Lennart Nyman (25 June 1917 – 25 August 1998) was a Swedish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

coach and sports administrator, best known for being the first ever manager of the Sweden national team between 1962 and 1965. He was also the chairman of multi-sport club

Hammarby IF Hammarby Idrottsförening ("Hammarby Sports Club"), commonly known as Hammarby IF or simply Hammarby ( or, especially locally, ), is a Swedish sports club located in Stockholm, with a number of member organizations active in a variety of differ ...

for 25 years, the longest-serving in its history.

Athletic career

Born in Stockholm, growing up at

Södermalm Södermalm, often shortened to just Söder, is the southern district of Stockholm City Centre. Overview The Södermalm district covers the island of the same name (formerly called ''Åsön''), which, however, is not fully separated from th ...

, Nyman started to compete in different sports with local club

in his youth in the 1930s. He played bandy, football and ice hockey at junior and reserve level.

established a handball section in 1939. Nyman was part of their first senior squad, together with other famous athletes such as Holger Nurmela and Georg Skoglund, also the brother of renowned footballer Lennart Skoglund. In the beginning of the 1940s, Nyman got promoted to the senior roster of

's hockey team. Hammarby won several Swedish Championship titles in his three seasons with the team, but Nyman did not play enough games to be awarded an official medal.

Staff career at Hammarby IF

Football

In 1946–47,

's football team finished last in Division 2, and got relegated to

Division 4 ''Division 4'' is an Australian television police drama series broadcast by the Nine Network and created by Crawford Productions airing between 1969 and 1975 for 301 episodes. Synopsis The series was one of the first to follow up on the enor ...

due to a restructuring of the Swedish league system. The next season, Folke Adamsson took over as the head coach of Hammarby, with Lennart Nyman being appointed as the new team manager. The economy had collapsed and the club's entire existence was now threatened.Persson, p. 76. Nyman would, together with Folke Adamsson, lead Hammarby IF from Division 4 back to

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 ...

, the top tier, in just six seasons.Persson, p. 76. The duo is credited with implementing a sense of work ethic and professionalism in the club. In the 1953–1954 season, the second tier was won without a single loss, whilst using only 15 players.Persson, p. 81. Hammarby went on to compete in Allsvenskan for the rest of Nyman's stint as team manager, before leaving the role in 1961 after being recruited by the

Swedish Football Association The Swedish Football Association (, SvFF) is the governing and body of football in Sweden. It organises the football leagues – Allsvenskan for men and for women – and the men's and women's national teams. It is based in Solna and is a ...

Chairman

Nyman was the chairman of Hammarby IF's football section for a total of 32 years. Mainly between 1954 and 1984, later returning for a second stint between 1986 and 1987. The highlight came in

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...

when Hammarby finished second in the Allsvenskan table, going unbeaten the whole season. In the following playoff to decide the Swedish champion, the club went on to beat

Örgryte Örgryte is one of the 21 ''stadsdelsnämndsområden'' (a kind of district often translated as borough) of Gothenburg Municipality, Sweden. It is a largely upper middle class residential area just to the east of the city centre. History The or ...

in the quarter-finals and Elfsborg in the semi-finals. In the finals against

IFK Göteborg Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna Göteborg (officially IFK Göteborg Fotboll), commonly known as IFK Göteborg, IFK (especially locally) or Blåvitt, is a Swedish professional Football team, football club based in Gothenburg. Founded in 1904, it ...

, Hammarby won 2–1 in the first leg away, but lost 1–3 in the home game at

Söderstadion Söderstadion () was a football and bandy stadium in Stockholm, Sweden. It was opened in 1966 and closed in 2013, being replaced by nearby Tele2 Arena. Söderstadion had a capacity of 12,800 depending on usage. A record attendance of 22,000 was ...

to a record crowd, missing out on the gold medal. Simultaneously, Nyman was the chairman of Hammarby IF's main board, that organised all of the 16 sections in the club participating in a variety of different sports, for 25 years between 1965 and 1990. As a sports administrator, Nyman got known for being a tough negotiator who governed with an iron fist, who rewarded athletes that showed loyalty to the club. His ever favourite athlete at Hammarby was ice hockey, bandy and football player Åke Andersson.

Managerial career

Sweden

Nyman was the team manager of the Swedish national B team between 1957 and 1959. From 1908 to 1961, the Swedish Football Association appointed an International Selection Committee which acted as national team managers. After failing to qualify for the 1962 World Cup, Nyman was appointed as the first actual manager of team

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 ...

. During his tenure, Sweden reached the quarter-finals of the 1964 UEFA European Championship. They started their play-off against

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

and won the first game and drew the second leg. In the second round, Sweden beat

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

, 3–2, after a first leg tie. In the quarter-finals, Sweden played against the defending champions, the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. Sweden tied the first game but lost the second. Sweden also failed to qualify for the

1966 World Cup The 1966 FIFA World Cup was the eighth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in England from 11 to 30 July 1966. England defeated West Germany 4–2 in the final to win their first ever ...

, finishing behind winners

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and ahead of

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

in the play-off group. Nyman left his position as Sweden's manager in 1965, being replaced by

Orvar Bergmark Orvar Bergmark (16 November 1930 – 10 May 2004) was a Swedish association football, football defender (association football), defender, Manager (association football), manager and bandy player. He was the second Sweden national manager, and ...

. His favourite national player was the

IFK Norrköping Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna Norrköping, more commonly known as IFK Norrköping or simply Norrköping, is a Swedish professional association football, football club based in Norrköping. The club is affiliated to Östergötlands Fotbollför ...

defender Åke "Bajdoff" Johansson.

Managerial statistics

Personal life

Outside of sports, Nyman started his professional career with the grocery retail group Konsum before being recruited to work as a manager at their competitor ICA. Nyman was later employed by the newspaper Metro. He was politically active in the

Moderate Party The Moderate Party ( , , M), commonly referred to as the Moderates ( ), is a Liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative* * * * * List of political parties in Sweden, political party in Sweden. The party generally supports tax cuts, the free ma ...

References

Works cited

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nyman, Lennart 1917 births 1998 deaths Sportspeople from Stockholm Swedish football managers Hammarby IF sportspeople Hammarby Fotboll directors and chairmen Hammarby Fotboll non-playing staff Sweden men's national football team managers Moderate Party politicians Swedish ice hockey players Swedish male handball players 20th-century Swedish sportsmen