Nils Lennart Roland Nilsson (born 27 November 1963) is a Swedish professional

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 ...

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

and former player. He was most recently the head coach of

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 ...

club

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 ...

. As a player, Nilsson played 116 games for

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 ...

, making him the sixth most capped player in the Sweden national team. He also won the

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

and played in the semi-finals of the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

, the

European Championships A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

, and the

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by top-division European clubs. The competition begins with a round robi ...

during a playing career lasting over two decades. He won his first major honour as a manager in 2010 with Malmö FF when the team won Allsvenskan. On 1 April 2011

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

confirmed Nilsson as the club's new manager to replace

Ståle Solbakken Ståle Solbakken (born 27 February 1968) is a Norwegian professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of the Norway national team. During his playing career, Solbakken was named 1995 Norwegian midfielder of the year, an ...

who left Copenhagen to become manager of

1. FC Köln 1. Fußball-Club Köln 01/07 e. V., better known as simply 1. FC Köln () or FC Cologne in English language, English, is a German professional association football, football club based in Cologne in North Rhine-Westphalia. It was formed in 1948 ...

in the summer of 2011. Nilsson joined Copenhagen on 1 June 2011 but was sacked after six months on 9 January 2012.

Playing career

Born in

Helsingborg Helsingborg (, , ), is a Urban areas in Sweden, city and the seat of Helsingborg Municipality, Scania County, Scania (Skåne), Sweden. It is the second-largest city in Scania (after Malmö) and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, ninth ...

, Nilsson began his playing career, during which he played predominantly as a

right back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

, as a seventeen-year-old with his hometown club

Helsingborgs IF Helsingborgs Idrottsförening, commonly referred to as Helsingborgs IF, Helsingborg or (especially locally) HIF (), is a Swedish professional football club located in Helsingborg. They play in the Swedish second tier, Superettan, following releg ...

. He quickly established himself as a first-team player with ''Di Röe'', earning himself the reputation of being one of the top youngsters in Swedish football. The quality of his performances was such that in 1983 he was signed by

, who at that point were the pre-eminent team in Sweden. Despite the promise that he had shown at Helsingborg, Nilsson spent most of his first two seasons with IFK on the bench. However, he did eventually establish himself in the team, first becoming a regular starter during the 1985 season. It was during the latter end of that season that IFK began their run to the semi-final of the European Cup; IFK knocked out the likes of Fenerbahçe and

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

before eventually falling to

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 ...

on penalties. Nilsson missed one of the penalties in the shootout. On 1 May 1986, shortly after IFK's European Cup exit, Nilsson made his international debut. Sweden's opponents in that game were

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

, the match ended 0–0. During the year that followed he played a key role in IFK's

success, during which the team knocked out, amongst others,

Internazionale Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Since 1 ...

before beating

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scotland, Scottish professional association football, football club based in the city of Dundee. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1923. United are nickname ...

in the final. Besides this, IFK also won the

in 1987. Nilsson left IFK in December 1989, joining

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an off ...

of the English

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was the top division of the Football League in England from 1888 until the end of the 1991–92 season, when its teams broke away to form the Premier League. From 1992 to 2004, the name First Division was g ...

for £375,000. Despite being relegated at the end of his first season with the club, Nilsson decided to stay and helped them gain promotion at their first attempt. During the time he spent at Wednesday, Nilsson became a real favourite amongst the club's fans as his performances proved to be a catalyst for a footballing renaissance at Hillsborough. In the years that Nilsson played for the club, Wednesday won the League Cup in 1991, finished runner-up in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

and the League Cup in 1993, and played in Europe for the first time in thirty years. A number of Wednesday's fans still consider Nilsson to be the best right-back, and perhaps even the best foreigner, to ever play for the club. This was confirmed in 2007 when he came out top in a poll on Vital Football to find the club's greatest ever right-back. While playing for Sheffield Wednesday, Nilsson also took part in two international tournaments for his country. The

1990 World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second ...

proved to be disastrous for Sweden, who were in the same group as

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, and

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

; Sweden lost all three matches 2–1. However, the team bounced back in

Euro 1992 The 1992 UEFA European Football Championship was hosted by Sweden between 10 and 26 June 1992. It was the ninth UEFA European Championship, which is held every four years and supported by UEFA. Denmark won the 1992 championship, having been inv ...

, which they hosted, as they reached the semi-finals. Nilsson played in all the games played by Sweden in both tournaments. In January 1994, Nilsson announced that he was suffering from homesickness and asked to be sold to a Swedish club. His manager,

Trevor Francis Trevor John Francis (19 April 1954 – 24 July 2023) was an English footballer who played as a forward for a number of clubs in England, the United States, Italy, Scotland and Australia. In 1979 he became Britain's first £1 million pla ...

, convinced him to remain with the club until the end of the season in return for being given an unconditional release at that time. After leaving Sheffield Wednesday, Nilsson rejoined Helsingborg. That summer Nilsson also represented his country in the

, he played every second as the team finished, somewhat surprisingly, in third place. Nilsson spent the following three years playing for Helsingborg, during which time the club finished as runner-up in both the Allsvenskan and the

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 ...

. In 1996, he was awarded the

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 ...

, a trophy given each year to the best player from Sweden. At this point, Nilsson had planned to see out the rest of his career with his hometown club. However, in 1997

Ron Atkinson Ronald Frederick Atkinson (born 18 March 1939) is an English former football player and manager. Nicknamed "Big Ron", he was regarded as one of Britain's best-known football pundits in the 1990s and early 2000s. Nicknamed "The Tank" during his ...

, who had signed Nilsson when he was manager at Sheffield Wednesday and was now Director of Football at

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 ...

