Thomas Ravelli (; born 13 August 1959) 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 ...

. His 21-year professional career was almost exclusively associated with Öster and

Göteborg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gubernatorial seat of Västra Götaland County, ...

, for whom he appeared in a combined 416

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 ...

games. The most-

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 ...

player for the Sweden national team for several years, Ravelli represented the nation at the

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

and

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 ...

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, and

UEFA 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 ...

Club career

Ravelli was born in

Vimmerby Vimmerby () is a city and the seat of Vimmerby Municipality, Kalmar County, Sweden with 10,934 inhabitants in 2010. Overview Stångån is a small river running through the city. Vimmerby had its charter as early as the fourteenth century. The ...

where he lived his first five years of life. After a shorter stint in

Åtvidaberg Åtvidaberg is a locality and the seat of Åtvidaberg Municipality, Östergötland County, Sweden with 6,859 inhabitants in 2010. History Copper was mined in the area from the 14th century, and the name "Åtvidaberg" was originally the name o ...

the family settled in

Växjö Växjö () is a city and the seat of Växjö Municipality, Kronoberg County, Sweden. It had 71,282 inhabitants (2020) out of a Municipalities of Sweden, municipal population of 97,349 (2024). It is the administrative, cultural, and industrial ce ...

. At the club level he played for

Östers IF Östers Idrottsförening, commonly known as Östers IF or simply Öster, is a Swedish sports club located in Växjö, specializing in Association football, football. For the 2025 Allsvenskan, 2025 season the club is back in the top tier, Allsve ...

and

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 ...

, winning three

championships during his ten-year tenure with the former team before signing for the latter in 1989, at the age of 29. With Göteborg, Ravelli conquered a further six leagues and his only Swedish Cup. In 1998, already 39, he joined the

Tampa Bay Mutiny The Tampa Bay Mutiny were an American professional soccer team based in Tampa, Florida. The club competed in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The Mutiny were a charter member of MLS, playing from 1996 to 2001. Th ...

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

, closing out his career the following year with his first club; in total, he played in nearly 500 official matches as a professional.

International career

Ravelli's international career spanned almost two decades, starting in 1981. He played in the

1990 FIFA 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 ...

, and 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 ...

, with

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 ...

finishing third in the latter tournament, and appeared in a total of 143 games. The 1994 World Cup semi-final against

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 ...

was Ravelli's 116th game for Sweden, overtaking

Björn Nordqvist Björn Axel Göte Nordqvist (born 6 October 1942) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a defender. A full international between 1963 and 1978, he won 115 caps for the Sweden national team and represented his country at th ...

's appearances record. He is well known for saving two penalties during the

shootout A shootout, also called a firefight, gunfight, or gun battle, is a confrontation in which parties armed with firearms exchange gunfire. The term can be used to describe any such fight, though it is typically used in a non-military context or to ...

against

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

in 1994 World Cup's quarter-final clash, including one in the "

sudden death Sudden Death or Sudden death may refer to: Medical * Cardiac arrest, also known as sudden cardiac death, natural death from cardiac causes * Sudden cardiac death of athletes * Sudden infant death syndrome * Sudden unexpected death in epilepsy *Su ...

" by

Miodrag Belodedici Miodrag Belodedici (; ; born 20 May 1964) is a Romanian former professional association football, footballer who played as a sweeper (association football), sweeper. Nicknamed ''The Deer'' due to his elegant Tackle (football move), tackles, he ...

(5–4 win). This feat led to him finishing second in the year's race for ''Goalkeeper of the Year'', behind Belgian

Michel Preud'Homme Michel Georges Jean Ghislain Preud'homme (born 24 January 1959) is a Belgian retired association football, footballer and Manager (association football), manager who played as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. Currently, he is vic ...

,IFFHS' World's Best Goalkeeper of the Year 1994
at RSSSF and he was also named by

France Football ''France Football'' is a French monthly magazine containing football news from all over the world. It is considered to be one of the most reputable sports publications in Europe, mostly because of its photographic reports, in-depth and exclus ...

as the seventh best player in Europe.

Style of play

Extroverted, experienced and highly competitive with a tall and slender frame, known for his leadership and vocal presence in goal in spite of his eccentric and temperamental personality, Ravelli was a traditional, consistent and efficient goalkeeper with solid all-round fundamentals, who was regarded in particular for his positional sense and ability to read the game and organise his defence; considered to be a world-class player in his position in his prime, as well as one of Sweden's greatest goalkeepers ever, he also possessed good elevation and shot-stopping abilities, which enabled him to produce acrobatic saves without having to resort to histrionics, and was known for his command of his area and speed when rushing off his line, as well as his ability to close down his opponents and get over the ball quickly. He also stood out for his longevity throughout his career; however, he also came into criticism at times from his managers over his poor work-rate in training. Although Ravelli was not known to be a penalty-saving specialist, Ravelli drew attention to himself in the media when he stopped two penalties in Sweden's quarter-final penalty shoot-out victory over Romania at the 1994 World Cup. Ravelli was also known for his temperament among teammates, and he was also known to be a prankster, at one point cutting holes into

Martin Dahlin Dan Martin Nataniel Dahlin (; born 16 April 1968) is a Swedish former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Striker (association football), striker. In his prime, he was considered one of the world's best strikers. Starti ...

's underwear.

Personal life

Ravelli's twin brother,

Andreas Andreas () is a name derived from the Greek noun ἀνήρ ''anēr'', with genitive ἀνδρός ''andros'', which means "man". See the article on Andrew for more information. The Scandinavian name is earliest attested as antreos in a runeston ...

, is also a former footballer. Their father, Dr. Peter Ravelli, was an Austrian

immigrant Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as permanent residents. Commuters, tourists, and other short- ...

of Italian descent who moved to Sweden in 1952, and the siblings played alongside each other at Öster and the national team. Ravelli participated as a celebrity dancer in

Let's Dance 2019 Let's Dance 2019 was the fourteenth season of the Swedish celebrity dancing show Let's Dance. The season premiered on 22 March 2019, and was broadcast on TV4. Presenters were Tilde de Paula Eby and David Hellenius. Contestants Scoring ...

, broadcast on TV4.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Östers IF *

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd ...

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union, grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning Sys ...

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 6 – A funeral service is held in West Germany for Nazi Grand Admiral ...

IFK Göteborg *

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 ...

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

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 ...

Sweden *

bronze:

Individual *

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 ...

: 1981 * Swedish Goalkeeper of the Year: 1995, 1997 *

IFFHS World's Best Goalkeeper The IFFHS World's Best Goalkeeper is a association football, football award given annually since 1987 to the best Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper of the year as voted by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics ...

: Silver Ball 1994, Bronze Ball 1995 *

MLS All-Star The Major League Soccer All-Star Game is an annual Association football, soccer game held by Major League Soccer featuring selected players from the league against an international club or selected players from another league. MLS initially ado ...

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

* Årets Ärkeängel: 1991

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ravelli, Thomas 1959 births Living people Swedish twins Swedish people of Austrian descent Swedish people of Italian descent Swedish men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Allsvenskan players Östers IF players IFK Göteborg players Major League Soccer players Tampa Bay Mutiny players Major League Soccer All-Stars Sweden men's international footballers 1990 FIFA World Cup players 1994 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 1992 players Sweden men's under-21 international footballers Sweden men's youth international footballers Swedish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Swedish expatriate sportspeople in the United States FIFA Men's Century Club People from Växjö Municipality Footballers from Kalmar County 20th-century Swedish sportsmen