Axel "Acke" Nilsson (12 November 1904 – 22 April 1978) was a Swedish football,

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

and bandy player, best known for representing Hammarby IF and

AIK AIK Fotboll (), more commonly known simply as AIK (), an abbreviation for Allmänna Idrottsklubben (meaning ''the public'' or ''general sports club''), is a Swedish football club competing in Allsvenskan, the top flight of Swedish football. The ...

in all three sports. A full international between 1930 and 1937, he won eight

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

for the Sweden national football team. He also competed for the Sweden national ice hockey team at the

1936 Winter Olympics The 1936 Winter Olympics, officially known as the IV Olympic Winter Games (german: IV. Olympische Winterspiele) and commonly known as Garmisch-Partenkirchen 1936 ( bar, Garmasch-Partakurch 1936), were a winter multi-sport event held from 6 to 16 ...

Athletic career

Football

Born in Stockholm, Nilsson made his debut with Hammarby IF in 1925. Competing in Division 2, the second tier, Nilsson almost led the club to a promotion in his six seasons with the club. In total, Nilsson played 93 games and scored 46 goals for Hammarby IF, leading the team's offensive forces together with

Sture Gillström Sture "Stöttan" Gillström (3 December 1908 – 28 January 1978) was a Swedish football, ice hockey and bandy player, known for representing Hammarby IF in all three sports. Early life Sture Gillström grew up in a working-class home in a southe ...

, Sigfrid Öberg and Åke Hallberg. On 22 May 1931, Nilsson was selected into a mixed team of Stockholm-based players, together with six other teammates from Hammarby IF, to face Arsenal, in an exhibition game that the British club won 5–1. Playing as a winger, Nilsson got known his strong left foot, pace, technique, finesse and dribbling skills. He also possessed a powerful shot with fine scoring efficiency. In 1932, he moved to

rivals A rivalry is the state of two people or groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each participant ...

in Allsvenskan, the domestic top division. He soon established himself as a frequent starter for his new club, forming a fruitful partnership with forward

Per Kaufeldt Per Ludvig Gösta Kaufeldt (1 August 1902 – 21 March 1956) was a Swedish football and bandy player. He won a bronze medal at the 1924 Summer Olympics. Kaufeldt is the all-time top scorer of AIK, with 122 goals in 170 matches; he won the natio ...

. Initially, AIK struggled to compete for the Swedish Championship title, but finished 2nd in the table for two seasons in a row before winning the league in 1936–37. He was one of the key offensive players at AIK during this period, together with

Olle Zetherlund Olof "Olle" Zetherlund (24 August 1911 — 2 October 1974) was a Swedish footballer. He made one appearance for Sweden national football team. Zetherlund became Allsvenskan top scorer in 1937 with AIK AIK Fotboll (), more commonly known simp ...

, Gustaf Josefsson and Erik Persson. On 18 April 1937, Nilsson scored the first ever goal at Råsunda, Sweden's new national stadium, in a 4–0 win against

Malmö FF Malmö Fotbollförening, commonly known as Malmö FF, Malmö, or MFF, is a professional football club and the most successful football club in Sweden in terms of trophies won. Formed in 1910 and affiliated with the Scania Football Association ...

. He played a few more seasons with the club, but left AIK in 1941. Throughout his career, Nilsson won eight caps for Sweden and scored seven goals, making his debut in 1930, while still playing with Hammarby IF in the second tier. Most notably, Nilsson scored a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

in a 7–1 exhibition win against

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

on 1 September 1935, but did not compete in any international tournaments.

Ice hockey

In 1927, Nilsson made his debut for Hammarby IF in Elitserien, the domestic top tier, getting known as a physical defenceman. He moved to

in 1931. Nilsson won three Swedish championships – in 1934, 1935 and 1938 – with the club. Nilsson played 11 international games for Sweden, and represented his country at three major tournaments: the

, 1937 World Championships and 1938 World Championships. He ended his ice hockey career with

IFK Stockholm IFK Stockholm is multi-sports club in Stockholm, Sweden. It is most known for its football team. Background The club was formed 1 February 1895 as IF Kamraterna (IFK) by two young students, Louis Zettersten and Pehr Ehnemark, and was the first I ...

, playing five seasons in the lower divisions, before retiring in 1945.

Bandy

Like many other Swedish footballers and ice hockey players at the time, Nilsson also played bandy. In 1931, he scored the first ever home goal for Hammarby IF in Allsvenskan, a new national league that had been established the same year. Between 1929 and 1933, he made three international appearances for Sweden and later represented

at club level.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nilsson, Axel 1904 births 1978 deaths Ice hockey people from Stockholm Swedish footballers Swedish bandy players Hammarby Fotboll players AIK Fotboll players Allsvenskan players Sweden international footballers Hammarby Hockey (1921–2008) players AIK IF players Swedish ice hockey players Olympic ice hockey players of Sweden Ice hockey players at the 1936 Winter Olympics Hammarby IF Bandy players AIK Bandy players IFK Stockholm Ishockey players Sweden international bandy players Association footballers not categorized by position