lars Edvin "Lasse" Lagerbäck (pronounced [ˈlɑːʂ ˈɭɑːgərˈbɛk]; born 16 July 1948 in Katrineholm, Sweden) is a Swedish football manager and former player, currently managing Iceland.

He is best known as the former manager of the Sweden National Team. He managed the Swedish National Team from 1998 until 2009 leading Sweden in five consecutive championships. He resigned as manager in 2009 after Sweden's failure to qualify for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.

Career

In his youth, Lagerbäck played for Alby FF. When he was 13 years old, he began playing for their P16 team.

After completing his upper secondary school studies at the end of the 1960s, Lagerbäck studied political science and economics at Umeå University in northern Sweden. On the side of his studies, he also played football for Gimonäs CK under the guidance of Calle Lindelöf. He continued to play there until 1974 and worked as a club clerk from 1970. Over the course of the following years, he played twice for the club in the qualifying rounds to division two in the Swedish League without success. Lagerbäck himself played midfielder, but was often an unused substitute.

In 1974, he attended Gymnastik- och Idrottshögskolan (GIH), where he was a classmate of current assistant coach Roland Andersson.

Managing career

Club

In 1977, he was called up to the senior team. It was former teammate Kjell Pettersson that recommended him to Kilafors. He coached the Division IV team until 1982. In 1983, he moved to Arbrå IK until 1985. In 1987, he takes over Hudiksvall ABK but leaves by 1989.

Sweden

In 1990, Lagerbäck took a job with the Swedish Football Association. He began as a coach for the junior levels which included Fredrik Ljungberg. He helped Tommy Svensson and Tord Grip with the Swedish National Team.

In 1996, Lagerbäck took over the Sweden B national team, until 1997. In 1998, Tommy Söderberg chose him to be the assistant coach for the Swedish National Team. In 2000, he was promoted to dual-coach, a responsibility he shared with Söderberg until 2004. Under his guidance, the Swedish National Team qualified for the Euro 2000 but was eliminated in the group stages.

In 2002, he led Sweden to the World Cup where Sweden were drawn in the 'group of death', together with England, Argentina and Nigeria. Sweden surprisingly won the group but subsequently lost against Senegal in the first knockout round. In 2004, Sweden qualified for their third straight championship. In the Euro 2004, Sweden made it to the quarter-finals where they lost to Holland. That same year, Tommy Söderberg left the Swedish National Team to coach the U21 Team.

After the departure of Söderberg, Lagerbäck appointed Roland Andersson as assistant coach. In 2006, Lagerback took Sweden to their fourth consecutive championship, the first time in Swedish history. He led Sweden to the 2006 World Cup, losing against Germany 2–0 in the knockout stage. Under Lagerbäck, Sweden also qualified for UEFA Euro 2008, however they were eliminated in the group stage after losing 2-0 against Russia. The team's early dismissal from the tournament led sport columnists to ask Lagerbäck to be sacked. Despite this, he signed an extension, which kept him until the end of the 2010 FIFA World Cup campaign. After Sweden's unsuccessful qualification campaign, Lagerbäck resigned.

Nigeria

On 26 February 2010, Lagerbäck signed a 5-month (renewable) contract that would see him lead Nigeria in the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. The nomination resulted in allegation that him and his agent, Greg Keenan from Aspire Management, bribed the Nigerian officials. Other candidates for the job confirmed that Nigerian officials asked for bribes during the nomination process. Despite Nigeria's poor performance in the World Cup, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) offered Lagerbäck a contract extension for another two years. He was expected to inform NFF about his decision by July, 2010. Lagerbäck declined the offer. Around this time, Lagerbäck was a candidate for the position of manager of the Welsh national team.

Iceland

On 4 October 2011, KSÍ's chief executive Geir Þorsteinsson reported that talks had begun over the appointment of Lagerbäck as the new manager of the Icelandic national team. The appointment was then confirmed ten days later. Under Lagerbäck, Iceland qualified for the play-off stage of the qualification tournament for the 2014 World Cup, but Croatia were the victors over two legs. Shortly thereafter Lagerbäck signed a new contract, this time as joint manager with his former Iceland assistant Heimir Hallgrímsson, who will then be the sole manager following Euro 2016, with Lagerbäck retiring.

Managerial statistics

Sweden

Role	From	To	Record
			G	W	D	L	Win %	Unbeaten %
Joint Manager	2000	2004	59	26	23	10	44.07	83.05
Sole Manager	2004	2009	72	31	17	24	43.06	66.67
Overall	2000	2009	131	57	40	34	43.51	75.05

Nigeria

Role	From	To	Record
			G	W	D	L	Win %	Unbeaten %
Manager	2010	2010	7	2	3	2	28.57	71.43

Iceland

Role	From	To	Record
			G	W	D	L	Win %	Unbeaten %
Sole Manager	2011	2013	20	8	3	9	40.00	55.00
Joint Manager	2013	-	14	7	3	4	50.00	71.43
Overall	2011	-	34	15	6	13	44.12	61.76

External links

• Lars Lagerback Profile