Nils-Åke Sandell (5 February 1927 – 29 May 1992) was a Swedish football player and manager.

Club career

Sandell started his playing career in his birth city Lund at local club

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 ...

. After a brief period at

IFK Malmö Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna Malmö, more commonly known as IFK Malmö, is a Swedish sports club with several departments, located in Malmö. The club was founded on 23 April 1899. The football department of IFK Malmö is one of the oldest footb ...

he returned to Lund before moving to

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 the 1952 season. After spending 4 years in Malmö Sandell had quite a reputation for being a goalscorer and tried his luck in Italy and

SPAL 1907 Società Polisportiva Ars et Labor, commonly known as S.P.A.L. (), is a professional football club based in Ferrara, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. The team plays in Serie B, the second tier of the Italian football league system. Founded in 1907, sinc ...

. After his period in Italy Sandell returned to Malmö FF and played one last season there in 1958. Malmoffplayers1955

International career

He played a crucial role in Sweden's triumph at the

1952–55 Nordic Football Championship The 1952–55 Nordic Football Championship was the sixth tournament staged. Four Nordic countries participated: Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. Sweden won the tournament, its fourth Nordic Championship win. Results 1952 1953 ...

, being the top goal scorer of the tournament with 10 goals in 8 caps, and he was also part of Sweden's squad for the Football at the 1952 Summer Olympics, football tournament at the 1952 Summer Olympics, but he did not play in any matches.

Managerial career

After returning from Italy and playing for a couple of games during the 1958 season Sandell were asked to become manager of the club. He managed the club from 1959 to 1963 winning no titles. Sandells manager career continued throughout regional clubs in Scania, Skåne and finished his career at IFK Malmö, nearly managing to promote them to Allsvenskan in 1980.

Honours

Sweden * Football at the Summer Olympics, Summer Olympics bronze medal: Football at the 1952 Summer Olympics, 1952 * Nordic Football Championship: 1952–55 Nordic Football Championship, 1952–1955 Individual * Nordic Football Championship top scorer: 1952–55 Nordic Football Championship, 1952–1955

References

Sources

* 1927 births 1992 deaths Swedish footballers Sweden international footballers Olympic footballers of Sweden Footballers at the 1952 Summer Olympics Allsvenskan players Serie A players Malmö FF players Lunds BK players S.P.A.L. players Swedish expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Italy Swedish football managers Malmö FF managers Association football forwards Sportspeople from Lund {{Sweden-footy-forward-stub