Lars Rickard "Lasse" Eriksson (born 21 September 1965) 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 lea ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

. He represented

Hammarby IF Hammarby Idrottsförening ("Hammarby Sports Club"), commonly known as Hammarby IF or simply Hammarby ( or, especially locally, ), is a Swedish sports club located in Stockholm, with a number of member organizations active in a variety of differ ...

IFK Norrköping Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna Norrköping, more commonly known as IFK Norrköping or simply Norrköping, is a Swedish professional association football, football club based in Norrköping. The club is affiliated to Östergötlands Fotbollför ...

Charleroi Charleroi (, , ; ) is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. It is the largest city in both Hainaut and Wallonia. The city is situated in the valley of the Sambre, in the south-west of Belgium, not ...

, and

FC Porto Futebol Clube do Porto, Order of Prince Henry, MHIH, Order of Merit (Portugal), OM (), commonly known as FC Porto or simply Porto, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Porto. It is best known for the professional association footbal ...

during a career that spanned between 1986 and 2001. A full international between 1988 and 1995, he won 17

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 Java ...

for the Sweden national team and was a part of Sweden's

1990 FIFA World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second ...

UEFA Euro 1992 The 1992 UEFA European Football Championship was hosted by Sweden between 10 and 26 June 1992. It was the ninth UEFA European Championship, which is held every four years and supported by UEFA. Denmark won the 1992 championship, having been inv ...

, and

1994 FIFA World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States w ...

squads. He also represented the Sweden Olympic team at the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and officially branded as Seoul 1988 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. 159 nations were represe ...

Early life

Eriksson grew up in

Haninge Haninge Municipality () is a municipality in Stockholm County in east central Sweden. Its seat is located in Handen, a part of the Stockholm urban area. Haninge Municipality was formed in 1971 when ''Västerhaninge'' and ''Österhaninge'' were ...

in Stockholm County where he started playing football at the local club

Vendelsö IK Vendelsö IK is a Swedish football club located in Haninge in Stockholm County. Background Vendelsö Idrottsklubb were formed on 16 March 1941. The club currently has around 2,500 members and runs football, floorball, and table tennis from th ...

. He moved to

as a youngster in 1977 at age 12. During his early teens, he lived abroad for a few years together with his family before returning to Hammarby and their B-team.

Club career

Hammarby IF

Eriksson made his professional debut for Hammarby in

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; ), also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan (, ) is a professional association football league in Sweden and the highest level of the Swedish football league system. Founded in 1924, it operates on a system of promotion and relegatio ...

in 1986, aged 21, replacing Mark White as starter halfway through the season. He made his debut in a 5-1 win against

Kalmar FF Kalmar Fotbollförening, more commonly known as Kalmar FF, is a Swedish professional football club based in Kalmar, Sweden. The club is affiliated to Smålands Fotbollförbund and play their home games at Guldfågeln Arena. Formed on 15 June 1 ...

with Hammarby only conceding 1,2 goals per game during the remainder of the season with Eriksson between the posts. He stayed as the club's first choice goalkeeper for another two seasons, before leaving in 1988 when Hammarby got relegated to

Division 1 Division 1 or Division One may refer to: Association football * Azadegan League, the second-tier professional football league in Iran * Brisbane Premier League Division 1, the second-tier professional football league in Brisbane, Queensland, Austr ...

IFK Norrköping

Before the start of the 1989 season he signed with

in Allsvenskan. The team finished in second place during the regular series the same year, but won the subsequent play-off, ultimately being crowned Swedish champions. Eriksson saved two penalties in the third and decisive game of the finals against

Malmö FF Malmö Fotbollförening (), commonly known simply as Malmö FF or MFF, is a Swedish professional football club based in Malmö, Scania. They compete in the Allsvenskan, the top division of Swedish football, and play home matches at the Eleda S ...

on 15 November 1989. In 1990, he was awarded "player of the year" by the Östergötland Football Association. He would later play another five seasons at Norrköping, with the team consequently finishing in the top half of the table. Lars Eriksson featured in every competitive game for the club during this tenure. He also won two Swedish Cup-titles with "Peking", in 1990–91 and 1993–94.

Charleroi

Halfway through the 1995–96 season, he moved abroad for the first time in his career. He signed for the

Belgian Pro League The Belgian Pro League (; ; ), officially the Jupiler Pro League () for sponsor Jupiler, is a professional association football league in Belgium and the highest level of the Belgian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs from the 2023 ...

league club Charleroi S.C. However, he would only feature in 9 competitive games for the side before moving to Portuguese club

in March 1996.

FC Porto

At Porto, he was crowned

Liga NOS The Primeira Liga (), also known as Liga Portugal Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Portugal and the highest level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga ...

champion during three consecutive seasons, in 1995–96, 1996–97 and 1997–98. However, he was used sparingly and only featured in 13 competitive games. During his tenure at the club he mostly served as a backup for

Vítor Baía Vítor Manuel Martins Baía, OIH (; born 15 October 1969) is a Portuguese former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. One of the most decorated goalkeepers of all time, his career was intimately connected with FC Porto, which h ...

