Lars-Ove "Larsa" Johansson (14 November 1938 – 11 November 2019) was a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

er 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 ...

, best known for representing

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 ...

Club career

Johansson was born in

Härnösand Härnösand () is a locality and the seat of Härnösand Municipality in Västernorrland County, Sweden with 17,556 inhabitants in 2010. It is called "the gate to the High Coast" because of the world heritage landscape just a few miles north of H� ...

and started to play football with local club IF Älgarna, making his debut for the senior team at age 14 in the Swedish lower divisions. As a youngster, he reportedly attracted interest from

Degerfors IF Degerfors IF is a Swedish football club located in Degerfors. The club, formed 13 January 1907, is currently playing in the highest tier in Swedish football, Allsvenskan. Background Degerfors IF first played in the Allsvenskan in 1939 maki ...

. Before the 1956–57 season, Johansson instead transferred to

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 ...

, the domestic top tier. Aged 18, he immediately established himself as a starting player, but Hammarby got relegated at the end of the year. In 1957–58, Hammarby scored an impressive 117 goals in 33 fixtures throughout the campaign, with Johansson playing an integral part, getting instantly promoted from the second division. Johansson established himself as a frequent starter for Hammarby in Allsvenskan between 1959 and 1963. He got known as a prolific goalscorer with a powerful shot, forming a fruitful partnership with forward Karl-Evert Skoglund. Being plagued by injuries his whole career, Johansson only played one game Hammarby in 1964, now competing in the second tier again, and left the club at the end of the year. In total, Johansson made 116 league appearances for Hammarby, scoring 65 goals. Johansson ended his career with

IFK Västerås IFK Västerås is a Swedish football club located in Västerås. Background Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna Västerås were formed in 1898 and at their best played in series games in Sweden for several seasons in Sweden's next highest division; t ...

, playing two seasons before announcing his retirement in 1966, aged 28.

International career

After regularly featuring for the Swedish U21's and B-team, Johansson won his first and only senior cap 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 ...

on 18 September 1960. He played the full game in a 1–3 loss against

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

, in an away friendly.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Johansson, Lars-Ove 1938 births 2019 deaths Sportspeople from Härnösand Swedish men's footballers Men's association football forwards Allsvenskan players Hammarby Fotboll players IFK Västerås players Sweden men's international footballers Footballers from Västernorrland County