Anders Limpar

Anders Erik Limpar (born 24 September 1965) is a Swedish former professional footballer and coach who played as a winger.[3][4][5]

Anders Limpar
Anders Limpar featuring for Sweden
Personal information
Full name Anders Erik Limpar
Date of birth (1965-09-24) 24 September 1965
Place of birth Solna, Sweden
Height 1.72 m (5 ft 8 in)
Playing position(s) Midfielder
Club information
Current team
 Sollentuna Fotbollsklubb
(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[1][2] 36 (3)
2000 Djurgårdens IF 0 (0)
2001–2002 IF Brommapojkarna
2008 Sollentuna United 0 (0)
Total 399 (66)
National team
1987–1996 Sweden 58 (6)
Teams managed
2008– Sollentuna United (Reserve Team)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Limpar featured for clubs IF Brommapojkarna, Young Boys, Cremonese, Arsenal, Everton, Birmingham City, AIK, Colorado Rapids and Djurgårdens IF.[4] Limpar was as well capped 58 times by Sweden, scoring 6 goals altogether.[3]

Club career

Early career

Born in Solna with Hungarian roots, Limpar 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. Limpar quickly became one of the hottest properties in Swedish football, and as so he was offered the chance to journey to Switzerland with Bern club Young Boys. He followed this up in a one-season spell in Italy with Cremonese during the 1989–90 season.

Arsenal

His club career peaked when he signed for Arsenal in the summer of 1990 from Cremonese for £1m.[6] He went on to win the league title in the 1990–91 season, but sat on the sidelines injured for Arsenal's 1993 wins in both the League and the FA Cups.[7][8] He played a particularly notable part in the 1990–91 season, 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 in 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, with 11 of them coming in the league.[9][6] He won the Guldbollen – Sweden's Player of the Year award – in 1991.[10] Limpar scored 20 goals from 116 appearances for Arsenal where he was popular with the fans. He and manager George Graham eventually fell out and with his contract due to come to an end in May 1994, Limpar, who was seeking a new deal at the club, was not offered one by Graham.[11]

Everton

On transfer deadline day[12] in March 1994, Limpar transferred to Everton for £1.6 million.[12][13] Whilst playing for the toffees he won the FA Cup for the first time in 1995.[8] Limpar went on to play a vital role in the Cup final at Wembley, with a run from inside his own half leading to Everton's winning goal being scored 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'.[5]

He also went on to win the Charity Shield of 1995 with Everton.[14] As so, Limpar eventually fell out of favour at Goodison Park after 1995–96, making only two appearances for the club during the 1996–97 season.

Birmingham City

On 20 January 1997, Limpar was signed by Birmingham City for a fee of £100,000.[15][16] He made his league debut on 1 February 1997, in a 1–2 away defeat against Bolton Wanderers.[15] The move proved to be unfruitful, as he made only four appearances, before the club later ended his stay in April 1997.[16]

Later career

Moving back to Sweden on a free transfer to AIK in the summer of 1997, he won the Swedish championship also known as the Allsvenskan in 1998.[14] After two years in Stockholm, he signed for Major League Soccer side Colorado Rapids in February 1999 where he stayed until November 2000. He then returned to Sweden to sign for Djurgårdens IF. However he failed to make an appearance for them and shortly went on to IF Brommapojkarna, where he started his club career. He eventually retired from the game in March 2001 at the age of 35, due to persistent injuries.[7]

International career

In total, Limpar won 58 caps for Sweden, scoring 6 goals. He was a member of one of the most successful Sweden squads ever, the team that finished third at the 1994 FIFA World Cup in the United States. However, he did not have a large role during the tournament, making just one substitute appearance, in the 3rd-place match.[3][17]

Coaching career

Limpar began coaching the youth team at Djurgårdens IF. He was later appointed assistant manager for the Swedish second division team Sollentuna United.[5] In October 2008, aged 43, he played a one-off game for Sollentuna United's reserve side in the position of left back.[18]

Personal life

After retiring from football in 2001, Limpar opened a bar, The Limp Bar, in central Stockholm, although it has since closed.[13] In 2012 Limpar, together with colleague Mikael Crona, founded Swedish company Super Lock which produces plastic boxes. He currently is the CEO of betting site BestBetToday.com.[13]

Honours
Limpar in 2017

Club

Arsenal

Everton

AIK

Djurgårdens IF

International

Sweden

Individual
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References
  1. "Colorado Rapids 1998/99 players stats". Infoplease.com. Retrieved 12 September 2007.
  2. "Colorado Rapids 1999/2000 players stats". Infoplease.com. Retrieved 12 September 2007.
  3. "Anders Limpar: Stats". 11 v 11.com.
  4. "Anders Limpar: Profile". World Football.net.
  5. "Anders Limpar is an Evertonian – and Cup medal donation proves it". Liverpool Echo.co.uk.
  6. "Anders Limpar". Sporting Heroes.net.
  7. "The Sublime Swede: Whatever happened to Anders Limpar?". Vavel.com.
  8. "Snapshot: Anders Limpar". Everton FC.com. Archived from the original on 22 September 2017. Retrieved 7 September 2016.
  9. "Anders Limpar: Feature". Arsenal.com.
  10. "Guldbollen". Fogis.se (in Swedish).
  11. "Playing for George Graham was like living in Iraq, says Anders Limpar". The Guardian.com.
  12. Haylett, Trevor (25 March 1994). "Football: Peacock goes but Francis stays: Mixed day at Queen's Park Rangers while Limpar joins Everton and Beagrie hops to City". The Independent. London. Retrieved 15 November 2011.
  13. Bletsoe, Dai (15 February 2015). "The Sublime Swede: Whatever happened to Anders Limpar?". vavel.com. Vavel. Retrieved 16 August 2015.
  14. "Anders Limpar". Eurosport.com.
  15. "Anders Limpar career stats". Soccerbase. Racing Post. Retrieved 3 March 2012.
  16. Davies, Ian (16 April 1997). "Boro given final piece of fixture jigsaw". The Independent. London. Retrieved 3 March 2012.
  17. "World Cup 1994: Match for third place". FIFA.com.
  18. "Snapshot: Anders Limpar". Everton F.C. official website. 17 October 2008. Archived from the original on 2 August 2012. Retrieved 9 March 2009.
  19. "BPTV: ANDERS LIMPAR I BP:S HALL OF FAME". Solid Sport.com (in Swedish).
  20. "Hall of Fame". IFBP.se (in Swedish).
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