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 lea ...

who played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

. 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 Java ...

for the Sweden national team and represented his country at the

1978 FIFA World Cup The 1978 FIFA World Cup was the 11th edition of the FIFA World Cup, a Anniversary#Latin-derived numerical names, quadrennial international Association football, football world championship tournament among the men's senior national teams. It wa ...

Club career

Sjöberg played much of his career with

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 ...

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 ...

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 Sport-Club Mühlburg-Phönix e. V., better known as Karlsruher SC, is a Football in Germany, German association football club, based in Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg that currently plays in the 2. Bundesliga, the second tier of Germa ...

in the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

during the 1976–77 season, his former Swedish club only came second in Allsvenskan, behind Halmstad BK, which were led by another Englishman,

Roy Hodgson Roy Hodgson (born 9 August 1947) is an English former football manager and player. He has managed 22 different teams in eight countries, beginning in Sweden with Halmstad in the 1976 season. He later guided the Switzerland national team to t ...

. 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. 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 Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

) and a club from

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

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 The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by top-division European clubs. The competition begins with a round robi ...

in 1978–79 season. (which though was lost to

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founde ...

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

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 secon ...

International career

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

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

in the

Coaching career

He coached

BSC Young Boys Berner Sport Club Young Boys (YB by short abbreviation, ) is a Swiss professional sports club based in Bern, Switzerland. Its first team has won 17 Swiss league championships and eight Swiss Cups. YB is one of the most successful Swiss footbal ...

with

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

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 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; ...

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 – 1977 Moscow bombings, 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 (no ...

Svenska Cupen Svenska cupen (, ), also known as the Swedish Cup in English, 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 ...

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

Stor Grabb STOR may refer to: * ''Short Term Operating Reserve'', see National Grid Reserve Service * STØR, American furniture chain * STOR2RRD, an open-source software tool See also *JSTOR, digital library *Stor (born 1987), Swedish rapper *Stör, a rive ...

: 1976

References

External links

*
NASL stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sjoberg, Thomas 1952 births Living people Swedish men's footballers Footballers from Helsingborg Men's association football midfielders Sweden men's international footballers 1978 FIFA World Cup players Allsvenskan players Bundesliga players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Malmö FF players Al-Ittihad Club (Jeddah) players Chicago Sting (NASL) players Helsingborgs IF players Karlsruher SC players Swedish football managers BSC Young Boys managers Swedish expatriate men's footballers Swedish expatriate football managers Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia Expatriate men's footballers in Saudi Arabia Swedish expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Expatriate football managers in Switzerland 20th-century Swedish sportsmen