Björn Nordqvist
Björn Nordqvist ( born October 6, 1942 in Hallberg ) is a former Swedish football player who in 1963 denied 115 caps for Sweden until 1978.
Career
Clubs, 1952-1983
His youth spent Nordqvist at his home club IFK Hallberg. In the summer he played football, hockey and bandy in winter, depending on where he was needed at the moment. Bandy was his " second love " and has also helped physically to get him into a top-notch condition for the exercise of competitive sports. For Hallberg, he played from 1958 to 1960 49 league games with five goals and moved in 1961 to IFK Norrköping in the port city in the province of Östergötland, where he won at the start, in 1962 and 1963, twice the championship in the Allsvenskan. In 1969 he triumphed with a 1-0 victory against AIK Solna -Stockholm also in the cup competition. In the European Cup of Champions 1962/63 and 1963/64, Nordqvist difference with the team from the Idrottspark against Benfica and AC Milan respectively in the second round. In Europe Cup Winners' Cup was 1969/70, FC Schalke 04, the last stop. The IFK in from midfield to the stopper position gerückte Nordqvist played from 1961 to 1972 for Norrköping 468 point and cup matches and scored 26 goals. In 1968 he was elected to Sweden's Footballer of the Year.
At age 30, he ventured abroad and moved to PSV Eindhoven in the Dutch Eredivisie. The PSV he won in 1974 with a 6-0 win against NAC Breda Cup and won the 1975 championship. In Europe Cup Winners' Cup 1974/75 he sat down with Eindhoven in the quarter-final against Benfica through and failed only in the semi-finals at Dynamo Kiev. After he finished his activity at PSV Eindhoven and went together with his longtime team-mate Ove Kindvall back into the native Sweden for IFK Göteborg. In 1979 he was again the trophy victory win and then moved overseas and hired at Minnesota Kicks on until 1980. Björn Nordqvist but finished his career in Sweden. From 1980 to 1983 he held the post of player coach at Örgryte IS in Gothenburg and finished his career in 1983. He played in 23 years, over 1,100 games, including over 450 for the championship.
Excellent active football players Nordqvist had a strong positional play, tactical discipline, tough, but always fair and safe physical effort heading ability.
National Team, 1963-1978
After his debut on April 4 at the 1963 lost with 0:4 goals match against Hungary could not guess, the 15 -year-long career in the national team for the players of IFK Norrköping. The main cast, he was then not until early 1966, and was then at the three World Cups in 1970, 1974 and 1978 there. In the qualifying games before the 1970 World Cup on October 15, 1969 decided the 2-0 win over France. In Mexico, brought him coach Orvar Bergmark against Italy and Uruguay used. On points with Uruguay divided the team Nordqvist, Ove Kindvall and Bo Larsson out after the group stage with two goals. Before the World Cup 1974 in Germany a playoff decided on 27 November 1973 in Gelsenkirchen against Austria who would prevail in qualifying. Sweden won on snow ground on a bitterly cold November evening 2-1 in. Coach George " Abi " Ericson said after the game about his stopper who had completed his 71st international game: "He's like a fine wine, the older he gets, the better he is. " In the World Cup tournament, the captain held in the group matches against the Netherlands and Uruguay the defense together and played in the final round of the three games against Poland, Germany and Yugoslavia. The performance of the Swedish team were not only impressed with the game against the hosts. With Ralf Edström, Ove Grahn, Ronnie Hellström, Bo Larsson, Roland Sandberg and Conny Torstensson had stopper and captain Nordqvist also international best -rounder at his side. His 109th game in the " Blågult " denied the veteran at the 1978 World Cup in Argentina on June 3 in the 1-1 draw against Brazil. Against Austria and Spain followed his ninth and tenth world championship game. With the game record of 115 caps Nordqvist ended after the European Championship qualifier on October 4, 1978 at Rasundastadion in Stockholm against Czechoslovakia - two days before his 36th birthday - his international career.
Apart from the sports field
Mid-eighties, he gained in his home again popularity as a performer in the twelve-part television series " Äshöjdens BK ". Nordqvist was employed by a lottery company.