Andrzej Woźniak Andrzej Woźniak (born 23 October 1965) is a Polish goalkeeping coach and former professional association football, footballer who played as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. He spent most of his career with ŁKS Łódź and Widze ...

Silvino Louro Silvino de Almeida Louro (born 5 March 1959), known simply as Silvino in his playing days, is a Portuguese former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Having ended his professional career in his 40s – playing in 21 Primeira Liga seasons an ...

and

Henrique Hilário Henrique () may refer to: *Henry, Count of Portugal (1066–1112) * Henry I, King of Portugal (1512–1580) *Henry the Navigator (1394–1460), a royal prince and important figure in the early days of the Portuguese Empire People * Carlos Henri ...

Return to Hammarby IF

During the 1998 Allsvenskan midseason he returned to his native country, signing a deal with his first professional club Hammarby in July the same year. After returning with an injury, Eriksson's comeback would however be postponed up until the season of 1999, when he also was appointed

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

of the team. In 2001, he won

for the second time in his career. Hammarby secured the title from a victory against

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. ...

on 21 October, on the second to last match day of the campaign. As he already had decided on retiring after the season, Eriksson was praised by the fans at the home ground

Söderstadion Söderstadion () was a football and bandy stadium in Stockholm, Sweden. It was opened in 1966 and closed in 2013, being replaced by nearby Tele2 Arena. Söderstadion had a capacity of 12,800 depending on usage. A record attendance of 22,000 was ...

together with then manager

Sören Cratz Carl Sören Harry Cratz (born 28 September 1948) is a Swedish former football manager. As a manager of Hammarby IF, he won the 2001 Allsvenskan Allsvenskan 2001, part of the 2001 Swedish football season, was the 77th Allsvenskan season played. ...

, who also were to leave the club. After the season, he was voted goalkeeper of the year at the annual

Fotbollsgalan Fotbollsgalan is an official and annual Swedish sports awards ceremony honoring achievements in Swedish football. It is organised by Swedish Football Association The Swedish Football Association (, SvFF) is the governing and body of football ...

, hosted by the

Swedish Football Association The Swedish Football Association (, SvFF) is the governing and body of football in Sweden. It organises the football leagues – Allsvenskan for men and for women – and the men's and women's national teams. It is based in Solna and is a ...

. In 2004, Eriksson was voted as Hammarby's sixth biggest profile throughout the history of the club.

International career

Lars Eriksson debuted for the Swedish under-21 national team against

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

in 1986. He would later win 15 caps for the team, making his final appearances during the 1990 UEFA European Under-21 Championship. He made his debut in the Sweden men's national football team, national senior team on January 12 in 1988, starting in a 4-1 win over East Germany national football team, East Germany in Maspalomas. In total he would play 17 matches for his country up until 1995, often being used as bench cover for Thomas Ravelli. He took part in several major tournaments, the 1988 Summer Olympics,

and 1992 European Football Championship, Euro 1992.

Style of play

Eriksson was known a goalkeeper with good reactions and a strong line play. He was also noticed for his frequent ability of saving Penalty kick (association football), penalties.

Managerial career

After his playing career ended, he was assigned the role as a goalkeeping coach at Hammarby in 2002. He would remain at this position up until 2007, when he was promoted to director of football at said club. He was however fired two years later, in May 2009, due to lack of results and financial reasons. In late 2009, he joined the staff of the newly-appointed Sweden national team manager Erik Hamrén as the goalkeeping coach. He was a part of the personnel during the UEFA Euro 2012, Euro 2012 and UEFA Euro 2016, Euro 2016, mainly working with the Sweden national team starter Andreas Isaksson, before leaving his post after the latter tournament.

Career statistics

International

Honours

IFK Norrköping * List of Swedish football champions, Swedish Champion: 1989 Allsvenskan, 1989 * Svenska Cupen: 1990–91 Svenska Cupen, 1990–91, 1993–94 FC Porto * Primeira Liga: 1994–95 Primeira Divisão, 1994–95, 1995–96 Primeira Divisão, 1995–96, 1996–97 Primeira Divisão, 1996–97, 1997–98 Primeira Divisão, 1997–98 * Taça de Portugal: 1997–98 Taça de Portugal, 1997–98 Hammarby *

: 2001 Allsvenskan, 2001 Sweden * FIFA World Cup third place: 1994 FIFA World Cup, 1994

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Eriksson, Lars 1965 births Living people Swedish men's footballers Sweden men's international footballers Sweden men's under-21 international footballers Allsvenskan players Belgian Pro League players Primeira Liga players FC Porto players IFK Norrköping players Royal Charleroi S.C. players Hammarby Fotboll players 1990 FIFA World Cup players 1994 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 1992 players Men's association football goalkeepers Olympic footballers for Sweden Footballers at the 1988 Summer Olympics Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Hammarby Fotboll directors and chairmen Footballers from Stockholm Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Portugal 20th-century Swedish sportsmen