Dan Sahlin (born 18 April 1967) 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

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 ...

. A late bloomer, Sahlin did not turn professional until the age of 28 when he signed for 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 ...

club

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 differe ...

in 1995. While at Örebro SK, he became the

1997 Allsvenskan Allsvenskan 1997, part of the 1997 Swedish football season, was the 73rd Allsvenskan season played. Halmstads BK won the league ahead of runners-up IFK Göteborg, while Västerås SK, Degerfors IF and Panos Ljungskile SK were relegated. Leagu ...

top scorer alongside

Mats Lilienberg Mats Christer Lilienberg (born 22 December 1969) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a striker. He won three Allsvenskan titles and was the Allsvenskan top scorer twice during a professional career that spanned between 199 ...

and

Christer Mattiasson Björn Ove Christer Mattiasson (born 29 July 1971) is a Swedish football manager and former player. He most notably played for IF Elfsborg, AIK, and Djurgårdens IF and made two appearances for the Sweden national team. He was the Allsvenskan t ...

. He also briefly represented Birmingham City and AaB. He won three caps for the Sweden national team between 1995 and 1997.

Club career

Sahlin was born in Falun. He began his football career with

Nynäshamns IF Nynäshamns IF is a sports club in Nynäshamn, Sweden, established on 4 February 1917. It became an alliance club An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some ...

, and later played for

Division 3 In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football * Belgian Th ...

club

Västerhaninge IF Västerhaninge () is a locality situated in Haninge Municipality, Stockholm County, Sweden. It had 15,134 inhabitants in 2010. It is connected to Stockholm by commuter rail. Västerhaninge borders the large Hanveden forest to the north, the Jor ...

while also playing

bandy Bandy is a winter sport and ball sport played by two teams wearing ice skates on a large ice surface (either indoors or outdoors) while using sticks to direct a ball into the opposing team's goal. The international governing body for bandy is ...

at elite level. Sahlin came late into top-class football: he was nearly 28 years of age when, after lengthy negotiations, he joined

club

in February 1995. His debut was eventful: after 11 minutes 3 seconds, he scored the first goal of the

1995 Allsvenskan Allsvenskan 1995, part of the 1995 Swedish football season, was the 71st Allsvenskan season played. IFK Göteborg won the league ahead of runners-up Helsingborgs IF, while Hammarby IF and Västra Frölunda IF Västra Frölunda Idrottsföreni ...

season, and in the 44th minute he received his second yellow card. He finished the season with 12 league goals and another 3 in the Swedish Cup, but his club were relegated. In November 1995, Sahlin made his international debut for

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

, after which he went to England to join

Division One The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...

(second-tier) club Birmingham City on loan. He made his debut in the Football League on 26 November 1995 in a 2–2 draw at home to Leicester City, coming on as a 74th-minute substitute for fellow debutant Danny Hill. This was the only first-team game that Sahlin played for Birmingham, and he returned to Sweden in December. Sahlin returned to the Allsvenskan with Örebro SK. In 1997 his 14 goals earned him a share in the league top scorer's crown, together with

Elfsborg Idrottsföreningen Elfsborg, more commonly known as IF Elfsborg or simply Elfsborg (), is a professional football club based in Borås, Sweden, and is affiliated to the Västergötlands Fotbollförbund. They play in the Allsvenskan and have spe ...

and

Halmstad Halmstad () is a port, university, industrial and recreational city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Socia ...

, and the following season his 10 goals made him Örebro's leading scorer. In his last game for ÖSK, Sahlin scored in the 89th minute to confirm a 4–2 win and take his club second in the table. In his three seasons with the club he scored 40 goals from 64 appearances in all competitions. Sahlin signed a three-year contract with Danish Superliga club AaB. In July 1998, he made his debut, opening the scoring in the 39th minute in a 4–0 defeat of

AGF Aarhus Aarhus Gymnastikforening (; commonly known as AGF ), is a professional sports club based in Aarhus, Jutland, Denmark. Founded in 1880, it is one of the oldest clubs in the country and gymnastics and fencing are featured as its main sports. Howev ...

. He picked up a few injuries, including a minor ankle injury which required surgery. While in hospital, Sahlin suffered a

staphylococcal infection A staphylococcal infection or staph infection is an infection caused by members of the '' Staphylococcus'' genus of bacteria. These bacteria commonly inhabit the skin and nose where they are innocuous, but may enter the body through cuts or abrasi ...

in the operated area, which despite lengthy recuperative treatment forced his retirement. He played only six games for AaB, and scored twice.

International career

Sahlin played in three B-internationals for Sweden and three matches for the senior national team. On 15 November 1995, he made his senior international debut, as an 83rd-minute substitute to replace Jörgen Pettersson in a UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying match against Turkey which finished as a 2–2 draw. His first start for his country came on 22 February 1996, when he played the first half of the

Carlsberg Cup Carlsberg may refer to: Places * Carlsberg (district), a district in Copenhagen, Denmark ** Carlsberg station, its train station * Carlsberg, Germany, a municipality in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany * Carlsberg Fjord, Greenland Other uses * Carlsbe ...

final against

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

in Hong Kong. His third and last international appearance came in a

friendly Friendly may refer to: Places * Friendly, West Yorkshire, a settlement in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England * Friendly, Maryland, an unincorporated community in the United States * Friendly, Eugene, Oregon, a neighborhood in the United States * ...

away against

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

in August 1997.

Career statistics

International

Honours

Individual *

Allsvenskan top scorer The following is a list of top scorers in Allsvenskan, the highest Swedish division of football. is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ... Association football player non-biographical articles ...

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sahlin, Dan 1967 births Living people Sportspeople from Falun Swedish men's footballers Sweden men's international footballers Men's association football forwards Hammarby Fotboll players Birmingham City F.C. players Örebro SK players AaB Fodbold players Allsvenskan players English Football League players Danish Superliga players Swedish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark Swedish bandy players