Jonas Thern

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Jonas Thern (born March 20, 1967 in Falköping) is a former Swedish football (soccer) player.

Born in Falköping and raised in the town of Värnamo (20,000 inhabitants) in southern Sweden, where he early in his life started practicing with great determination towards what would make him one of the best strategic midfielders in Swedish soccer history. His professional career started in 1985 when he joined the classic Swedish club of Malmö FF, where he stayed for four years, earning him one gold in the 1988 Allsvenskan. In 1989, he won the Guldbollen as Sweden's Footballer of the Year.

From there he went on to have a brilliant career on the continent, playing for Benfica (1989-92), Napoli (1992-94), and Roma (1994-97), and Rangers (1997-99), but his career was cut short by injuries. For Sweden, he played in the 1990 FIFA World Cup and Euro 92, and then won the bronze medal in the 1994 FIFA World Cup in the U.S. Lately he has been keeping busy as head coach for Halmstads BK (in Sweden's first league) as well as running a hostel in his native Värnamo.

[edit] Clubs

IFK Värnamo 1982-1984
Malmö FF 1985-1987
FC Zürich 1987-1988
Malmö FF 1988-1989
Benfica 1989-1992
SSC Napoli 1992-1994
AS Roma 1994-1997
Rangers 1997-1999

Preceded by Glenn Hysén	Guldbollen 1989	Succeeded by Thomas Brolin
Preceded by Glenn Hysén	Sweden football captain 1991–1997	Succeeded by Patrik Andersson

	Sweden squad - 1990 FIFA World Cup
1 Andersson \| 2 J. Eriksson \| 3 Hysén \| 4 Larsson \| 5 Ljung \| 6 R. Nilsson \| 7 Nyhlen \| 8 Schwarz \| 9 Engkvist \| 10 Ingesson \| 11 Jansson \| 12 L. Eriksson \| 13 Limpar \| 14 J. Nilsson \| 15 Strömberg \| 16 Thern \| 17 Brolin \| 18 Ekström \| 19 Gren \| 20 Magnusson \| 21 Pettersson \| 22 T. Ravelli \| Coach: Nordin

	Sweden squad - 1994 FIFA World Cup Third Place
1 Ravelli \| 2 R. Nilsson \| 3 P. Andersson \| 4 Björklund \| 5 Ljung \| 6 Schwarz \| 7 Larsson \| 8 Ingesson \| 9 Thern \| 10 Dahlin \| 11 Brolin \| 12 Eriksson \| 13 M. Nilsson \| 14 Kåmark \| 15 Lučić \| 16 Limpar \| 17 Rehn \| 18 Mild \| 19 K. Andersson \| 20 Erlingmark \| 21 Blomqvist \| 22 Hedman \| Coach: Svensson