Robert Klas-Göran Prytz (born 12 January 1960) 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 ...

who played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

from the late 1970s until the early 2000s. He earned 56

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

for the Swedish national team and is best known for his time at

Hellas Verona Hellas Verona Football Club, commonly referred to as Hellas Verona or simply Verona, is a professional Italian football club based in Verona, Italy, that currently plays in Serie A. The team won the Serie A Championship in 1984–85. His ...

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 ...

and Rangers. He was the 1986 recipient of

Guldbollen Guldbollen (''Golden Ball'') is a Swedish football award given by ''Aftonbladet'' and the Swedish Football Association to the best male Swedish footballer each year. History The award was created by Bengt Liljedahl and between 1946 to 1965 it was ...

as Sweden's best footballer of the year.

Career

Robert Klas-Göran Prytz was born 1960 in Malmö and grew up with four brothers and three sisters in a working class neighbourhood called Kirseberg. He started playing for his local team Kirsebergs IF before moving up to

as a 16-year old. Under the successful English manager

Bob Houghton Robert Douglas Houghton (born 30 October 1947) is an English football manager and former player. His career has spanned over 30 years and 10 countries. He is most famous for taking Swedish club Malmö FF to the 1979 European Cup Final, where th ...

Prytz flourished and although it was because of injuries he got the chance of a lifetime when he in 1979 as a 19 year old played in the European Cup Final vs

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 ...

in Munich. A game that Nottingham won 1-0. The year after he made his international debut for Sweden. In 1982 Robert spent 3 months at Stoke City and was meant to sign for them, but work permit rules meant that the move didn't happen. Back home he got a call from an agent saying that there was another team in the UK interrested in him: Glasgow Rangers. Robert Prytz was only the second Swedish player for Rangers after

Örjan Persson Per Örjan Persson (27 August 1942) is a Swedish former football player. He played for Scottish clubs Dundee United and Rangers in the 1960s. He also represented Sweden at the 1970 FIFA World Cup in Mexico and the European Championship qua ...

that played in the club 1967-70. In his first season in Scotland: 1982-83 Robert Prytz scored his first goal for the club vs Clydebank away in the League Cup in August, with Rangers winning 4-1. He also made a good inpact in his league debut away vs Motherwell scoring in a 2-2 draw. Prytz scored the 2-1 winner away to

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

3 weeks later and he scored a spectacular goal away to Celtic in October, a corner kick that went straight in goal. His first season at Rangers saw him play 48 games (30 in the league) scoring 7 times (5 in the league) Rangers finishing only 4th in the league witch saw

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dundee. The club name is usually abbreviated to Dundee United. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1 ...

winning. Rangers did reach both the Scottish Cup and League Cup finals but lost them both. The 1983-84 season started the same way as the previous with Prytz scoring on the opening day of the season, a penalty earning a 1-1 draw at home against St Mirren. But after a terrible start to the season with Rangers losing 7 of the following 10 games manager

John Greig John Greig (born 11 September 1942) is a Scottish former professional footballer, who played as a defender. He spent his entire career with Rangers, as a player, manager and director. Greig was voted "The Greatest Ever Ranger" in 1999 by the ...

was replaced by legendary manager

Jock Wallace John Martin Bokas Wallace (6 September 1935 – 24 July 1996) was a Scottish professional footballer and manager. Wallace played as a goalkeeper, and has the unique distinction of being the only player ever to play in the English, Welsh and Sco ...

. Rangers did lose the following game but then went on a 22 match unbeaten run, but Rangers eventually finished 4th yet again. Aberdeen led by a former Rangers player called Alex Ferguson winning the league. Rangers did however win 2 trophies that season beating Celtic both in the Glasgow Cup final 1-0 as well as winning a thrilling League Cup final 3-2 after extra time, with

Ally McCoist Alistair Murdoch McCoist, (; born 24 September 1962) is a Scottish former footballer who has since worked as a manager and TV pundit. McCoist began his playing career with Scottish club St Johnstone before moving to English side Sunderland in ...

scoring a hattrick. Robert Prytz's appearances for the season was 42 games (26 in the league) scoring 9 goals (4 in the league). The season 1984-85 finished almost identically as the previous season with Aberdeen winning the league and Rangers finnishing 4th. Rangers won both the League Cup and Glasgow Cup the second season in a row. Prytz made 28 appearances (21 in the league) scoring 4 goals (3 in the league). His Rangers career saw him play 118 games (72 in the league) scoring 20 goals (12 in the league) in 3 seasons. It became obvious though that Prytz's technical style of playing the ball on the ground didn't always fit the style that british clubs played at that time and it was time to move on. He joined IFK Gothenburg for a breaf spell in the summer and then moved on to Young Boys in Switzerland where he became an instant success, winning the league that year. Robert Prytz also represented

Bayer Uerdingen KFC Uerdingen 05 is a German football club in the Uerdingen district of the city of Krefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia. The former Bundesliga side enjoyed its greatest successes in the 1980s but now plays in the fifth-level Oberliga. History The ...

