William Lansdowne (born 28 April 1959) is an English 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 striker. Active in both England and Sweden, Lansdowne scored 45 goals in 169 career league games. On 24 September 2018 he was inducted into the

Kalmar FF Kalmar Fotbollförening, more commonly known as Kalmar FF, is a Swedish professional football club based in Kalmar, Sweden. The club is affiliated to Smålands Fotbollförbund and play their home games at Guldfågeln Arena. Formed on 15 June 1 ...

Wall of Fame.

Career

Born in Epping,

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

, Lansdowne began his career with

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...

, making his professional debut for the club on 28 April 1979. Lansdowne later played for

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Charlton, south-east London, England. The team compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Their home ground is ...

and Gillingham, and made a total of 47 appearances in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from ...

for all three clubs. Lansdowne later spent six seasons with Swedish club

and was joint-top scorer in the

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 ...

in 1985 with 10 goals. He played in the

1987 Svenska Cupen Final The 1987 Svenska Cupen final took place on 29 June 1987 at Råsunda in Solna. The match was contested by the back then second tier Div II teams Kalmar FF and GAIS. GAIS played their first final since 1942 and their second final in total, Kalmar p ...

, where Kalmar FF won. In September 2018, he was commemorated with a plaque at the

Guldfågeln Arena Kalmar Arena, currently known as Guldfågeln Arena for sponsorship reasons, is a association football, football stadium in Kalmar, Sweden and the home of Allsvenskan club Kalmar FF. The stadium is located in the area known as Hansa City, in the N ...

. He later played for Leytonstone & Ilford,

Dagenham Dagenham () is a town in East London, England, within the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. Dagenham is centred east of Charing Cross. It was historically a rural parish in the Becontree Hundred of Essex, stretching from Hainault Fo ...

and

Anderstorp Anderstorp () is a locality situated in Gislaved Municipality, Jönköping County, Sweden with 4,965 inhabitants in 2010. Scandinavian Raceway, which hosted the Swedish Grand Prix Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of world ...

. After his retirement, he remained in Sweden and became a football commentator for

TV4 TV4 or TV 4 may refer to: *TV4 (Polish TV channel), a private Polish television station *TV4 (Swedish TV channel), a Swedish television network **TV4 AB, owners of the Swedish television station *SABC TV4, a channel operated by the South African st ...

. He later commentated on

greyhound racing Greyhound racing is an organized, competitive sport in which greyhounds are raced around an oval track. The sport originates from Hare coursing, coursing. Track racing uses an artificial lure (usually a form of windsock) that travels ahead of th ...

for

TV3 Channel 3 or TV 3 may refer to: Television *Canal 3 (Burkina Faso), a commercial television channel in Burkina Faso * Canal 3 Niger, a commercial television channel in Niger * Canal 3 (Guatemala), a commercial television channel in Guatemala * Can ...

Personal life

Lansdowne's father

Bill Bill(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States) * Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature * Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer * Bill, a bird or animal's beak Pl ...

was also a professional footballer who played for West Ham United. His son, Billy Jr, played for

Nybro IF Nybro Idrottsförening (Nybro Athletic Association) is a Swedish association football club located in Nybro. Background Nybro IF was founded in 1906 and has played in Sweden's second-highest division in football and men's top division in men's i ...

IFK Berga IFK Berga is a Swedish football amateur club located in Kalmar. Background Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna Berga are located in the district of Berga in Kalmar and were founded in 1933. The clubhouse is located next to the Bergaviks IP (sports grou ...

and Lindsdals IF, in the lower levels of Swedish football.

Honours

Kalmar FF * 1987 Svenska Cupen Individual *

Allsvenskan top scorer The following is a list of top scorers in Allsvenskan, the highest Swedish division of football."Sweden - List of ...

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...

(shared with Peter Karlsson and

Sören Börjesson Sören Börjesson (14 March 1956 – 26 September 2024) was a Swedish association football, football manager and player. He made five appearances for Sweden men's national football team, Sweden, 182 Allsvenskan appearances for Örgryte IS and 22 ...

)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lansdowne, Billy 1959 births Living people Footballers from Epping English men's footballers English expatriate men's footballers Men's association football forwards West Ham United F.C. players Charlton Athletic F.C. players Gillingham F.C. players English Football League players Kalmar FF players Redbridge Forest F.C. players Dagenham F.C. players Anderstorps IF players Allsvenskan players Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden English expatriate sportspeople in Sweden