View source for Roland Nilsson

{{Short description|Swedish footballer and manager}}
{{about|the Swedish international footballer|the Swedish shot putter and discus thrower|Roland Nilsson (shot putter)|the Swedish racewalker|Roland Nilsson (racewalker)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2021}}
{{Infobox football biography
| name = Roland Nilsson
| image = Roland Nilsson.jpeg
| upright = 1.1
| caption = Nilsson in 2011
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=y|1963|11|27}}
| birth_place = [[Helsingborg]], Sweden
| height = 1.79 m
| position = [[Defender (association football)|Defender]]
| currentclub = 
| youthclubs1 = [[Helsingborgs IF]]
| youthyears1 = 1974–1980
| years1 = 1981–1982
| years2 = 1983–1989
| years3 = 1989–1994
| years4 = 1994–1997
| years5 = 1997–1999
| years6 = 1999–2001
| years7 = 2001–2002
| years8 = 2004–2006
| clubs1 = [[Helsingborgs IF]]
| clubs2 = [[IFK Göteborg]]
| clubs3 = [[Sheffield Wednesday F.C.|Sheffield Wednesday]]
| clubs4 = [[Helsingborgs IF]]
| clubs5 = [[Coventry City F.C.|Coventry City]]
| clubs6 = [[Helsingborgs IF]]
| clubs7 = [[Coventry City F.C.|Coventry City]]
| clubs8 = [[GAIS]]
| caps1 = 38
| caps2 = 124
| caps3 = 151
| caps4 = 64
| caps5 = 60
| caps6 = 40
| caps7 = 9
| caps8 = 7
| goals1 = 3
| goals2 = 7
| goals3 = 2
| goals4 = 0
| goals5 = 0
| goals6 = 4
| goals7 = 0
| goals8 = 0
| totalcaps = 446
| totalgoals = 12
| nationalyears1 = 1980
| nationalteam1 = [[Sweden men's national under-17 football team|Sweden U16]]
| nationalcaps1 = 4
| nationalgoals1 = 1
| nationalyears2 = 1981–1982
| nationalteam2 = [[Sweden men's national under-19 football team|Sweden U18]]
| nationalcaps2 = 19
| nationalgoals2 = 6
| nationalyears3 = 1984–1986
| nationalteam3 = [[Sweden national under-21 football team|Sweden U21]]
| nationalcaps3 = 13
| nationalgoals3 = 1
| nationalyears4 = 1987–1988
| nationalteam4 = [[Sweden Olympic football team|Sweden Olympic]]
| nationalcaps4 = 9
| nationalgoals4 = 0
| nationalyears5 = 1986–2000<ref>{{Cite news|title=Roland Nilsson – Century of International Appearances|publisher=[[Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation]]|url=https://www.rsssf.org/miscellaneous/nilsson-intl.html}}</ref>
| nationalteam5 = [[Sweden men's national football team|Sweden]]
| nationalcaps5 = 116
| nationalgoals5 = 1
| manageryears1 = 2001–2002
| manageryears2 = 2004–2007
| manageryears3 = 2008–2011
| manageryears4 = 2011–2012
| manageryears5 = 2014–2017
| manageryears6 = 2017–2020
| manageryears7 = 2020–2021
| managerclubs1 = [[Coventry City F.C.|Coventry City]]
| managerclubs2 = [[GAIS]]
| managerclubs3 = [[Malmö FF]]
| managerclubs4 = [[F.C. Copenhagen|Copenhagen]]
| managerclubs5 = [[Sweden men's national under-17 football team|Sweden U17]]
| managerclubs6 = [[Sweden national under-21 football team|Sweden U21]]
| managerclubs7 = [[IFK Göteborg]]
| fullname = Nils Lennart Roland Nilsson
| medaltemplates = {{MedalTeam|{{fb|SWE}}}}
{{MedalCompetition |[[FIFA World Cup]]}}
{{MedalBronze|[[1994 FIFA World Cup|1994]]|}}
}}

