Marika Susan Domanski-Lyfors (born 17 May 1960), Marika Susan Domanski, is 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 former player. She was head coach of the Sweden women's national team from September 1996 until June 2005 and also coached the China women's national team during 2007. She is nicknamed Mackan.

Playing career

As a Jitex BK player, Domanski-Lyfors won two League Championships (1981 and 1984) and three Swedish Cups (1981, 1982 and 1984). All of Jitex's regular players except left-back Domanski-Lyfors were

capped In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the e ...

at international level, because national team coach Ulf Lyfors did not rate her as a player. Marika disputed Ulf's judgement, but forgave him to the extent that the two were later married and had son Joakim.

Managerial career

Domanski-Lyfors was manager of Tyresö FF from 1989 to 1993. Her own nine-year spell in charge of the senior Sweden women's national team was considered a success. During her first international game as Swedish head coach, Sweden won against

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, 1–0, in

Torino Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

on 9 October 1996. The team were runners-up in

UEFA Women's Euro 2001 The 2001 UEFA Women's Championship was the eighth UEFA Women's Championship, a competition for the women's national football teams and member associations of UEFA. It took place in Germany between 23 June and 7 July 2001. It was won by Germany f ...

and the

2003 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup was the fourth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial championship of women's association football, women's national soccer teams organized by FIFA. It was held in the United States from September ...

, beaten by

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

in the final of both competitions. After returning to a role with the Sweden women's national under-21 team, Domanski-Lyfors accepted an offer to become head coach of the China women's national team in March 2007. She oversaw an improvement in the team's results and guided the hosts to the quarter finals of the

2007 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup, the fifth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, was an international football competition for women held in China from 10 to 30 September 2007. Originally, China was to host the 2003 edition, but the outbreak o ...

. At the tournament, the Chinese hosts engaged in surveillance and intimidation of first round opponents

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

. Domanski-Lyfors and her assistant

Pia Sundhage Pia Mariane Sundhage (, born 13 February 1960) is a Swedish football manager and former professional player. Currently, she is coaching Switzerland. As a player, Sundhage played most of her career as a forward and retired as the top scorer fo ...

were unaware of the incidents and Danish coach Kenneth Heiner-Møller absolved them of any blame, although he refused to shake hands after the match. The Chinese wanted Domanski-Lyfors to stay on for the

2008 Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fr ...

, but she decided against extending her contract. In November 2007 she was appointed a technical director of 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 ...

(SvFF).

In popular culture

Marika Domanski-Lyfors can be seen in the 2013

Sveriges Television Sveriges Television AB ("Sweden's Television aktiebolag, Stock Company"), shortened to SVT (), is the Sweden, Swedish national public broadcasting, public television broadcaster, funded by a public service tax on personal income set by the Riksd ...

documentary television series '' The Other Sport''.

Personal life

Domanski-Lyfors was married to Ulf Lyfors until his death in February 2022.

References

External links

Profile
at

1960 births Living people Swedish women's footballers 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup managers 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup managers 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup managers Jitex BK players Örebro University alumni China women's national football team managers Sweden women's national football team managers Damallsvenskan players GAIS players Swedish women's football managers Tyresö FF managers Swedish expatriate football managers Swedish expatriate sportspeople in China Expatriate football managers in China Women's association football defenders Female association football managers Footballers from Gothenburg 20th-century Swedish sportswomen {{Sweden-women-footy-bio-stub