PHOTO: Bildbyrån
Hard, harder, Stefan Schwarz.
The legendary midfield general was brutal to face on the pitch.
Today we pay tribute to the football icon and Swedish WC 94 hero on his 55th birthday.
It really hurt to face the legendary Stephen Schwarz on the field. Most of his opponents during his successful football career can attest to that.
Schwarz’s career
The Malmö son would play for some of Europe’s truly classic clubs in Bayer Leverkusen, Benfica, Arsenal, Fiorentina, Valencia, Sunderland and Malmö FF. In five different countries, Schwarz made his big mark with his hard-nosed and irreverent playing style.
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And in the Swedish national team, he is forever a legend with his 69 caps and above all his performance as one of the best players in blue and yellow during the unforgettable World Cup in 1994. When Sweden won a sensational World Cup bronze in the USA, Schwarz was so incredibly valuable in the midfield , together with the pair horse Jonas Thern.
More than Ronaldo
Another unforgettable career moment that truly describes Stefan Schwarz’s style of play is the World Cup qualifier against Scotland in 1997. During the match, he broke both his calf and tibia – but still played on for five minutes without issue before reluctantly leaving the field.
– It felt like walking into a table. That pain. But it didn’t end, he says in an old interview with Aftonbladet.
– Our national team doctor at the time, Jan Ekstrand, said that I did certain things that you can only do in war.
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But in addition to a brutal pain threshold, Schwarz also possesses an absolutely world-class physique. Even in the fall of age, the rhythms are still there, and a few years ago, the football legend completed the fabled “16 weeks of hell”, a rock-hard training program that changed his life and lifestyle.
READ MORE: Here, Stefan Schwarz picks out the 11 best he’s ever played with – and it’s goosebumps for all nostalgics
It was said that Cristiano Ronaldo did 3,000 situps a day, when he was at his most fit. Schwarz reveals that he got up to a whopping 3,200 situps per day, about five to six times a week.
– But I do mine in 40 minutes, not a day, Stefan says with a smile to the evening newspaper and admits how absurdly many situps he has done the most.
– One day I made over 12,000…
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