Lennart Nyman (25 June 1917 – 25 August 1998) was a Swedish

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 ...

coach and sports administrator, best known for being the first ever manager of the Sweden national team between 1962 and 1965. He was also the chairman of multi-sport 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 ...

for 25 years, the longest-serving in its history.

Athletic career

Born in Stockholm, growing up at

Södermalm Södermalm, often shortened to just Söder, is a district and island in central Stockholm. Overview The district covers the large island of the same name (formerly called ''Åsön''). Although Södermalm usually is considered an island, wat ...

, Nyman started to compete in different sports with local club

in his youth in the 1930s. He played bandy, football and ice hockey at junior and reserve level.

established a handball section in 1939. Nyman was part of their first senior squad, together with other famous athletes such as

Holger Nurmela Holger "Hogge" Nurmela (28 October 1920 – 1 March 2005) was a Swedish ice hockey, football and bandy player and manager, known for representing Hammarby IF in all three sports. Athletic career Ice hockey In 1937, Nurmela made his debut for H ...

and Georg Skoglund, also the brother of renowned footballer

Lennart Skoglund Karl Lennart "Nacka" Skoglund (; 24 December 1929 – 8 July 1975) was a Swedish footballer who played as left winger. He began his career in his home country with Hammarby IF, but later played for several Italian clubs, most notably Inter Milan ...

. In the beginning of the 1940s, Nyman got promoted to the senior roster of

's hockey team. Hammarby won several Swedish Championship titles in his three seasons with the team, but Nyman did not play enough games to be awarded an official medal.

Staff career at Hammarby IF

Football

In 1946–47,

's football team finished last in Division 2, and got relegated to

Division 4 ''Division 4'' is an Australian television police drama series made by Crawford Productions for the Nine Network between 1969 and 1975 for 301 episodes. Synopsis The series was one of the first dramas to follow up on the enormous success o ...

due to a restructuring of the Swedish league system. The next season, Folke Adamsson took over as the head coach of Hammarby, with Lennart Nyman being appointed as the new team manager. The economy had collapsed and the club's entire existence was now threatened.Persson, p. 76. Nyman would, together with Folke Adamsson, lead Hammarby IF from Division 4 back 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 top tier, in just six seasons.Persson, p. 76. The duo is credited with implementing a sense of work ethic and professionalism in the club. In the 1953–1954 season, the second tier was won without a single loss, whilst using only 15 players.Persson, p. 81. Hammarby went on to compete in Allsvenskan for the rest of Nyman's stint as team manager, before leaving the role in 1961 after being recruited by the

Swedish Football Association 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 ...

Chairman

Nyman was the chairman of Hammarby IF's football section for a total of 32 years. Mainly between 1954 and 1984, later returning for a second stint between 1986 and 1987. The highlight came in

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...

when Hammarby finished second in the Allsvenskan table, going unbeaten the whole season. In the following playoff to decide the Swedish champion, the club went on to beat

Örgryte Örgryte is one of the 21 ''stadsdelsnämndsområden'' (a kind of district often translated as borough) of Gothenburg Municipality, Sweden. It is a largely upper middle class residential area, just to the east of the city centre. It has a populati ...

in the quarter-finals and

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 ...

in the semi-finals. In the finals against

IFK Göteborg Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna Göteborg (officially IFK Göteborg Fotboll), commonly known as IFK Göteborg, IFK (especially locally) or simply Göteborg, is a Swedish professional football club based in Gothenburg. Founded in 1904, it is the ...

, Hammarby won 2–1 in the first leg away, but lost 1–3 in the home game at

Söderstadion Söderstadion ''(translated in English as Southern Stadium)'' was a football and bandy stadium in Stockholm, Sweden. It was opened in 1966 and closed in 2013, being replaced by nearby Tele2 Arena. Söderstadion had a capacity of 12,800 depending ...

to a record crowd, missing out on the gold medal. Simultaneously, Nyman was the chairman of Hammarby IF's main board, that organised all of the 16 sections in the club participating in a variety of different sports, for 25 years between 1965 and 1990. As a sports administrator, Nyman got known for being a tough negotiator who governed with an iron fist, who rewarded athletes that showed loyalty to the club. His ever favourite athlete at Hammarby was ice hockey, bandy and football player Åke Andersson.

Managerial career

Sweden

Nyman was the team manager of the Swedish national B team between 1957 and 1959. From 1908 to 1961, the Swedish Football Association appointed an International Selection Committee which acted as national team managers. After failing to qualify for the 1962 World Cup, Nyman was appointed as the first actual manager of team

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 ...

. During his tenure, Sweden reached the quarter-finals of the 1964 UEFA European Championship. They started their play-off 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 ...

and won the first game and drew the second leg. In the second round, Sweden beat

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

, 3–2, after a first leg tie. In the quarter-finals, Sweden played against the defending champions, the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

. Sweden tied the first game but lost the second. Sweden also failed to qualify for the 1966 World Cup, finishing behind winners

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

and ahead of

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

in the play-off group. Nyman left his position as Sweden's manager in 1965, being replaced by

Orvar Bergmark Orvar Bergmark (16 November 1930 – 10 May 2004) was a Swedish football defender, manager and bandy player. He was the second Swedish national manager ever, and managed to qualify the Swedish national football team for the FIFA World Cup ...

. His favourite national player was the

IFK Norrköping Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna Norrköping, more commonly known as IFK Norrköping or simply Norrköping, is a Swedish professional football club based in Norrköping. The club is affiliated to Östergötlands Fotbollförbund and play their ...

defender Åke "Bajdoff" Johansson.

Managerial statistics

Personal life

Outside of sports, Nyman started his professional career with the grocery retail group Konsum before being recruited to work as a manager at their competitor ICA. Nyman was later employed by the newspaper

Metro Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to: Geography * Metro (city), a city in Indonesia * A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center Public transport * Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urba ...

. He was politically active in the

Moderate Party The Moderate Party ( sv, Moderata samlingspartiet , ; M), commonly referred to as the Moderates ( ), is a liberal-conservative political party in Sweden. The party generally supports tax cuts, the free market, civil liberties and economic liber ...

References

Works cited

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nyman, Lennart 1917 births 1998 deaths Sportspeople from Stockholm Swedish football managers Hammarby IF-related people Hammarby Fotboll directors and chairmen Hammarby Fotboll non-playing staff Sweden national football team managers Moderate Party politicians Swedish ice hockey players Swedish male handball players