Jan Conny Torstensson (born 28 August 1949) 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 le ...

who played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

. He represented

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 p ...

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which pla ...

, and

FC Zürich Fussballclub Zürich, commonly abbreviated to FC Zürich or simply FCZ, is a Swiss football club based in Zürich. The club was founded in 1896 and has won the Swiss Super League 13 times and the Swiss Cup 10 times. The most recent titles a ...

during a career that spanned between 1967 and 1980. A full international between 1972 and 1979, he won 40

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 Java ...

and scored seven goals for the Sweden national team and represented his country at the

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...

and

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 go ...

editions of the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

Club career

Åtvidabergs FF

Torstensson commenced his career with

in southern Sweden, then a club renowned for its successful youth development. From 1967 onward he featured regularly in the senior team with which he ascended to the first division after the first season. In the following years he was part of the team that defined the golden era of the club, winning the only titles in its history. 1970 and 1971 Åtvidabergs FF won the cup and was twice runner up in the championship, which the club won in 1972 and 1973. In 1973 the club also reached the cup final once more. In the first round of the 1973–74 European Champions Cup campaign Åtvidabergs FF encountered

, with stars like

Franz Beckenbauer Franz Anton Beckenbauer (, ; born 11 September 1945) is a German former professional footballer and manager. In his playing career he was nicknamed ''Der Kaiser'' ("The Emperor") because of his elegant style, dominance and leadership on the fi ...

and

Gerd Müller Gerhard "Gerd" Müller (; 3 November 1945 – 15 August 2021) was a German professional footballer. A striker renowned for his clinical finishing, especially in and around the six-yard box, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest goalsco ...

one of the favourites of the competition. In Munich Åtvidaberg lost 1–3, With the aid of two goals by Torstensson, who already scored in Munich, the Swedes achieved the same result in the return leg, albeit losing in the ensuing penalty shoot-out. However, Torstensson impressed the coach and management of Bayern and was speedily transferred for a then impressive sum of 580.000 Marks (290.000 Euros).

Bayern Munich

Until 1977 he played in 81

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

matches for Bayern scoring 11 goals. He impressed most in

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

matches, where he scored a number of important goals, and won the competition three times consecutively between 1974 and 1976, featuring in the finals of 1974 and 1975. Altogether, he scored 10 goals in 21 European cup matches. A further highlight was the winning of the Intercontinental Cup in the two finals against

Cruzeiro EC Cruzeiro Esporte Clube (), known simply as Cruzeiro, is a Brazilian sports club based in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais. Although they compete in a number of different sports, Cruzeiro is mostly known for its association football team. It plays ...

of Brazil.

Later career

On club level Torstensson moved 1977 to

in Switzerland, returning a year later to Åtvidabergs FF, where he ended his career in 1980.

International career

Torstensson himself debuted 1972 in the

Swedish national football team The Sweden national football team ( sv, svenska fotbollslandslaget) represents Sweden in men's international football and it is controlled by the Swedish Football Association, the governing body of football in Sweden. Sweden's home ground is F ...

. 1974 he participated with Sweden in the World Cup in Germany, reaching the second phase of the tournament, where he scored the winner against

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

. Four years later he also participated in the World Cup in Argentina. Sweden exited there winless after round one.

Personal life

After his playing years he initially had a position in the packaging industry. Over the years he held various functions at Åtvidabergs FF. In 1986, he coached the club in the second division. Later he was manager with the

speedway Speedway may refer to: Racing Race tracks *Edmonton International Speedway, also known as Speedway Park, a former motor raceway in Edmonton, Alberta *Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a motor raceway in Speedway, Indiana Types of races and race cours ...

team – speedway is counted amongst the major sports in Sweden – of

Västervik Västervik is a city status in Sweden, city and the seat of Västervik Municipality, Kalmar County, Sweden, with 36,747 inhabitants in 2021. Västervik is one of three coastal towns with a notable population size in the province of Småland. Cl ...

, which in those years became runner-up in the national championship. In 2015, he lived with his wife Annette, a teacher and local politician with the

Centerpartiet The Centre Party ( sv, Centerpartiet ; C) is a liberal political party in Sweden, founded in 1913. The party's major issues are the national economy, the environment, political decentralisation and social integration. It is represented in al ...

at a lake in Borghult, a rural location ca. 25 km north-west of

. The couple has been married since 1971 and has two daughters.

Career statistics

International

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

Honours

Åtvidabergs FF *

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 ...

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations, U.S. ...

Svenska Cupen Svenska Cupen (, ''The Swedish Cup'') 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 held. Each year 96 teams compe ...

: 1969–70, 1970–71 Bayern Munich * Intercontinental Cup:

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...

: 1973–74, 1974–75, 1975–76 *

: 1973–74 Sweden *

Nordic Football Championship The Nordic Football Championship ( da, Nordisk Mesterskab, no, Nordisk Mesterskap, sv, Nordiska Mästerskapet, fi, Pohjoismaiden-mestaruusturnaus, commonly abbreviated NM or PM) was an international football competition contested by the men's ...

: 1972–77 Individual * Stor Grabb: 1973 *

SvFF The Swedish Football Association ( sv, Svenska Fotbollförbundet, SvFF) is the governing and body of football in Sweden. It organises the football leagues – Allsvenskan for men and Damallsvenskan for women – and the men's and women's nati ...

Hall of Fame: 2020 * Nordic Football Championship top scorer: 1972–77

References

External links

* * Gerhard Fischer:
Mr. Europacup aus Åtvidaberg: Mit Holzschuhen auf der Ersatzbank
',

Süddeutsche Zeitung The ''Süddeutsche Zeitung'' (; ), published in Munich, Bavaria, is one of the largest daily newspapers in Germany. The tone of SZ is mainly described as centre-left, liberal, social-liberal, progressive-liberal, and social-democrat. History ...

, 11 September 2015. {{DEFAULTSORT:Torstensson, Conny Swedish footballers 1949 births Living people Expatriate footballers in West Germany Expatriate footballers in Switzerland FC Bayern Munich footballers Sweden international footballers Swedish expatriate sportspeople in West Germany Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland 1974 FIFA World Cup players 1978 FIFA World Cup players Åtvidabergs FF players FC Zürich players Bundesliga players Swedish football managers Åtvidabergs FF managers Association football forwards Association football midfielders UEFA Champions League winning players People from Borgholm Municipality Sportspeople from Kalmar County