Roger Lennart Palmgren is a Swedish football

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

. He has that has been active as club manager in nine different countries: Italy, Sweden, Sierra Leone, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, South Africa, Namibia and China. He has been coach of the national football teams of

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra ...

, Rwanda national football team, Rwanda and

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

Career

Cafe Opera & Arezzo

Roger started his coaching career in 1990 as a playing coach with Alessandro Catenaccis team FC Cafe Opera in Sweden. After climbing 3 divisions in 3 years, Palmgren got an offer in 1993 from

Francesco Graziani Francesco "Ciccio" Graziani (; born 16 December 1952) is an Italian football manager and former football player who played as a forward. He began his career with Arezzo in 1970, and later joined Torino in 1973, where he remained until 1981, win ...

to coach Primavera team FC Arezzo to explore a professional managing career. After great success, Palmgren got offered the job as coach for Sierra Leone national team.

Sierra Leone

When Palmgren won the

Amílcar Cabral Cup The Amílcar Cabral Cup was an international association football tournament for Western African nations. The competition originally was played on an annual basis until 1989, since then it was played on a biennial basis. The tournament is named a ...

(1995), and qualified to

Africa Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations referred to as AFCON (french: Coupe d'Afrique des Nations, sometimes referred to as CAN, or TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons), and sometimes as African Cup of Nations, is the main internati ...

(1996) in South Africa with Sierra Leone national team, he made his break through as an international football manager. This is the best result in Sierra Leones football history yet.

Degerfors

After Sierra Leone, Palmgren worked as assistant coach and sport director for the Swedish

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 ...

team

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 ...

. When FC Arezzo offered him to come back coaching 1998, he took the challenge.

Vasalund

After the merger between

Essinge IK Essinge IK is a Swedish association Football, football club located in Stockholm. Background Essinge Idrottsklubb is a sports club from Stockholm that was founded on 8 June 1919. Over the years the club has mainly been active in team sports such ...

and

Vasalunds IF Vasalunds IF is a Swedish football club based in Solna, Stockholm. The club is affiliated with Stockholms Fotbollförbund. History Vasalund was formed in 1934 and play in the Swedish Third Division: Division 1 Norra. In 2002 the club merged with ...

, Palmgren became sport director and later managing coach of Vasalunds IF between 2003 and 2004.

Rwanda

In August 2004, Palmgren relocated to Africa as he accepted the position head coach of

Rwanda national football team The Rwanda national football team represents Rwanda in international football and is controlled by the Rwandese Association Football Federation, the governing body of football in Rwanda, and competes as a member of the Confederation of African ...

, where he took the team to the final of the

CECAFA Cup The CECAFA Cup, is the oldest football tournament in Africa. It is organized by the Council for East and Central Africa Football Associations (CECAFA). A FIFA competition, it includes participants of football playing national teams from the Eas ...

against

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

. By the end of 2005, Palmgren took on the Nigerian club Kwara United F.C. in

Nigeria Premier League The Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) is the highest level of the Nigerian football league system, for the Nigerian club-football championships. The Nigerian league has suffered, like many others, from the financial impact and dwindl ...

and they eventually reached semi finals in

CAF Confederation Cup The CAF Confederation Cup, known as the TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup for sponsorship purposes, is an annual association football club competition established in 2004 from a merger of the CAF Cup and the African Cup Winners' Cup and organi ...

in 2006.

Thanda Royal Zulu

Palmgren moved to South Africa in May 2007 when he got an offer from a Swedish consortium to manage the club

Thanda Royal Zulu F.C. Thanda Royal Zulu was a South African football club based in Richards Bay, KwaZulu-Natal. History The club started after a Swedish consortium that included Sven-Goran Eriksson bought the franchise from Benoni Premier United at the end of the 20 ...

Premier Soccer League Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

Durban Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...

Amazulu

After two years with Thanda, he got offered to become sport director with the South African team

Amazulu FC Amazulu FC was a football club based in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. The club played in the Zimbabwe Premier Soccer League. The team was founded in 1996 by Charles Mhlauri and after nine years the club was dissolved. In 2003 the team has won the Zimbabwe ...

, and short thereafter head coach. Palmgren achieved the best league result ever for the club in 2011-12, as well as

FA cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

finals against Bidvest Wits FC.

Namibia

In 2013, Roger took the offer to coach

Namibia national football team The Namibia national football team represents Namibia in men's international football and is controlled by the Namibia Football Association. They have never qualified for the FIFA World Cup but have made three appearances in the Africa Cup of ...

. Unfortunately he didn't stay long as he and his family were threatened by supporters and decided to resign

Guangzhou & Shanghai

Palmgren relocated to China, and started working as

Sven-Göran Eriksson Sven-Göran Eriksson (; born 5 February 1948) is a Swedish football manager and former player. After an unassuming playing career as a right-back, Eriksson went on to experience major success in club management between 1977 and 2001, winning 18 ...

's assistant coach in the

Chinese Super League The Chinese Football Association Super League, commonly known as Chinese Super League or CSL, currently known as the China Ping An Chinese Football Association Super League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest tier of professional football in ...

with the team

Guangzhou R&F Guangzhou City Football Club (广州城) is a Chinese professional football club that competes in the Chinese Super League under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team is based in Guangzhou, Guangdong, and their home venu ...

Return to Sweden

On 5 September 2018, Palmgren was appointed as assistant manager of the Swedish club side

IF Brommapojkarna Idrottsföreningen Brommapojkarna, more commonly known as Brommapojkarna (meaning ''the Bromma boys'') or simply BP, is a Swedish football club located in the borough of Bromma, in the western parts of Stockholm municipality. Brommapojkarna is t ...

, following the sacking of Luís Pimenta. He was then manager of FC Nacka Iliria in Stockholm.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Palmgren, Roger 1963 births Living people Swedish football managers Sportspeople from Stockholm S.S. Arezzo managers Expatriate football managers in Sierra Leone Sierra Leone national football team managers Expatriate football managers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Democratic Republic of the Congo national football team managers Expatriate football managers in Rwanda Rwanda national football team managers Expatriate football managers in Namibia Namibia national football team managers Degerfors IF managers Vasalunds IF managers Kwara United F.C. managers Swedish expatriate football managers Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Italy Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Sierra Leone Swedish expatriate sportspeople in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Rwanda Swedish expatriate sportspeople in South Africa Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Namibia AmaZulu F.C. managers 1996 African Cup of Nations managers IF Brommapojkarna managers Guangzhou City F.C. non-playing staff Shanghai Port F.C. non-playing staff