Svenska herrlandslaget i fotboll 28 maj 1961 mot Schweiz

Tore Klas Agne Simonsson (19 October 1935 – 22 September 2020) was a Swedish

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, rugb ...

who played as a striker. Beginning his career with

Örgryte IS Örgryte Idrottssällskap, commonly referred to as Örgryte IS, Örgryte () or (especially locally) ÖIS or Öis, is a Swedish sports club based in Gothenburg. It consists of four departments, namely bowling, football, athletics and wrestling. H ...

in 1953, he went on to represent

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

and

Real Sociedad Real Sociedad de Fútbol, S.A.D., more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad (; ''Royal Society''), La Real in Spanish, Erreala in Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Basque Country, founded on 7 Septemb ...

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Banco Santander, Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaL ...

in the early 1960s before returning to Örgryte in 1963. Simonsson won 51

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 was a part of the Sweden team that finished second at the

1958 FIFA World Cup The 1958 FIFA World Cup was the sixth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in Sweden from 8 to 29 June 1958. It was the first FIFA World Cup to be played in a Nordic country. Brazil ...

. He was also the recipient of the 1959

Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal The Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal ( sv, Svenska Dagbladets guldmedalj, but usually simply called ''Bragdguldet'', "The Feat Gold") is an annual award "for the most significant Swedish sports achievement of the year". It has been awarded by a jury l ...

after a spectacular performance for Sweden in an international game against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

Club career

Örgryte IS

Simonsson played youth football for BK René before signing for

in 1949. He made his senior debut for Örgryte in 1953, when the team played in Division 3. He helped the team win promotion to Division 2 in 1955, and later won promotion 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 ...

in 1958 with Gunnar Gren as a

player-coach A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...

. While at Örgryte IS, he finished fifth in votes for the 1959 Ballon d'Or and was awarded the 1959

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 ...

Real Madrid

Widely regarded as the best

center forward Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the rol ...

in the world after a string of impressive performances for the Sweden national team, Simonsson was signed by the

team

in 1960. However, fierce competition from especially

Alfredo Di Stéfano Alfredo (, ) is a cognate of the Anglo-Saxon name Alfred and a common Italian, Galician, Portuguese and Spanish language personal name. People with the given name include: *Alfredo (born 1946), Brazilian footballer born as Alfredo Mostarda Fil ...

limited Simonsson's playing chances at the club and he ended up playing in only 3 league games during the 1960–61 La Liga season, scoring one goal as Real Madrid was crowned champions. He scored the third goal against

Real Zaragoza Real Zaragoza, S.A.D. (), commonly referred to as Zaragoza, is a football club based in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, that currently competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish league system. Zaragoza holds its home games at L ...

in a 5–1 home win in 9th round. He was also a part of the Real Madrid teams that won the 1960 Intercontinental Cup and the

1962–63 La Liga The 1962–63 La Liga was the 32nd season since its establishment. The season started on September 16, 1962, and finished on April 21, 1963. Team locations League table Results Relegation play-offs Español won their series again ...

, but did receive any playing time. As of 2022, Simonsson is still the only Swede ever to have represented Real Madrid.

Loan to Real Sociedad

For the 1961–62 La Liga season, Simonsson was loaned out to

for which he scored 8 goals in 22 league games. However, at the end of the season Simonsson was forced to see his team be relegated, as the team finished 15th out of 16 teams in the table.

Return to Örgryte IS

In 1963, Simonsson returned to Sweden and Örgryte IS to form a feared striker partnership together with Rune Börjesson. Simonsson is Örgryte IS' best ever goal scorer in league play with a total of 206 goals.

International career

Early career

Simonsson made his only appearance for the Sweden U21 team on 22 September 1957 in a

friendly game Friendly may refer to: Places * Friendly, West Yorkshire, a settlement in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England * Friendly, Maryland, an unincorporated community in the United States * Friendly, Eugene, Oregon, a neighborhood in the United States ...

against

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bot ...

, scoring a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three w ...

in a 7–0 win. He made his full international debut 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 countries, Nordic c ...

a month later on 13 October 1957 in a

1956–59 Nordic Football Championship The 1956–59 Nordic Football Championship was the seventh tournament staged. Four Nordic countries participated: Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. Sweden won the tournament, its fifth Nordic Championship win. Results 1956 1957 ...

game against

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, 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 ...

, scoring two goals as Sweden won 5–2.

1958 FIFA World Cup

Simonsson scored four goals as Sweden reached the final of the

on home soil, including a goal in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

as Sweden lost 2–5 to

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 ...

Later career

He was awarded the 1959

as well as the 1959

after his performance against

on 28 October 1959 when Sweden beat the English 3–2 at

and Simonsson scored two goals and made one assist. This was only the second time in history that a team beat England at Wembley. He won his 51st and final

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

in a 2–0 win against

on 10 August 1967 in the

1964–67 Nordic Football Championship The 1964–67 Nordic Football Championship was the ninth tournament staged. Four Nordic countries participated: Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. Sweden won the tournament, its seventh Nordic Championship win. Results 1964 1965 ...

. He scored a total of 27 international goals.

Managerial career

In 1982, he managed

BK Häcken Bollklubben Häcken, more commonly known as BK Häcken or simply Häcken (), is a Swedish professional football club based in Gothenburg. It currently plays in Allsvenskan, the top tier of Swedish football. Formed on 2 August 1940, Häcken has p ...

to win promotion to their first ever season in

. As a manager for Örgryte IS, Simonsson led the team to the 1985 Swedish Championship title, winning them their first league title since

1913 Events January * January 5 – First Balkan War: Battle of Lemnos – Greek admiral Pavlos Kountouriotis forces the Turkish fleet to retreat to its base within the Dardanelles, from which it will not venture for the rest of the ...

Career statistics

International

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

Honours

Player

Örgryte IS *

Division 2 Västra Götaland Division 2 is the fourth level in the league system of Swedish football and comprises 84 Swedish football teams. Division 2 had status as the official second level from 1928 to 1986 but was replaced by Division 1 in 1987. It then had status as ...

: 1957–58

Real Madrid

: 1960–61, 1962–63 * Intercontinental Cup:

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Ja ...

Sweden

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament has ...

runner-up:

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third ...

Nordic Football Championship The Nordic Football Championship ( da, Nordisk Mesterskab, no, Nordisk Mesterskap, sv, Nordiska Mästerskapet, fi, Pohjoismaiden-mestaruusturnaus, commonly abbreviated NM or PM) was an international football competition contested by the men's ...

: 1956–1959 Individual *

: 1959 *

: 1959 * Kristallkulan: 1959 * Nordic Football Championship top scorer: 1956–1959 Records * Most league goals for

: 206 goals

Manager

BK Häcken * Division 3 Nordvästra Götaland:

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 ...

Örgryte IS * Swedish Champion:

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

References

External links

SvFF Hall of Fame profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Simonsson, Agne 1935 births 2020 deaths Swedish footballers Swedish expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Spain Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Spain Örgryte IS players La Liga players Real Madrid CF players Real Sociedad footballers Sweden international footballers 1958 FIFA World Cup players Association football forwards Swedish football managers Örgryte IS managers BK Häcken managers Iraklis Thessaloniki F.C. managers Swedish expatriate football managers Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Greece Expatriate football managers in Greece Footballers from Gothenburg