PHOTO: Bildbyrån
He was considered one of the best wing players in the world.
And won WC gold, EC gold and double Olympic silver.
Today, handball icon Erik Hajas lives a completely different life.
“The shark” from Huddinge broke through in the parent club IFK Tumba, but it was in the big club Guif that he would reap the greatest success during his handball career. Erik Hajas became the left-six who took the whole world by storm thanks to his incredible speed.
Haja’s career
During the 80s and 90s, the Swede was considered one of the world’s best wing players in handball, and he was feared by everyone for his witty counterattacks. Hajas made his national team debut back in 1984 and would become a key player in the highly successful “Bengan Boys”, under the leadership of the legendary national team captain Bengt Johansson.
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There were a total of 281 international matches and an incredible 996 goals in the blue and yellow national team shirt, which makes him one of the best goalscorers of all time. The left-wing virtuoso Hajas won six medals with the Swedish national handball team in the form of two Olympic silvers, a WC gold, two WC bronzes and an EC gold.
Unexpected job
He also won the top scorer six times in the Elitserien and until 2014 he was the top scorer of all time with an impressive 1,986 goals. He also tried his hand at an adventure abroad in Spanish CB Maritim Puerto Cruz but after just one year he moved back home.
– We were going to have children and my wife wanted to go home. I had to choose, he says in an old interview.
– That version is not entirely truthful. Of course we wanted to have children and were a little hesitant to stay abroad. I had a two-year contract with Puerto Cruz in Tenerife but started to get a foot in the fire department and really wanted the job. Professional life was perfect in many ways, but I enjoy this job immensely, says one of the best handball players in the world of the last decade who would have easily secured his financial future if he had played abroad all these years.
READ MORE: Bengan Johansson’s unknown letter to the players in “Bengan Boys” – reveals the giant’s anger: “Prisoned and upset”
Therefore, Hajas moved back to Sweden again, started working as a fireman and started a family with two children. After the successful playing career, the now 62-year-old legend has kept busy as a coach for his son Andreas Hajas in the parent club IFK Tumba as well as continuing to work as a firefighter at Södertörn’s fire brigade.
– There will be quite a lot of fluctuation between the stations, but we are a group that works together and enjoys it. It’s a bit like being in a team. There will be a certain jargon and togetherness, Erik Hajas described his life as a fireman during the last years of his handball career.
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