Eric "Hövdingen" Persson (19 April 1898 – 9 June 1984) was chairman of the Swedish football club

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, ...

between 1937 and 1974. He is commonly regarded as one of the most prominent figures in Swedish football history.

Chairman of Malmö FF

Persson was chairman of the club for 37 years between 1937 and 1974.Persson at MFF.se
He earned his nickname ''Hövdingen''—"the

chief Chief may refer to: Title or rank Military and law enforcement * Chief master sergeant, the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force * Chief of police, the head of a police department * Chief of the boa ...

"—because of the success the club enjoyed while under his leadership. Malmö FF won 10 Swedish Championships out of their total 18 during Perssons era as chairman. Persson became a member of Malmö FF in 1925. In 1929, he was elected a member of the board and 8 years later in 1937, he was elected chairman of the club, a position he would hold on to until 1974. In 1944, Persson led Malmö FF to the first Swedish championship in the history of the club. He would lead the club to another 9 victories in

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 ...

as well as 8 Swedish Cup titles. At the yearly members meeting in 1974, he announced that he would be stepping down as chairman after the season, his successor would be

Hans Cavalli-Björkman Hans Cavalli-Björkman (29 June 1928 – 18 August 2020) was a Swedish Lawyer and former chairman of the Swedish Association football club Malmö FF, a post he held between 1975 and 1998.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 ...

(The predecessor to

UEFA Champions League 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 ...

). The club lost 1-0 to

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

but the final is still regarded as the brightest moment of the club's history, Something which some argue would have been impossible if it hadn't been for Persson. When he was elected chairman in 1937, the club was playing in the second division in Sweden, when he left the club in the late 1970s the club was the dominating club in

Swedish football Association football is the most popular sport in Sweden, with over 240,000 licensed players (approximately 56,000 women and 184,000 men) with another 240,000 youth players. There are around 3,200 active clubs fielding over 8,500 teams, which ...

and a consistent competitor in Europe. Today, Persson is regarded as the most important person in Malmö FF's history.

Life outside the club

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Persson was a part of organisations that helped

Jewish people Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...

escape the

Nazi occupation of Denmark The German invasion of Denmark (german: Operation Weserübung – Süd), was the German attack on Denmark on 9 April 1940, during the Second World War. The attack was a prelude to the invasion of Norway (german: Weserübung Nord, 9 April – 10 ...

. As a result, he was awarded the

Order of the Elephant The Order of the Elephant ( da, Elefantordenen) is a Danish order of chivalry and is Denmark's highest-ranked honour. It has origins in the 15th century, but has officially existed since 1693, and since the establishment of constitutional ...

, the highest order in

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 = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

. In 1958, Persson part of the committee who selected 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 ...

for 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 ...

which took place in Sweden that year. Persson was also a supporter and member of the

Swedish Social Democratic Party The Swedish Social Democratic Party, formally the Swedish Social Democratic Workers' Party ( sv, Sveriges socialdemokratiska arbetareparti ; S/SAP), usually referred to as The Social Democrats ( sv, link=no, Socialdemokraterna ), is a social-d ...

. He was a close friend of Swedish prime ministers

Olof Palme Sven Olof Joachim Palme (; ; 30 January 1927 – 28 February 1986) was a Swedish politician and statesman who served as Prime Minister of Sweden from 1969 to 1976 and 1982 to 1986. Palme led the Swedish Social Democratic Party from 1969 until h ...

and

Per-Albin Hansson Per Albin Hansson (28 October 1885 – 6 October 1946) was a Swedish politician, chairman of the Social Democrats from 1925 and two-time Prime Minister in four governments between 1932 and 1946, governing all that period save for a short-lived ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Persson, Eric 1898 births 1984 deaths Sportspeople from Malmö Swedish sports executives and administrators Malmö FF chairmen Swedish football managers Sweden national football team managers