'''Nils Lennart Roland Nilsson''' (born 27 November 1963) is a Swedish professional [[Association football|football]] [[Manager (association football)|manager]] and former player. He was most recently the head coach of [[Allsvenskan]] club [[IFK Göteborg]]. As a player, Nilsson played [[List of men's footballers with 100 or more international caps|116 games]] for [[Sweden men's national football team|Sweden]], making him the sixth most capped player in the Sweden national team. He also won the [[UEFA Cup]] and played in the semi-finals of the [[Football World Cup|World Cup]], the [[UEFA European Football Championship|European Championships]], and the [[UEFA Champions League|European Cup]] during a playing career lasting over two decades. He won his first major honour as a manager in 2010 with Malmö FF when the team won Allsvenskan. On 1 April 2011 [[F.C. Copenhagen|Copenhagen]] confirmed Nilsson as the club's new manager to replace [[Ståle Solbakken]] who left Copenhagen to become manager of [[1. FC Köln]] in the summer of 2011.<ref name="fck"/> Nilsson joined Copenhagen on 1 June 2011 but was sacked after six months on 9 January 2012.<ref name=joindate>{{cite web |url= http://www.fck.dk/index.php?pageid=754&newsid=11435|title= Roland Nilsson tiltræder den 1. juni|access-date=25 May 2011 |publisher= FC Copenhagen|language = da|date=25 May 2011}}</ref>

==Playing career==
Born in [[Helsingborg]], Nilsson began his playing career, during which he played predominantly as a [[Defender (association football)#Full-back|right back]], as a seventeen-year-old with his hometown club [[Helsingborgs IF]]. He quickly established himself as a first-team player with ''Di Röe'', earning himself the reputation of being one of the top youngsters in Swedish football. The quality of his performances was such that in 1983 he was signed by [[IFK Göteborg]], who at that point were the pre-eminent team in Sweden.

Despite the promise that he had shown at Helsingborg, Nilsson spent most of his first two seasons with IFK on the bench. However, he did eventually establish himself in the team, first becoming a regular starter during the 1985 season. It was during the latter end of that season that IFK began their run to the semi-final of the European Cup; IFK knocked out the likes of [[Fenerbahçe S.K. (football)|Fenerbahçe]] and [[Aberdeen F.C.|Aberdeen]] before eventually falling to [[FC Barcelona|Barcelona]] on penalties. Nilsson missed one of the penalties in the shootout.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/season=1985/matches/round=1047/match=63984/events/
|title=Barcelona-Goteborg |website=uefa.com |access-date=30 September 2019}}</ref>

On 1 May 1986, shortly after IFK's European Cup exit, Nilsson made his international debut. Sweden's opponents in that game were [[Greece national football team|Greece]], the match ended 0–0. During the year that followed he played a key role in IFK's [[UEFA Cup]] success, during which the team knocked out, amongst others, [[F.C. Internazionale Milano|Internazionale]] before beating [[Dundee United F.C.|Dundee United]] in the final. Besides this, IFK also won the [[Allsvenskan]] in 1987.

Nilsson left IFK in December 1989, joining [[Sheffield Wednesday F.C.|Sheffield Wednesday]] of the English [[Football League First Division]] for £375,000. Despite being relegated at the end of his first season with the club, Nilsson decided to stay and helped them gain promotion at their first attempt. During the time he spent at Wednesday, Nilsson became a real favourite amongst the club's fans as his performances proved to be a catalyst for a footballing renaissance at [[Hillsborough Stadium|Hillsborough]]. In the years that Nilsson played for the club, Wednesday won the [[Football League Cup|League Cup]] in 1991, finished runner-up in the [[FA Cup]] and the League Cup in 1993, and played in Europe for the first time in thirty years. A number of Wednesday's fans still consider Nilsson to be the best right-back, and perhaps even the best foreigner, to ever play for the club. This was confirmed in 2007 when he came out top in a poll on Vital Football to find the club's greatest ever right-back.

While playing for Sheffield Wednesday, Nilsson also took part in two international tournaments for his country. The [[1990 FIFA World Cup|1990 World Cup]] proved to be disastrous for Sweden, who were in the same group as [[Brazil national football team|Brazil]], [[Scotland national football team|Scotland]], and [[Costa Rica national football team|Costa Rica]]; Sweden lost all three matches 2–1. However, the team bounced back in [[UEFA Euro 1992|Euro 1992]], which they hosted, as they reached the semi-finals. Nilsson played in all the games played by Sweden in both tournaments.

In January 1994, Nilsson announced that he was suffering from homesickness and asked to be sold to a Swedish club. His manager, [[Trevor Francis]], convinced him to remain with the club until the end of the season in return for being given an unconditional release at that time. After leaving Sheffield Wednesday, Nilsson rejoined Helsingborg. That summer Nilsson also represented his country in the [[1994 FIFA World Cup|World Cup]], he played every second as the team finished, somewhat surprisingly, in third place.