Atalanta Atalanta (; grc-gre, Ἀταλάντη, Atalantē) meaning "equal in weight", is a heroine in Greek mythology. There are two versions of the huntress Atalanta: one from Arcadia (region), Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene (mythology ...

and Young Boys again before 1996 moving back "home" to Scotland He did keep his house in Glasgow the whole time since he met and married the Scottish Joyce, and had 2 daughters. Prytz continued playing for various Scottish clubs for another 5 seasons, including Kilmarnock,

Dumbarton Dumbarton (; also sco, Dumbairton; ) is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. In 2006, it had an estimated population of 19,990. Dumbarton was the ca ...

Cowdenbeath Cowdenbeath (; sco, Coudenbeith) is a town and burgh in west Fife, Scotland. It is north-east of Dunfermline and north of the capital, Edinburgh. The town grew up around the extensive coalfields of the area and became a police burgh in 189 ...

, East Fife,

Pollok Pollok ( gd, Pollag, lit=a pool, sco, Powk) is a large housing estate on the south-western side of the city of Glasgow, Scotland. The estate was built either side of World War II to house families from the overcrowded inner city. Housing 30,0 ...

and

Hamilton Accies Hamilton Academical Football Club, often known as Hamilton Accies, or The Accies, is a Scottish football club from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire who currently compete in the Scottish Championship, having been relegated from the 2020–21 Scottis ...

before hanging up his boots in 2001. After living in Glasgow for 26 years a divorce and the ability to be closer to his aging mother Prytz moved back to Sweden in 2008, and he did get to spend two years with his mother before she passed away. He now lives and works in Malmö, all his earnings as a professional football player went to securing the future for his ex-wife and now adult daughters. During his career Robert Prytz won 2 league titles with Young Boys and Malmö FF. He also won the Swedish Cup with Malmö FF, the Swiss Cup with Young Boys and of course 2 League Cups and 2 Glasgow Cups with Rangers FC. He also won the Guldbollen = player of the year award in Sweden in 1986. He was capped 56 times for Sweden, scoring 13 goals. He still continues to play football on a more modest level, playing in friendlies for a team consisting of celebrities and former players.

Career statistics

International

: ''Scores and results list Sweden's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Prytz goal''.

Honours

;Malmö * Allsvenskan:

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democrat ...

Svenska Cupen Svenska Cupen (, ''The Swedish Cup'') is a knockout cup competition in Swedish football and the main Swedish football cup. Svenska Cupen usually refers to the men's tournament, although a women's tournament is also held. Each year 96 teams compe ...

: 1979–80 * European Cup Runner-up: 1978–79 ;Rangers *

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in existen ...

: 1983–84, 1984–85 ;Young Boys *

Swiss League The Swiss League is the second tier of the main professional ice hockey league in Switzerland, behind the National League. The winners of the league each season plays a best-of-seven series against the bottom team of the NL, and if they win, t ...

: 1985–86 * Swiss Cup: 1986–87 * Swiss Super Cup: 1986 ;Pollok *Central Sectional League Cup: 1999 - 2000 * West of Scotland Junior Cup: 1999 - 2000 Individual * Stor Grabb: 1984 *

: 1986 * Swiss Foreign Footballer of the Year: 1986–87

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Prytz, Robert Living people 1960 births Swedish footballers Footballers from Skåne County Sweden international footballers Malmö FF players Rangers F.C. players IFK Göteborg players BSC Young Boys players KFC Uerdingen 05 players Atalanta B.C. players Hellas Verona F.C. players Kilmarnock F.C. players Dumbarton F.C. players Cowdenbeath F.C. players East Fife F.C. players Pollok F.C. players Hamilton Academical F.C. players Allsvenskan players Bundesliga players Serie A players Serie B players Scottish Football League players Swiss Super League players Expatriate footballers in Switzerland Expatriate footballers in Germany Expatriate footballers in Italy Expatriate footballers in Scotland Swedish expatriate footballers Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Germany Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Italy Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Association football midfielders