Bengt Olov Emanuel "Julle" Gustavsson (13 January 1928 – 16 February 2017) was a Swedish 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 le ...

and manager. As player he participated in the final of the World Cup 1958 and won national championships with

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

. As coach he led

Åtvidabergs FF Åtvidabergs Fotbollförening, also known simply as Åtvidabergs FF, Åtvidaberg, Åtvid or (especially locally) ÅFF, is a Swedish professional football club based in Åtvidaberg. The club is affiliated with Östergötlands Fotbollförbund and ...

into its golden era at the beginning of the 1970s.Bengt Gustavsson
Swedish Olympic Committee

Career

Bengt started playing with the local team of Gusum and in 1947 joined the then nationally dominating club

. At the end of the era of the great Hungarian coach Lajos Czeizler he was supposed to replace

Gunnar Nordahl Nils Gunnar Nordahl (; 19 October 1921 – 15 September 1995) was a Swedish professional footballer. A highly prolific, powerful, and physically strong striker, with an eye for goal, he is best known for his spell at AC Milan from 1949 to 1956, ...

in midfield after he moved to

AC Milan Associazione Calcio Milan (), commonly referred to as AC Milan or simply Milan, is a professional football club in Milan, Italy, founded in 1899. The club has spent its entire history, with the exception of the 1980–81 and 1982–83 seasons ...

in 1949. In his first match against

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 ...

he scored three goals, but the Austrian coach Karl Adamek, who was in charge from 1950 forward, moved him back into the defence where he should excel. In those years Norrköping won the Swedish championship of the years 1948, 1852 and 1956 and reached the cup final of 1953. In October 1951, Gustavsson debuted in the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

at their defeat against

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , established ...

in Copenhagen. This was the last match of the 1948-51 Nordic Football Championship, which Sweden nevertheless finished as winner. In the following year he participated with Sweden at the football tournament of the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki. After losing in the semifinals to the ascending

Golden Team The Golden Team ( hu, Aranycsapat; also known as the Mighty Magyars, the Magical Magyars, the Magnificent Magyars, the Marvellous Magyars, or the Light Cavalry) refers to the Hungary national football team of the 1950s. It is associated with sev ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croat ...

with 0–6 Sweden won the bronze medal, winning the third place match against Germany with 2–0.Bengt Gustavsson
sports-reference.com In 1953 Gustavsson was awarded the

Guldbollen Guldbollen (''Golden Ball'') is a Swedish 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 between 1946 to 1965 it was ...

, the ''Golden Ball'' as Swedish footballer of the year. In 1956, Gustavsson joined the Italian first division side

Atalanta Bergamo Atalanta Bergamasca Calcio, commonly referred to as Atalanta, is a professional football club based in Bergamo, Lombardy, Italy. The club plays in Serie A, having gained promotion from Serie B in 2010–11. Atalanta was founded in 1907 by Lice ...

. There he was from the beginning as Libero a stalwart of the defence. In 1958 Atalanta was relegated to the second division, but returned to the Serie A the season after under coach Karl Adamek, who was in charge of the team for a year. Pelé vs swedish defenders 1958

In 1958 Gustavsson was nominated for the campaign of national team in the World Cup 1958 in Sweden, and was there part of the standard formation alongside Gunnar Nordahl,

Nils Liedholm Nils Erik Liedholm (; 8 October 1922 – 5 November 2007) was a Swedish football midfielder and coach. ''Il Barone'' (The Baron), as he is affectionately known in Italy, was renowned for being part of the Swedish "Gre-No-Li" trio of strikers a ...

and

Gunnar Gren Johan Gunnar Gren (; 31 October 1920 – 10 November 1991) was a Swedish professional football player and coach. He is best remembered for playing for IFK Göteborg and A.C. Milan. A creative forward, known for his technical skill, vision, t ...

, who then also plied their trade in Italy. Losing to Brazil in the final 2–5 nevertheless secured the Swedes the best result in any World Cup. After the season 1960–62, Gustavsson returned to Sweden and joined then second division side

. In June 1963 her played his 57th and last match for Sweden in a qualifying match for the

1964 European Nations' Cup The 1964 European Nations' Cup was the second edition of the UEFA European Championship. The final tournament was held in Spain. It was won by the hosts 2–1 over the defending champions, the Soviet Union. The tournament was a knockout compe ...

in Belgrade against

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

, which ended in a 0–0 draw. On club level he was player-manager from 1964 on. He finished his career as a player in 1965, but remained at the helm of the south Swedish club. In 1967, he led the club for the only second time in its history – since a brief stint in 1951–52 – into the Swedish first division, the

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; en, the All-Swedish, also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan, en, the Football All-Swedish) is a Swedish professional league for men's association football clubs. It was founded in 1924 and is the top tier of the Swedish football lea ...

, which was the beginning of the golden era of Åtvidabergs FF. He remained coach of the club until 1970, when the team defeated

Sandvikens IF Sandvikens IF is a Swedish football club located in Sandviken. The club, formed 6 June 1918, has played 21 seasons in the highest Swedish league, but is in the third highest Swedish league, Division 1. Sandvikens IF are affiliated to the Ges ...

from

Uppsala Uppsala (, or all ending in , ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the county seat of Uppsala County and the fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inhabitants in 2019. Located north of the capi ...

with 2–0 in the cup final and won its first national title. Until 1973 three more titles should follow. Players like

Conny Torstensson Jan Conny Torstensson (born 28 August 1949) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a midfielder or forward. He represented Åtvidabergs FF, Bayern Munich, and FC Zürich during a career that spanned between 1967 and 1980. A ...

and Benno Magnusson are amongst the better known ones which Gustavsson integrated into the time during his time in Åtvidaberg. From 1971 to 1972, Gustavsson had a brief spell as coach of the Swedish national youth team. In further years he was to coach

Östers IF Östers Idrottsförening, commonly known as Östers IF or simply Öster, is a Swedish sports club located in Växjö, specializing in football, and playing in the second tier of Swedish football, Superettan. The club has previously also compet ...

from 1973 to 1974, from 1975 to 1978 and in 1985 as assistant IFK Norrköping,Tränare
. gruvstugan.com from 1979 until 1981

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 ...

and from 1982 to 1983 second division side

IK Sleipner Idrottsklubben Sleipner is a sports club in Norrköping, Sweden; the main sports are Association football, football and ten-pin bowling. It was founded in 1903, and named after the deity Odin's horse Sleipnir from Norse mythology. Currently, the ...

, which was relegated in 1983.

Honours

As player: *

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 concept i ...

: Finalist 1958 * Swedish Championship: 1948, 1952, 1956 * Swedish Player of the Year: 1953 As manager: * Swedish Cup: 1970 * Promotion to first division: 1967

References

External links

*
1953: Bengt "Julle" Gustavsson
', Aftonbladet *
Player: Bengt Gustavsson
', European Football – national team matches database 1872–1990 {{DEFAULTSORT:Gustavsson, Bengt 1928 births 2017 deaths Swedish footballers Sweden international footballers Swedish expatriate footballers Footballers at the 1952 Summer Olympics 1958 FIFA World Cup players Olympic bronze medalists for Sweden Olympic footballers of Sweden IFK Norrköping players Atalanta B.C. players Åtvidabergs FF players Allsvenskan players Serie A players Expatriate footballers in Italy Swedish football managers Åtvidabergs FF managers Östers IF managers IFK Norrköping managers Hammarby Fotboll managers Olympic medalists in football Medalists at the 1952 Summer Olympics Association football defenders Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Italy People from Valdemarsvik Municipality Sportspeople from Östergötland County