Thomas Sjöberg (born 6 July 1952) 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 forward. A full international between 1974 and 1981, he won 45

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 Sweden national team and represented his country at the 1978 FIFA World Cup.

Club career

Sjöberg played much of his career with

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 ...

in Allsvenskan during the 1970s. Already during his first season for

, the club, much to his goal scoring capacity won the top Swedish football league, Allsvenskan in 1974, under 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 ...

. This was repeated the following season. When he then left for

Karlsruher SC Karlsruher SC is a German association football club, based in Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg that currently plays in the 2. Bundesliga, the second tier of German football. Domestically, the club was crowned German champion in 1909, and won the DF ...

in the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

during the 1976-77 season, his former Swedish club only came second in Allsvenskan, behind

Halmstad BK Halmstads Bollklubb, also known simply as Halmstad () or (especially locally) HBK or Bollklubben, is a Swedish Association football, football club located in Halmstad in the county of Halland. The club, formed 7 February 1914 and approved members ...

, which were led by another Englishman, Roy Hodgson. As Sjöberg returned to Malmö FF they won Allsvenskan again! So during four years, Malmö FF won Allsvenskan at three occasions, in which Sjöberg participated during the three "golden years" only. With Malmö FF he won Allsvenskan and became Swedish Champion in 1974, 1975 and 1977. After scoring a goal for Sweden in the 1978 World Cup in Argentina against Brazil, the well bearded Sjöberg become interesting for an Arabian Sheik, who bought him for a club in

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

. This became a rather short adventure for him, and likewise a shorter time in the old North American NASL league (not to be confused with current Major League Soccer) and a club from

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

followed. This time he was absent from Malmö FF for less than 12 months. However he missed an indeed very important season for Malmö FF, and didn't participate in the club's most well known international achievement so far (also by summer of 2014), to reach the final of the European Cup in 1978-79 season. (which though was lost to

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 ...

by a single decider). He did though return to Malmö FF for a third time and for some more seasons. He ended his career in

Lunds BK Lunds BK is a football club from Lund, Sweden founded in 1919. The club currently plays in Division 1 Södra. Despite their relative success Lunds BK has never competed in the Allsvenskan or Superettan, but has played nine seasons in the second ...

International career

Sjöberg was capped 45 times for the Sweden national football team and scored a goal against

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

in the 1978 FIFA World Cup.

Coaching career

He coached BSC Young Boys with

Roland Andersson Åke-Erik Roland Andersson (born 28 March 1950) is a former Swedish football player and coach. His most recent job was that as the assistant coach of the Nigeria national team under Lars Lagerbäck. As a player, he played for Malmö FF and D ...

Career statistics

International

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

Honours

Malmö FF * Swedish Champion: 1974,

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

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 ...

: 1973–74, 1974–75, 1977–78, 1979–80 Individual * Stor Grabb: 1976

References

External links

*
NASL stats
1952 births Living people Swedish footballers Sweden international footballers 1978 FIFA World Cup players Malmö FF players Ittihad FC players Chicago Sting (NASL) players Helsingborgs IF players Karlsruher SC players Sportspeople from Helsingborg Allsvenskan players Bundesliga players Expatriate footballers in Germany Expatriate footballers in Saudi Arabia Expatriate soccer players in the United States Swedish football managers BSC Young Boys managers Expatriate football managers in Switzerland Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Germany Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Swedish expatriate sportspeople in the United States Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia Association football midfielders North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players {{sweden-footy-midfielder-stub