User:Bring back Daz Sampson/Professionalism in Swedish football

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Sweden legalised professional football in 1967.[1] The Swedish model led to a preference for a form of "rational amateurism".[2] In 1999 Swedish football clubs were allowed to sell shares, but were subjected to a 50+1 rule by the rules of the Swedish Sports Confederation.[3]

IFK Göteborg reached the 1985–86 European Cup semi-final and won the 1981–82 and 1986–87 editions of the UEFA Cup as a semi-professional team.[4]

In 1988 AIK Fotboll made Johny Murray, Esa Pekonen and Jari Hudd the club's first ever full-time footballers.[5]

In 1989 Malmo FF became the first club in Sweden with an entire squad of full-time professional footballers.[6] However the experiment was not a success and they reverted to the semi-professional status of their Allsvenskan peers in 1994: "It is as if full-time professionalism is not really accepted within the sporting culture of Sweden".[7]

Thomas Ravelli said in March 1991: "Like most players in Sweden I am a part-time footballer. I spend the rest of the week working as a travelling sales manager. It has always been an ambition to become a full-time professional."[8] In 1994 Ravelli's IFK Göteborg team mate Magnus Erlingmark worked as a public relations assistant, while The Times said another team mate Joachim Björklund: "will surely not for long parade his burning pace in part-time football".[9]

Henrik Larsson signed for Helsingborgs IF in 1992: "Then when I was 21 I heard the local semi-pro team, Helsingborgs IF, who were in the first division, were interested [...] I signed immediately for £300 a month without bonuses."[10]

Helsingborgs were still a part-time outfit when they upset Aston Villa[11] in September 1996 and Inter Milan in August 2000.[12][13]

Part-timers Trelleborgs FF beat Blackburn Rovers F.C. in September 1994, with goalkeeper Ryszard Jankowski their only full-time professional.[14]

Of the 315 players who participated in the 1998 Allsvenskan, fewer than half (147) were full-time professional footballers. Many were students, while just over a quarter (81) had full-time jobs outside football, although this proportion had substantially reduced from previous seasons.[15] Thomas Andersson (footballer, born 1968):[16]

Swedish men's football remained amateur until the mid-1990s, but most players at Allsvenskan clubs had turned professional by 2008. Relatively high taxation in Sweden made it harder for clubs to attract foreign professionals.[17]

When Magnus Pehrsson coached GAIS in the 2008 Allsvenskan, making all the club's players into full-time professionals was one of several changes he introduced.[18]

In 2018 most Allsvenskan players were full-time professionals, earning an average monthly salary of almost SEK 100,000. 20 years previously the league had been mainly semi-professional.[19]

The Unionen trade union reported in May 2019 that 90% of top level male footballers in Sweden earned their living from the sport, against only 50% of top level female players.[20]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Gammelsaeter, Hallgeir (May 2009). "The organization of professional football in Scandinavia". Soccer and Society. doi:10.1080/14660970902771373. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  2. ^ Andersson, Torbjörn; Radmann, Aage (1999). "Everything in Moderation: The Swedish Model". Football Cultures and Identities. Palgrave Macmillan: 67-76. doi:10.1057/9780230378896_6. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  3. ^ Gammelsaeter, Hallgeir; Storm, Rasmus K.; Söderman, Sten (January 2011). "Diverging Scandinavian approaches to Professional Football". The Organisation and Governance of Top Football across Europe. An Institutional Perspective: 77–92. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  4. ^ Nasstrom, Stephan (12 April 1986). "From nowhere to Euro power... Sweden's soccer angels". Irish Independent. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  5. ^ Johrén, Anders (2003). "Johny Murray - Tio Allsvenska Matcher 1988" (in Swedish). AIK Fotboll. Archived from the original on 18 August 2015. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
  6. ^ "History". Malmö FF. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  7. ^ Armstrong, Gary (1999). Football Cultures and Identities. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 71. ISBN 978-0333730102. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  8. ^ "Scotland for me, says Gothenburg star". Aberdeen Press and Journal. 16 March 1991. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  9. ^ Hughes, Rob (22 November 1994). "Spirited Swedes in mood to end United's dream". Irish Independent. Retrieved 11 February 2021.
  10. ^ Larsson, Henrik. "1988 - 1993 the Helsingborgs years". Icons.com. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  11. ^ "Uninspired Villa make exit". The Irish Times. 25 September 1996. Retrieved 29 January 2021. Aston Villa crashed out of the UEFA Cup on the away goals rule to part-timers Helsingborgs as they could only force a 0-0 draw in the Olympia Stadium.
  12. ^ "Inter aim to bounce back". BBC Sport. 13 September 2000. Retrieved 29 January 2021. Marcello Lippi's side find themselves in the Uefa Cup after being dumped out of the Champions League preliminary rounds by Swedish part-timers Helsingborg.
  13. ^ Ingle, Sean (24 August 2000). "Lippi faces the sack after Champions League humiliation". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 January 2021. Marcello Lippi, the man who Alex Ferguson rates as the "best coach in Europe," is facing the sack today after his Internazionale side crashed out of the Champions League to Swedish part-timers Helsingborg.
  14. ^ Moore, Glenn (13 September 1994). "Football: Blackburn humbled by Sandell's strike: Dalglish's Rovers left red-faced by visiting Trelleborgs as Keegan's Geordies mark return to Europe with demolition of Antwerp". The Independent. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  15. ^ Lundh, Olof (2018). Allsvenskan enligt Lundh: Makten, pengarna och tystnaden i svensk klubbfotboll (in Swedish). Albert Bonniers Förlag. p. 66. ISBN 9789100175252. Retrieved 19 February 2021. 147 av de 315 spelarna var heltidsproffs. En hel del pluggade och bara 81 av spelarna jobbade heltid, något som varit mycket vanligt bara några år tidigare.
  16. ^ Lindmark, Jonas (10 October 2014). "Veckans profil: "Jag blev inte heltidsproffs förrän i 30-årsåldern"" (in Swedish). 90 minuter. Retrieved 19 February 2021.
  17. ^ Ingdahl, Waldemar (19 September 2008). "Sweden: Allsvenskan, the last football amateurs". Cafe Babel. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  18. ^ Niklasson, Ulf (24 March 2008). "Pehrsson vet vad han vill" (in Swedish). Göteborgs-Posten. Retrieved 11 February 2021.
  19. ^ Carlén, Anders (6 April 2018). "Allsvenskans baksida – Olof Lundh om villa och fotboll" (in Swedish). Vi i Villa. Retrieved 29 January 2021. Det är ganska precis 30 år sedan Malmö FF tog det första steget och började anställa spelare och för 20 år sedan var väl allsvenskan halvprofessionell.
  20. ^ "Rapport – Hälften av Sveriges kvinnliga fotbollsproffs kan inte leva på sin lön" (in Swedish). Unionen. 14 May 2019. Retrieved 11 February 2021.
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