Lars-Åke Lagrell is dead; has answered your last phone call

Of: Robert Laul

Published: September 21, 2020 kl. 18.15
Updated: September 21, 2020 kl. 18.42

Swedish football has had many players who have done their best on the field.

Lars-Åke Lagrell was the president of the SvFF who always gave his all for football off the pitch.

Now Lagrell is dead and soccer leaders of his caliber are no more.

“Former President of the Swedish Football Association Lars-Åke Lagrell has passed away after a long illness, 80 years”.

It came about when the flash appeared on my mobile phone and I saw a photo of the affable, round, bald old man who has been such an important part of the modern history of Swedish football.

Success story.

Lars-Åke Lagrell is the soccer leader from Växjö who always answered the phone.

– Hello Lars-Åke, do I call you and bother you?

– No, no, you just got here, Robert.

Infallible Småland

It might sound like that, but in the infallible Småland, even if it was the middle of the night. Lagrell always answered the phone and always answered questions.

In my opinion, he did it for a very comprehensive reason: it is better that people are too interested in football than too little.

During the 2000s, I called him so often in my journalistic role that even today, 10-15 years later, I can memorize his mobile phone number. One of the few numbers.

Although it was a difficult subject for Lagrell, he never shied away from the questions.

– Come on, Robert.

Lagrell was president of the Swedish Football Association from 1991 to 2012, of course he broke in from time to time.

Like when Örebro SK was relegated from Allsvenskan to Superettan in 2004 because SvFF seemed to want to set an example. The powerful union leader took a stance in favor of the new regulations – the elite license – against the small individual club. This is how ÖSK lived and Lagrell is still not forgiven in all the camps. Maybe it just became one today.

Lost the battle

In 2013, Lars-Åke lost the battle for the 51 percent rule, a strange story about the democratic constitution of sport that ensures that members hold power. Lagrell secretly lobbied for the rule to be broken, which is why I never became wise. It went against most of the other things he stood for.

Lagrell lost that fight, but won the rest.

The common thread of his work has always been interest. King football would be the most important sport in Sweden. National sports. In the 1990s, the prevailing attitude was that if the matches of, for example, the Allsvenskan were televised, the public would stop going to the arenas.

Lagrell thought otherwise, ran the television business, and contributed to the general interest surge. The result? The stands were packed, the 21st century Swedish audience boom was a fact.

Soccer is the greatest

Today, soccer is the most important sport in Sweden and interest is greater than ever. Lars-Åke Lagrell has contributed more than most to this. Getting your successor to even pick up the phone is just a full-time job.

Lars-Åke Lagrell recruited both Tommy Svensson and his successors Tommy Söderberg and Lars Lagerbäck for the captaincy of the men’s national team. There were no given candidates in his time, but the results would give Lagrell the right: he was a success in several ways. With Svensson, Sweden won the World Cup bronze in the United States in 1994, and during Söderberg and later Lagerbäck, Sweden won five consecutive championships: EC 2000, WC 2002, EC 2004, WC 2006 and EC 2008.

Unfortunately, Lagrell’s last league captain, Erik Hamrén, was not as successful, but this time Sven-Göran “Svennis” Eriksson was supposed to be Lagrell’s first choice.

Likewise, Lagrell was also a major factor in the women’s national team that reaped big, big, successes during the 90s and 2000s.

Lagrell’s Legacy – Friends Arena

Lagrell’s legacy is most clearly symbolized by the current national arena. The demolition of Råsunda and the construction of Friends was controversial and controversial at the time. There are still question marks surrounding the Peab deal that have never been fully resolved. The building also had legal consequences when former Solna City Manager Sune Reinhold was convicted of bribery. Peab’s founder and former major, Erik Paulsson, was acquitted and Lagrell was never prosecuted.

Since 2012, Friends Arena has been in place in Solna, it hardly would have done without Lars-Åke Lagrell.

The same year he left his post as president of the Swedish Football Association, and today came the tragic news that Lars-Åke has taken his last call.

Or hell knows for sure.

It cannot be ruled out that now it also responds:

– Hello Lars-Åke, do I call you and bother you?

– No, no, you just got here, Robert.

All for football.

Published: September 21, 2020 kl. 18.15

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