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      MATCH PREVIEW

DATE: Thursday 19th July 2012
FIXTURE:
Malmö FF v West Bromwich Albion 
COMPETITION: Pre-season friendly
VENUE: Swedbank Stadium
KICK-OFF:
6:00pm (BST)

FIXTURE HISTORY

Despite playing a number of matches against Swedish teams over the years, Albion's game against Malmö on Thursday will be the first ever meeting of the two clubs. Until recently there was however a huge connection between Malmö and the Baggies - Roy Hodgson. The new England manager and former Albion 'Head Coach' managed the Swedish side from 1985-89 and was a huge success, leading Malmö to one of the most successful spells in the club's history.

Albion's first encounter with a team from Sweden came in May 1909 during a tour of Scandinavia - the club's first ever trip overseas. Having already played games against Newcastle United in Copenhagen and Hull City in Stockholm, the Baggies faced Gefle FC in a game that finished in a rather convincing 10-0 win for the tourists, Bill Garraty scoring six of the Albion goals.

The next tour game saw the goals continue to flow for Albion with a 8-3 victory over a Stockholm 'Select X1'. A second game against Hull followed before Albion beat a Swedish 'Select X1' 2-0 in Stockholm. The tour finished with a 3-1 defeat against a Danish 'Select X1' in Copenhagen.

Albion's next visit to Sweden was to take part in, and win, the 1972 Swedish Örenduscupen Tournament.  Don Howe's men beat Kalmar FF 3-0 and Helsingborgs IF 3-1 before ending the competition with a 1-1 draw against Landskrona BoIS. Bobby Gould top scored for the Baggies with four goals.

April 1981 saw the next visit to Sweden take place when a Ron Atkinson led side suffered a 2-0 defeat against a Swedish 'X1'. Just three years passed before the club returned to the Nordic country to take part in the wonderfully named Swenglish Cup. A 2-2 draw with Örgryte IS saw the trophy shared, Tony Grealish and Michael Forsyth the Baggies' goalscorers. The game was Albion's last on Swedish soil up until now.

Albion have hosted Swedish opposition just the once, IFK Göteborg visiting The Hawthorns for friendly in January 1995. The hastily arranged game saw Alan Buckley's men turn on the style and pull off a shock 4-1 victory against one of the top teams in Europe at the time. Kevin Donovan (2), Paul Raven and Bob Taylor were the Albion scorers.

MALMÖ FF CONNECTIONS

Current England boss and former Albion 'Head Coach' Roy Hodgson spent a hugely successful four years as Malmö manager, leading the club to a number of trophies. Due to his successful time at Malmö, the club's fans unofficially named a section of their stadium "Roy's Hörna" (Roy's Corner).

Hodgson also managed three other Swedish clubs: Halmstads BK, IK Oddevold and Örebro SK.

SWEDISH CONNECTIONS

Current Albion centre-half Jonas Olsson is a Swedish international, so far winning 10 caps for his country. Born in Landskrona in March 1983, Olsson started his career with Landskrona BoIS, spending two years in the first team before moving on to Dutch side NEC Nijmegen. After a successful three years in Holland Olsson moved to The Hawthorns where he has become a huge fan favourite.

Norwegian defender Vetle Andersen made just one substitute appearance for Albion in 1989 whilst on non-contract terms with the club. On leaving The Hawthorns he linked up with Swedish side Halmstads. Andersen also had a spell with lower league side IS Halmia.

Another connection between Albion and Halmstads is Artim Sakiri, the Macedonian international who had an unsuccessful two year spell in the Midlands. Joining from CSKA Sofia in 2003, the midfielder made a great start to his Albion career with a 30 yard goal on his full league debut for the club but soon fell out of favour and ended up making just 11 starts for the Baggies before leaving to join Danish side AaB Aalborg.

Solihull born Graham Potter joined Albion in February 1997 from Southampton. The left-back, who was capped once by England under 21s, never really fulfilled the early promise of his career and struggled to nail down a regular first team spot at The Hawthorns, eventually leaving to join York City in the summer of 2000 after making just under 50 appearances for the Baggies in three years. After his professional playing career ended in 2005, Potter started coaching on the university circuit, spending time at both the University of Hull and Leeds Metropolitan University. In 2011 Potter became the coach of Swedish club Östersunds FK.

Goalkeeper Chris Adamson was a regular for Albion's reserve and youth sides during the late 1990s and early 2000s but  made just 13 first team appearances. During his time at The Hawthorns Adamson spent a spell on loan at Swedish second tier club IK Brage.

Jesse Carver, who managed Albion for just eight months in 1952, was coach under manager George Raynor for the Swedish national side during the 1958 World Cup Finals held in Sweden. Prior to taking over as Baggies' boss Carver led Italian giants Juventus to the Serie A title.

Birmingham-born defender John Smith made his only first team appearance for Albion against Millwall in a League Cup tie at The Den in October 1983. Smith would later have a short spell in Sweden with IFK Trelleborg.

Former Albion reserves of the 1980s; Colin Jones and Carl Whitehouse, also had spells in Swedish football.

PREVIOUS MATCHES AGAINST SWEDISH OPPOSITION

 DATE  OPPONENT H/A F-A  SCORERS  GATE
 Sun 29 Jan 1995  IFK Göteborg H 4-1  Donovan 2, Raven, Taylor - Lilienberg    8,546
 Wed 03 Oct 1984  Örgryte IS (1) N 2-2  Grealish, Forsyth - *    2,588
 Wed 29 Apr 1981  Sweden XI (2) N 0-2 *    3,969
 Tue 01 Aug 1972  Landskrona BoIS (3) A 1-1  T Brown - *    7,114
 Sun 30 Jul 1972  Helsingborgs IF (3) A 3-1  Gould 2, McVitie - *    7,995
 Fri 28 Jul 1972  Kalmar FF (3) A 3-0  Gould 2, Nisbet    5,026
 Thu 27 May 1909  Swedish Select XI (4) N 2-0  Garraty, Buck  15,000
 Sun 23 May 1909  Stockholm Select XI (4) N 8-3  Buck 4, Davies 2, Garraty, Harris - *  10,200
 Fri 21 May 1909  Gefle A 10-0  Garraty 6, Buck 2, Harris, Manners    6,500
 
 1 - Swenglish Cup played at Rimnersvallen, Uddevalla.
 2 - Played in Gothenburg.
 3 - Swedish Örenduscupen Tournament.
 4 - Played in Stockholm.
 * - Scorers unknown.

 

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