Magnus Carl Hedman (; born 19 March 1973) is a Swedish former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

. Beginning his career with AIK in 1990, he went on play in the English

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the Scottish football league system, top-level league competition for professional Association football, football clubs in Scotland. The league was founded in 1998, when it broke away from the Scottish Foo ...

, and Italian

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

before retiring in 2005. He played 58 matches for the Sweden national team, and represented his country at the

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

and

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

s, as well as

UEFA Euro 2000 The 2000 UEFA European Football Championship, also known as Euro 2000, was the 11th UEFA European Championship, a football tournament held every four years and organised by UEFA, the sport's governing body in Europe. The finals tournament was ...

and

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

. He was awarded

Guldbollen Guldbollen (''Golden Ball'') is a Swedish Association football, football award given by ''Aftonbladet'' and the Swedish Football Association to the best male Swedish footballer each year. History The award was created by Bengt Liljedahl and betw ...

in 2000 as Sweden's best footballer of the year.

Club career

Early career

Hedman was born in

Botkyrka Botkyrka Municipality ( ) is a municipality in Stockholm County in east central Sweden, not far from the capital Stockholm. Its seat is located in the town of Tumba. In 1971 ''Grödinge'' was merged with Botkyrka and in 1974 ''Salem'' was added ...

, and began his footballing career with Vårby Gårds IF and IFK Stockholm. He signed with AIK in 1987 and made his

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; ), also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan (, ) is a professional association football league in Sweden and the highest level of the Swedish football league system. Founded in 1924, it operates on a system of promotion and relegatio ...

debut for the club during the

1990 Allsvenskan Allsvenskan 1990, part of the 1990 Swedish football season, was the 66th Allsvenskan season played. IFK Göteborg won the league ahead of runners-up IFK Norrköping, while IK Brage, Örgryte IS and Hammarby IF were relegated. Overview The league ...

season at only 17 years of age. He won the 1992 Allsvenskan championship with AIK and eventually moved abroad to play for English club

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Coventry, West Midlands. The club plays in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club is nicknamed The Sky Blues after the sky blue colou ...

in July 1997.

Coventry City

Aged 24 on 13 December 1997, Hedman debuted in a 4-0 win over

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

and only lost his place again in February due to injury.

Steve Ogrizovic Steven Ogrizovic (born 12 September 1957) is an English football coach, former professional footballer and cricketer. As a player, he was a goalkeeper from 1977 until 2000, the last 16 years of which were at Coventry City. Nicknamed "Oggy", he ...

however was on top form on his return and kept the number 1 shirt almost to the end of the season, Hedman returned for the final three league matches. Hedman made 17 appearances in his first

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

at Coventry City. Hedman began the 1998-99 campaign as number 1 keeper. Now 41, Ogrizovic was restricted to just two games and Hedman made 42 appearances in all competitions. Hedman remained number 1 in Ogrizovic's final campaign during 1999-2000. The next season saw youngster

Chris Kirkland Christopher Edmund Kirkland (born 2 May 1981) is an English Association football, football coach (association football), coach and former professional Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper who is the head goalkeeping coach at Colne F.C., ...

take the shirt from Hedman, but the Sky Blues were relegated from the Premier League during that campaign. Hedman regained his place following Kirkland's transfer to

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

after a single game of the 2001–02 season. Hedman's Coventry career came to an acrimonious conclusion towards the end of that season, when he was approached on the pitch during an away match against Preston North End on 6 April 2002 by a 'fan' who was questioning his commitment to the club.

Celtic, loan at Ancona, and retirement

In the summer 2002 Hedman moved to

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

in the

. Hedman made 36 appearances for Celtic in three years, but due to injuries he failed to make a major impact on the number 1 spot, where

Rab Douglas Robert James Douglas (born 24 April 1972), known professionally as Rab Douglas is a Scottish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He played for several clubs, including Livingston, Dundee, Celtic, Leicester City, Forfar ...

and later David Marshall were favoured by manager

Martin O'Neill Martin Hugh Michael O'Neill, (born 1 March 1952) is a Northern Irish professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Association football, player who played as a midfielder. After a brief early career in the Irish Leag ...

. In January 2004, he had a loan spell at Italian team

Ancona Ancona (, also ; ) is a city and a seaport in the Marche region of central Italy, with a population of around 101,997 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona, homonymous province and of the region. The city is located northeast of Ro ...

. Hedman only played in three games, and it was a time in which he later claimed to have witnessed bribery on part of his Ancona teammates. He returned to Celtic, and played against

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

and

A.C. Milan (), commonly referred to as Milan or AC Milan () mainly outside of Italy, is an Italian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Founded in 1899, the club competes in the Serie A, the top tie ...

in the Champions League group stage, before being released by the club in July 2005. He retired from professional football a month later.

