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. |
|