Nilsson spent the following three years playing for Helsingborg, during which time the club finished as runner-up in both the Allsvenskan and the [[Svenska Cupen]]. In 1996, he was awarded the [[Guldbollen]], a trophy given each year to the best player from Sweden. At this point, Nilsson had planned to see out the rest of his career with his hometown club. However, in 1997 [[Ron Atkinson]], who had signed Nilsson when he was manager at Sheffield Wednesday and was now Director of Football at [[Coventry City F.C.|Coventry City]], made a £200,000 offer to sign him; an offer that Nilsson accepted.

Despite being 33, Nilsson was far from being the club's oldest player; [[Steve Ogrizovic]] and [[Kevin Richardson (footballer)|Kevin Richardson]] were both in their late thirties, whilst [[Gordon Strachan]] was forty.

Nilsson spent one further season at Coventry before once again returning to Helsingborg, where he spent the following two seasons. The last international tournament in which Nilsson played was [[UEFA Euro 2000|Euro 2000]]. He started Sweden's opening game against the co-hosts, [[Belgium national football team|Belgium]]; however, he was substituted at half-time in the game with a concussion after a defensive error, which allowed [[Bart Goor]] to put Belgium ahead,<ref>{{cite news |title=Belgium kick off with fine win |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/euro2000/785765.stm |work=BBC Sport |publisher=British Broadcasting Corporation |date=10 June 2000 |access-date=5 April 2012 }}</ref> Nilsson played no further part in the tournament. Despite this snub, he played a further four games for Sweden, the last coming on 11 October 2000 against [[Slovakia national football team|Slovakia]], the result of that game, like his international debut, was 0–0.

Under his managing years with [[GAIS]], Nilsson occasionally had to make "comebacks" and play himself due to player injuries.

==Managerial career==

===Coventry City===
Coventry City were relegated from the Premier League in May 2001,<ref>{{cite news |title=Coventry relegated at Villa |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/eng_prem/1310324.stm |work=BBC Sport |publisher=British Broadcasting Corporation |date=5 May 2001 |access-date=5 April 2012 }}</ref> and following a poor start to their first season in [[Football League Division One|Division One]], [[Gordon Strachan]] resigned from the club.<ref>{{cite news |title=Strachan quits Coventry |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/c/coventry_city/1535231.stm |work=BBC Sport |publisher=British Broadcasting Corporation |date=10 September 2001 |access-date=5 April 2012 }}</ref> Nilsson was brought in as a player-caretaker manager, despite having no managerial experience, in place of Strachan.<ref>{{cite news |title=Coventry's Swede dreams |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/c/coventry_city/1535997.stm |work=BBC Sport |publisher=British Broadcasting Corporation |date=10 September 2001 |access-date=5 April 2012 }}</ref> Following a number of wins in his caretaker role, Nilsson was given the manager's job on a permanent basis,<ref>{{cite news |title=Nilsson gets nod |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/eng_div_1/1559771.stm |work=BBC Sport |publisher=British Broadcasting Corporation |date=16 October 2001 |access-date=5 April 2012 }}</ref> and the club briefly topped Division One after the turn of the new year. However, Coventry City failed to live up to this early promise and the team were dogged by inconsistency for most of the season. In January 2002 vetern manager Jim Smith was appointed as Nilsson's assistant and in April 2002 Nilsson announced his retirement from playing in order to focus on managing the club.<ref>{{cite news |title=Nilsson hangs up boots |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/eng_div_1/1916761.stm |work=BBC Sport |publisher=British Broadcasting Corporation |date=8 April 2002 |access-date=5 April 2012 }}</ref> This was not to prove successful, and, with Coventry out of the play-off chase, Nilsson and Smith were sacked in April 2002.<ref>{{cite news |title=Coventry sack Nilsson and Smith |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/c/coventry_city/1933074.stm |work=BBC Sport |publisher=British Broadcasting Corporation |date=16 April 2002 |access-date=5 April 2012 }}</ref> Nilsson was manager for 43 league games and achieved a win percentage of 44.13%, a return bettered by only four other Coventry City managers.