Return to England

On 9 November 2006, it was announced that Hedman would join reigning Premier League champions Chelsea on a week's trial, due to Chelsea's current lack of fully fit goalkeepers except for

Henrique Hilário Henrique () may refer to: *Henry, Count of Portugal (1066–1112) * Henry I, King of Portugal (1512–1580) *Henry the Navigator (1394–1460), a royal prince and important figure in the early days of the Portuguese Empire People * Carlos Henri ...

and youth team keeper Yves Ma-Kalambay. The move was eventually completed on 14 November 2006, with Hedman taking the number 22 shirt previously worn by

Eiður Guðjohnsen Eiður Smári Guðjohnsen (transliterated as Eidur Smari Gudjohnsen; born 15 September 1978) is an Icelandic professional football coach and former player who played as a forward. Eiður saw his greatest success in England and Spain with Chels ...

. At the end of the season, Hedman was released from his contract, having made no official appearances for the club.

Frej

He was the goalkeeping coach for then third-tier club Frej. On 21 June 2013, he made a one-match comeback and played 90 minutes in Frej's 3–1 victory against

Selånger Selånger () is a small village in Sundsvall Municipality, Sweden. The village has grown up around Selånger Church. Selångersån runs through the village. Selånger is known for its sports club Selånger SK with the department clubs Selånger S ...

International career

Hedman was chosen as a backup for first-choice keeper

Thomas Ravelli Thomas Ravelli (; born 13 August 1959) is a Swedish former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. His 21-year professional career was almost exclusively associated with Öster ...

in the

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

squad at the

1994 World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States w ...

alongside Lasse Eriksson. He debuted for the Sweden national team in February 1997, and was chosen for the Sweden squad at the

Euro 2000 The 2000 UEFA European Football Championship, also known as Euro 2000, was the 11th UEFA European Championship, a football tournament held every four years and organised by UEFA, the sport's governing body in Europe. The finals tournament was ...

where he played all Sweden's matches and conceded goals from

Bart Goor Bart Goor (; born 9 April 1973) is a Belgian football manager and former professional international footballer who played as a left winger. Club career Geel Goor began his professional career representing K.F.C. Verbroedering Geel in 1991 havi ...

and Emile Mpenza against Belgium and from

Luigi Di Biagio Luigi Di Biagio (; born 3 June 1971) is an Italian professional football manager and former player who is currently managing Saudi Arabia U23. A former midfielder, Di Biagio last played for Ascoli in 2007, and previously also played for seve ...

and

Alessandro Del Piero Alessandro Del Piero (; born 9 November 1974) is an Italian former professional footballer who mainly played as a second striker, although he was capable of playing in several offensive positions. Since 2015, he has worked as a pundit for ...

against Italy (both lost 2–1). The other match, against Turkey, was 0–0 draw. He won the 2000 ''

'' award. He also played full-time for Sweden at the

2002 World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea/Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

. He was chosen to represent Sweden at the

Euro 2004 The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football competition contested by the men's national teams of UEFA member associations. Th ...

, where he served as a back-up for keeper

Andreas Isaksson Jan Andreas Isaksson (; born 3 October 1981) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Isaksson began his career at local Trelleborgs FF, before spending two years at Juventus. He would later return to Sweden, wher ...

Personal life

He is divorced from Magdalena Graaf, a Swedish author, former model and pop singer. The couple have two sons together, including singer

Lancelot Lancelot du Lac (French for Lancelot of the Lake), alternatively written as Launcelot and other variants, is a popular character in the Matter of Britain, Arthurian legend's chivalric romance tradition. He is typically depicted as King Arthu ...

Career statistics

International

Honours

AIK *

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

Svenska Cupen Svenska cupen (, ), also known as the Swedish Cup in English, is a knockout cup competition in Swedish football and the main Swedish football cup. ''Svenska cupen'' usually refers to the men's tournament, although a women's tournament is also ...

: 1995–96, 1996–97 Celtic *

: 2003–04 *

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,2003–04, 2004–05 Sweden *

third place:

Individual *

Stor Grabb STOR may refer to: * ''Short Term Operating Reserve'', see National Grid Reserve Service * STØR, American furniture chain * STOR2RRD, an open-source software tool See also *JSTOR, digital library *Stor (born 1987), Swedish rapper *Stör, a rive ...

: 1999 *

: 2000

Notes

External links

Swedish national football team 2004 profile
Dead link. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hedman, Magnus 1973 births Living people Doping cases in association football Swedish sportspeople in doping cases People from Huddinge Municipality Men's association football goalkeepers Swedish men's footballers Sweden men's international footballers Sweden men's youth international footballers Sweden men's under-21 international footballers Swedish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Scotland Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Italy Swedish expatriate sportspeople in England IFK Stockholm players AIK Fotboll players Coventry City F.C. players Celtic F.C. players AC Ancona players Chelsea F.C. players Premier League players English Football League players Scottish Premier League players Serie A players Allsvenskan players 1994 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2000 players 2002 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2004 players Footballers from Stockholm County Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Scotland