Tomas Brolin
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Tomas Brolin (born November 29, 1969 in Hudiksvall) is a former Swedish football player, a key member of the Swedish national team that finished third in the 1994 World Cup. He was also a member of the Swedish squad that competed at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. His nickname was "Brolle". [1]
Brolin started his career with GIF Sundsvall in 1986. In 1990 he moved to IFK Norrköping, and then to Italian club Parma. That year Brolin would win his first Guldbollen as Sweden's footballer of the year. In the autumn of 1994, Brolin's career hit a huge downturn as he suffered a severe ankle injury during a European Championship qualifying game in Stockholm. He never reached his pre-injury level (made the "World Cup Team" in 1994) again, and was in 1995 sold off in a £4.5million transfer to Leeds United. Battling constant weight problems, he made only 19 appearances for Leeds over the next two seasons. Brolin would endure a loan spell at FC Zurich and another one at Parma, before coming back to England and a non-descript half-year stay with Crystal Palace, where he was caretaker player-manager for a short spell, alongside Italian international Attilio Lombardo. His spell as manager at Palace makes him the youngest manager ever to take charge of a Premiership side, as he was still only 28 years old at the time. At the end of the season he retired from football.
For Sweden, Brolin made 47 appearances and scored 26 goals. Three of those goals came Euro 92, when he was joint top-scorer with three others. He played and scored in the 1990 World Cup. Three more goals came in the 1994 World Cup, as Sweden surprised many by finishing third, and where Brolin's own performance earned him a place in the "World Cup All Star Team". Brolin received his second Guldbollen in 1994.
After retiring from football, Brolin returned to his homeland where he among other things owns an Italian-Swedish restaurant called "Undici" (Italian for "11", the number he wore in Parma). He also invested money in real estate and - to some public amusement - in a firm selling a new type of mouthpiece for vacuum cleaners. Tomas has also played in Swedish non-league football, intriguingly as a goalkeeper. He has also released a single in Sweden, which includes him lying in a hottub surrounded by stereotypically blonde Swedish ladies.
| Preceded by Jonas Thern |
Guldbollen 1990 |
Succeeded by Anders Limpar |
| Preceded by Martin Dahlin |
Guldbollen 1994 |
Succeeded by Patrik Andersson |
| Preceded by Steve Coppell |
Crystal Palace F.C caretaker manager (with Attilio Lombardo) 1998 |
Succeeded by Ron Noades & Ray Lewington (caretakers) |
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Sweden squad - 1990 FIFA World Cup | |
|---|---|---|
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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 |
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Sweden squad - 1994 FIFA World Cup Third Place | |
|---|---|---|
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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 |
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Categories: 1969 births | Living people | Swedish footballers | Sweden international footballers | Parma F.C. players | Serie A players | Leeds United AFC players | Crystal Palace F.C. players | Crystal Palace F.C. managers | FA Premier League players | FA Premier League managers | Swedish football managers | Olympic competitors for Sweden | Footballers at the 1992 Summer Olympics | FIFA World Cup 1990 players | UEFA Euro 1992 players | FIFA World Cup 1994 players | FC Zürich players
![[1]](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Image-brolin.jpg){kind=link}