, made a £200,000 offer to sign him; an offer that Nilsson accepted. Despite being 33, Nilsson was far from being the club's oldest player;

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 ...

and Kevin Richardson were both in their late thirties, whilst

Gordon Strachan Gordon David Strachan ( born 9 February 1957) is a Scottish former football coach and player who is currently Technical Director of Dundee. He played for Dundee, Aberdeen, Manchester United, Leeds United and Coventry City, as well as the Sc ...

was forty. Nilsson spent one further season at Coventry before once again returning to Helsingborg, where he spent the following two seasons. The last international tournament in which Nilsson played was

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 ...

. He started Sweden's opening game against the co-hosts,

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

; however, he was substituted at half-time in the game with a concussion after a defensive error, which allowed

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 ...

to put Belgium ahead, Nilsson played no further part in the tournament. Despite this snub, he played a further four games for Sweden, the last coming on 11 October 2000 against

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

, the result of that game, like his international debut, was 0–0. Under his managing years with

GAIS Gais () is a village and a municipality in the canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden in Switzerland. The area of Gais is . In 1977, the village Gais received the Wakker Prize for the development and preservation of its architectural heritage. The ...

, Nilsson occasionally had to make "comebacks" and play himself due to player injuries.

Managerial career

Coventry City

Coventry City were relegated from the Premier League in May 2001, and following a poor start to their first season in Division One,

resigned from the club. Nilsson was brought in as a player-caretaker manager, despite having no managerial experience, in place of Strachan. Following a number of wins in his caretaker role, Nilsson was given the manager's job on a permanent basis, and the club briefly topped Division One after the turn of the new year. However, Coventry City failed to live up to this early promise and the team were dogged by inconsistency for most of the season. In January 2002 vetern manager Jim Smith was appointed as Nilsson's assistant and in April 2002 Nilsson announced his retirement from playing in order to focus on managing the club. This was not to prove successful, and, with Coventry out of the play-off chase, Nilsson and Smith were sacked in April 2002. Nilsson was manager for 43 league games and achieved a win percentage of 44.13%, a return bettered by only four other Coventry City managers.

GAIS

After leaving Coventry, Nilsson briefly worked as a youth team coach at Helsingborg, before he was appointed

manager on 18 December 2003. The club was promoted to

in 2005 for the first time in six years, after beating

Landskrona BoIS Landskrona Boll och Idrottsällskap (, locally referred to as BoIS) is a Swedish professional football club located in Landskrona, Scania, which currently plays in Superettan, the second league tier of football in Sweden. The club was formed ...

2–1 on aggregate in the promotion/relegation play-off.

Malmö FF

On 10 October 2007,

Malmö FF Malmö Fotbollförening (), commonly known simply as Malmö FF or MFF, is a Swedish professional football club based in Malmö, Scania. They compete in the Allsvenskan, the top division of Swedish football, and play home matches at the Eleda S ...

announced that Nilsson had signed a four-year contract as manager, replacing Sören Åkeby. This proved to be a controversial move, since Malmö are the main rivals of Helsingborg and IFK Göteborg, two of Nilsson's former clubs. He enjoyed little success during his first two seasons at Malmö FF, and his side finished in mid-table positions in both 2008 and 2009. In 2010, however, he finally managed to create a winning team from the squad left by Åkeby, and the team enjoyed top league positions throughout the season finally winning the league. Nilsson managed the club for the last time in a

fixture, which Malmö FF won 3–0 against Halmstad BK at

Örjans Vall Örjans Vall is a association football, football stadium in Halmstad, Sweden, built in 1922. History The stadium was originally named ''Halmstads Idrottsplats'' (eng: Halmstad's Sports Ground), and was inaugurated by Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden, ...

Halmstad Halmstad () is a port, university, industrial and recreational urban areas of Sweden, city at the mouth of the Nissan (river), Nissan river, in the provinces of Sweden, province of Halland on the Sweden, Swedish west coast. Halmstad is the seat ...

Copenhagen

After a long period of rumors it was announced on 1 April 2011, Nilsson would take over as manager in

after

. Nilsson joined the club on 1 June 2011. On 9 January 2012, just six months after his recruitment, despite leading the Danish Superliga at the time, he was sacked and replaced by the sporting director Carsten V. Jensen.

Career statistics

International

: ''Scores and results list Sweden's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Nilsson goal''.

Honours

Player

IFK Göteborg * Swedish Champion:

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

: 1986–87 Sheffield Wednesday *

Football League Cup The English Football League Cup, often referred to as the League Cup and currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in men's domestic football in England. Orga ...

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

Helsingborgs IF *

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

Sweden *

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 ...

third place:

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 ...

Individual *

: 1996 * Swedish Defender of the Year: 1996, 1999 * Årets Ärkeängel: 1988

Manager

Malmö FF * Allsvenskan:

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

Individual * Swedish Manager of the Year: 2010

References

External links

F.C. Copenhagen profile

Malmö FF Profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nilsson, Roland 1963 births Living people Expatriate men's footballers in England Swedish men's footballers Footballers from Skåne County Sweden men's international footballers Sweden men's under-21 international footballers Sweden men's youth international footballers Swedish expatriate men's footballers Olympic footballers for Sweden Footballers at the 1988 Summer Olympics 1990 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 1992 players 1994 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2000 players FIFA Men's Century Club Allsvenskan players Helsingborgs IF players IFK Göteborg players Premier League players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players Coventry City F.C. players GAIS players Swedish football managers Coventry City F.C. managers GAIS managers Malmö FF managers F.C. Copenhagen managers IFK Göteborg managers Expatriate football managers in Denmark Expatriate football managers in England Swedish expatriate football managers Swedish expatriate sportspeople in England Men's association football defenders UEFA Europa League–winning players Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Danish Superliga managers Allsvenskan managers English Football League managers 20th-century Swedish sportsmen