===GAIS===
After leaving Coventry, Nilsson briefly worked as a youth team coach at Helsingborg, before he was appointed [[GAIS]] manager on 18 December 2003.<ref>{{cite news |title=Roland Nilsson ny tränare för Gais |url=http://www.dn.se/sport/fotboll/roland-nilsson-ny-tranare-for-gais |work=Dagens Nyheter |date=27 October 2003 |access-date=5 April 2012 |language=sv }}</ref> The club was promoted to [[Allsvenskan]] in 2005 for the first time in six years, after beating [[Landskrona BoIS]] 2–1 on aggregate in the promotion/relegation play-off.<ref>{{cite news |title=Mäktigt! Mitt livs skönaste kryss |url=http://www.dn.se/sport/fotboll/maktigt-mitt-livs-skonaste-kryss |work=Dagens Nyheter |date=30 October 2005 |access-date=5 April 2012 |language=sv }}</ref>

===Malmö FF===
On 10 October 2007, [[Malmö FF]] announced that Nilsson had signed a four-year contract as manager, replacing [[Sören Åkeby]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Roland Nilsson blir Malmö FF's nye tränare |url=http://www.mff.se/Aktuellt/Nyhetsarkiv/2007/2007-10-11_1510.aspx |work=Malmö FF |date=10 October 2007 |access-date=5 April 2012 |language=sv |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131202224522/http://www.mff.se/Aktuellt/Nyhetsarkiv/2007/2007-10-11_1510.aspx |archive-date=2 December 2013}}</ref> This proved to be a controversial move, since Malmö are the main rivals of Helsingborg and IFK Göteborg, two of Nilsson's former clubs. He enjoyed little success during his first two seasons at Malmö FF, and his side finished in mid-table positions in both 2008 and 2009. In 2010, however, he finally managed to create a winning team from the squad left by Åkeby, and the team enjoyed top league positions throughout the season finally winning the league. Nilsson managed the club for the last time in a [[Svenska Cupen]] fixture, which Malmö FF won 3–0 against [[Halmstad BK]] at [[Örjans Vall]], [[Halmstad]].

===Copenhagen===
After a long period of rumors it was announced on 1 April 2011, Nilsson would take over as manager in [[F.C. Copenhagen|Copenhagen]] after [[Ståle Solbakken]].<ref name=fck>{{cite web|title=Roland Nilsson bliver ny cheftræner|url=http://fck.dk/index.php?pageid=754&newsid=11242|publisher=F.C. København|access-date=1 April 2011}}</ref> Nilsson joined the club on 1 June 2011.<ref name="joindate"/> On 9 January 2012, just six months after his recruitment, despite leading the Danish Superliga at the time, he was sacked and replaced by the sporting director [[Carsten V. Jensen]].<ref name=sacked>{{cite news |title=Chok: FCK fyrer Roland Nilsson |first=Kristian Eshøj |last=Josefsen |url=http://sporten.tv2.dk/article.php/id-47318114:chok-fck-fyrer-roland-nilsson.html?forside |work=TV 2 Sport (Denmark) |date=9 January 2012 |access-date=9 January 2012 |language=da }}</ref>

== Career statistics ==

=== International ===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+Appearances and goals by national team and year<ref>{{Cite web|title=Roland Nilsson - Spelarstatistik - Svensk fotboll|url=https://www.svenskfotboll.se/spelarfakta/roland-nilsson/6fdc8afb-e36a-463b-8aed-ff85f45e3a2d/|access-date=29 October 2021|website=www.svenskfotboll.se.|language=sv}}</ref>
!National team
!Year
!Apps
!Goals
|-
| rowspan="15" |[[Sweden men's national football team|Sweden]]
|1986
|6
|0
|-
|1987
|5
|0
|-
|1988
|8
|0
|-
|1989
|9
|0
|-
|1990
|9
|0
|-
|1991
|4
|0
|-
|1992
|8
|0
|-
|1993
|8
|0
|-
|1994
|15
|0
|-
|1995
|4
|0
|-
|1996
|11
|0
|-
|1997
|6
|0
|-
|1998
|6
|0
|-
|1999
|7
|0
|-
|2000
|10
|1
|-
! colspan="2" |Total
!116
!1
|}

: ''Scores and results list Sweden's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Nilsson goal''.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+List of international goals scored by Roland Nilsson
! scope="col" |No.
! scope="col" |Date
! scope="col" |Venue
! scope="col" |Opponent
! scope="col" |Score
! scope="col" |Result
! scope="col" |Competition
! class="unsortable" scope="col" |{{Abbr|Ref.|References}}
|-
| align="center" |1
|3 June 2000
|[[Nya Ullevi]], [[Gothenburg]], Sweden
|{{fb|ESP}}
| align="center" |1–1
| align="center" |1–1
|[[Exhibition game|Friendly]]
|<ref>{{Cite web|title=Sverige - Spanien - Matchfakta - Svensk fotboll|url=https://www.svenskfotboll.se/matchfakta/sverige-spanien-landskamper-herr-senior/1569958/|access-date=29 October 2021|website=www.svenskfotboll.se|language=sv}}</ref>
|}

