Anders Limpar

Anders Limpar

Personal information
Full name	Anders Erik Limpar
Date of birth	24 September 1965 (1965-09-24)
Place of birth	Solna, Sweden
Playing position	Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Sollentuna United (assistant coach)
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1981–1986	IF Brommapojkarna	77	(20)
1986–1988	Örgryte	47	(9)
1988–1989	Young Boys	27	(7)
1989–1990	Cremonese	24	(3)
1990–1994	Arsenal	96	(17)
1994–1997	Everton	66	(5)
1997	Birmingham City	4	(0)
1998–1999	AIK	22	(2)
1999–2000	Colorado Rapids	36	(3)
2000	Djurgårdens IF	0	(0)
Total		399	(66)
National team
1987–1996	Sweden	58	(6)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Anders Erik Limpar (Hungarian: Limpár András) (born September 24, 1965 in Solna) is a Swedish former footballer of Hungarian origin, who played as a winger. He has played for clubs in Switzerland, Sweden, Italy, England, and the United States.

Life

He was part of one of the most successful Swedish sides ever, the Sweden team that finished third at the 1994 FIFA World Cup in the United States, but did not have a large role during the tournament. In total, he won 58 caps for Sweden, scoring 6 goals.

Being Swedish he started playing football in Brommapojkarna, famous for its production of footballing talent. He then played for Örgryte, joining in the wake of its sensational Swedish championship title in 1985. Although the team was not that successful, Limpar quickly became one of the hottest properties in Swedish football, which meant he was offered the chance to moved abroad to Switzerland with the Young Boys club of Bern. This was followed by a one season spell in Italy with Cremonese during the 1989-90 season.

His club career peaked when he signed for Arsenal in the summer of 1990 from Cremonese, going on to win the Football League in 1990-91, and the FA Cup and League Cup in 1992-93. He played a particularly notable part in the 1990-91 campaign, scoring some important goals, and impressing in his first season with exciting wing play and crowd-pleasing displays. These included a hat-trick against Coventry City a 6-1 win on the final day of the league season, by which time Arsenal were already champions. He managed a total of 13 goals that season, 11 of them in league.

On transfer deadline dayin March 1994, Limpar transferred to Everton for £1.6million, and while there he won the FA Cup a second time with Everton in 1995. Indeed, he played a vital role, his run from inside his own half leading to the winning goal by Paul Rideout. He also hit a memorable 50-yard reverse-pass which led to an Everton break-away that BBC commentator Barry Davies described as the 'pass of the match'.

However, Limpar fell out of favour at Goodison Park after 1995-96, making only two appearances for the club during the 1996-97 season, and was sold to Birmingham City in January 1997 for £100,000. This move proved unsuccessful as he made only 4 appearances before moving back to his homeland on a free transfer to AIK Stockholm in the summer of 1997.

After two years in Stockholm, he signed for Major League Soccer side Colorado Rapids in February 1999. He stayed until November 2000, before returning to Sweden and signing for Djurgårdens IF. He failed to make an appearance for them, however, as he retired from the game in March 2001 at the age of 35, due to his declining physical condition, he began coaching the youth team at Djurgårdens IF.

After retiring from football in 2001, Limpar opened a bar, The Limp Bar, in central Stockholm, although it has since closed. Whilst the bar's closure was initially shrouded in mystery, it has since emerged that it was probably a decision taken on health and safety grounds, due to an incident that occurred in late November 2000. Rumour has it that an over-zealous punter drunkenly slipped and suffered a broken leg, in the process of congratulating Limpar on the afore-mentioned 50-yard reverse ball which lit up the '95 cup final so memorably.

He won the Guldbollen (the Golden Ball - Sweden's player of the year award) 1991. He also won the Swedish championship (Allsvenskan) with AIK in 1998.

Limpar is currently the Assistant Coach for the Swedish second division team Sollentuna United.

Trivia

Anders Limpar was Wayne Rooney's childhood hero when Rooney was growing up. Limpar played for the forward's former club, Everton in the 1990s. He owns a betting shop and a sweet shop. In October 2008, aged 43, he played a one-off game for Sollentuna United's reserve side in the position of left back.

References

http://www.infoplease.com/ipsa/A0877550.html

http://www.infoplease.com/ipsa/A0780672.html

External links

• Anders Limpar on Playerhistory.com