Lars Näsman (14 July 1943 – 10 October 1995) is considered one of the best Finnish football goalkeepers of all time, having been capped for 37 full international matches. He was voted the ''Player of the year'' in

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

in 1965 and 1967. He was also ranked 10th in the annual List of top sportsmen in Finland in 1967.

Career

Näsman was born in the coastal town of

Vaasa Vaasa (; sv, Vasa, , Sweden ), in the years 1855–1917 as Nikolainkaupunki ( sv, Nikolajstad; literally meaning "city of Nicholas),

in 1943. He started his playing career with VIFK from where he moved to Upon Pallo,

Lahti Lahti (; sv, Lahtis) is a city and municipality in Finland. It is the capital of the region of Päijänne Tavastia (Päijät-Häme) and its growing region is one of the main economic hubs of Finland. Lahti is situated on a bay at the southern e ...

. He joined the Dutch team

Cambuur SC Cambuur, also known as Cambuur Leeuwarden, or simply Cambuur, () is a Dutch Association football, football club from the city of Leeuwarden formed on 19 June 1964. They currently play in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football league sy ...

in 1969, remaining there for three years. In 1971, he joined

HIFK HIFK, the Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna, Helsingfors (IFK, Helsingfors) rf (officially abbreviated IFK Helsingfors, colloquially often Helsingfors IFK or Helsingin IFK ) is a multi-sport association based in Helsinki, Finland. Formed in 1897 on ...

, who were runners up in the Finnish league in the same year. He ended his playing career after 1976 season at

Ekenäs IF Ekenäs Idrottsförening (abbreviated EIF or Ekenäs IF) is a sports club from Ekenäs, Raseborg in Finland. EIF was formed in 1905 and they are one of the oldest clubs in the south-west of Finland. The men's football first team currently pla ...

. Lars Näsman was not tall for a goalkeeper, only 178 cm. However, his fast reactions, good eye for the ball and speed made him the perfect choice for the Finland national team.

Bandy

Näsman was also the national goalkeeper for

in the sport of

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 ...

, in which he was elected the Best goalkeeper in the world in 1967.

Coach

After his playing career, Näsman coached EIF a second division team in southern Finland. Lars Näsman had strong opinions about how football should be developed in Finland and in 1970 he told YLE Television, "We must get rid of secret payments to players. Players must be paid openly for their work. Finland can never rise to international level if we don't give up semi-professionalism where players go to work and train in their spare time".

References

External links

UEFA Wales–Finland 1971
*
Finland Football Association
1943 births 1995 deaths Finnish men's footballers Finland men's international footballers Sportspeople from Vaasa Footballers from Ostrobothnia (region) Finnish football managers Finnish bandy players Swedish-speaking Finns Mestaruussarja players HIFK Fotboll players Men's association football goalkeepers {{finland-bandy-bio-stub