==Honours==
===Player===
'''IFK Göteborg'''
* [[List of Swedish football champions|Swedish Champion]]: [[1983 Allsvenskan|1983]], [[1984 Allsvenskan|1984]], [[1987 Allsvenskan|1987]]
* [[UEFA cup|UEFA Cup]]: [[1986–87 UEFA Cup|1986–87]]

'''Sheffield Wednesday'''
* [[Football League Cup]]: [[1991 Football League Cup Final|1991]]

'''Helsingborgs IF'''
* [[Allsvenskan]]: [[Allsvenskan 1999|1999]]
'''Sweden'''
* [[FIFA World Cup]] third place: [[1994 FIFA World Cup|1994]]
'''Individual'''
* [[Guldbollen]]: 1996
* [[Swedish Defender of the Year]]: 1996, 1999
* [[Årets Ärkeängel]]: 1988<ref>{{Cite web|title=Alla 47 ärkeänglar {{!}} ifkdb.se|url=https://ifkdb.se/listor/arkeanglar|website=ifkdb.se|access-date=2020-05-06}}</ref>

===Manager===
'''Malmö FF'''
* Allsvenskan: [[2010 Allsvenskan|2010]]
'''Individual'''
* [[Swedish Manager of the Year]]: 2010

==See also==
* [[List of men's footballers with 100 or more international caps]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://fck.dk/truppen/spillerprofil/?playerid=246 F.C. Copenhagen profile] {{in lang|da}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20090720113003/http://mff.se/Personer/A_truppen/Tranare/Roland_Nilsson.aspx Malmö FF Profile] {{in lang|sv}}
* {{ifkdb|name=#17 Roland Nilsson}}

{{Swedish Footballer of the Year}}
{{navboxes colour
|title=Sweden squads
|bg=#FFF01C
|fg=#005B99
|bordercolor=#005B99
|list1=
{{Sweden football squad 1988 Summer Olympics}}
{{Sweden Squad 1990 World Cup}}
{{Sweden Squad 1992 Euro}}
{{Sweden Squad 1994 World Cup}}
{{Sweden UEFA Euro 2000 squad}}
}}
{{Navboxes
|title= Roland Nilsson managerial positions
|list1=
{{Coventry City F.C. managers}}
{{GAIS managers}}
{{Malmö FF managers}}
{{F.C. Copenhagen managers}}
{{Sweden national under-21 football team managers}}
{{IFK Göteborg managers}}
}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nilsson, Roland}}
[[Category:1963 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Expatriate men's footballers in England]]
[[Category:Swedish men's footballers]]
[[Category:Footballers from Skåne County]]
[[Category:Sweden men's international footballers]]
[[Category:Sweden men's under-21 international footballers]]
[[Category:Sweden men's youth international footballers]]
[[Category:Swedish expatriate men's footballers]]
[[Category:Olympic footballers for Sweden]]
[[Category:Footballers at the 1988 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:1990 FIFA World Cup players]]
[[Category:UEFA Euro 1992 players]]
[[Category:1994 FIFA World Cup players]]
[[Category:UEFA Euro 2000 players]]
[[Category:FIFA Men's Century Club]]
[[Category:Allsvenskan players]]
[[Category:Helsingborgs IF players]]
[[Category:IFK Göteborg players]]
[[Category:Premier League players]]
[[Category:Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players]]
[[Category:Coventry City F.C. players]]
[[Category:GAIS players]]
[[Category:Swedish football managers]]
[[Category:Coventry City F.C. managers]]
[[Category:GAIS managers]]
[[Category:Malmö FF managers]]
[[Category:F.C. Copenhagen managers]]
[[Category:IFK Göteborg managers]]
[[Category:Expatriate football managers in Denmark]]
[[Category:Expatriate football managers in England]]
[[Category:Swedish expatriate football managers]]
[[Category:Swedish expatriate sportspeople in England]]
[[Category:Men's association football defenders]]
[[Category:UEFA Europa League–winning players]]
[[Category:Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Denmark]]
[[Category:Danish Superliga managers]]
[[Category:Allsvenskan managers]]
[[Category:English Football League managers]]