PHOTO: Bildbyrån
He became “God” in all of Gothenburg and absolutely poured in goals.
Torbjörn Nilsson is truly one of our best footballers ever.
Nevertheless, it hurts so much to see him in the new SVT program “Footballens historia”.
This is a comment. The opinions are the writer’s own.
It is dizzying to see Torbjörn Nilsson’s incredible numbers for IFK Gothenburg. He played a full 11 seasons and 444 games for “Blåvitt” – and scored an incredible 329 goals, with which he is still by far the best in the club’s history.
New SVT programme
He also won double SM gold, double cup titles, the Allsvenskan shooting league in 1981 and was part of the unforgettable feat in the Uefa Cup in 1982. Of course you are called “God” in Sweden’s second largest city with that track record.
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It is also highly justified that Nilsson ends up in the spotlight when SVT premieres its new TV program “Footbollens historia” on Wednesday evening. The documentary series has been created by the storytelling geniuses Albert Svanberg and Jens Lind and you fall in love right from the first minute, this is really going to be a pure pleasure to keep watching.
Nilsson’s greatness
But then it’s time for Torbjörn Nilsson and immediately you get a lump in your stomach. It must be admitted that he was before my time and I have never seen him play live, but of course you are brought up with the stories of the great enigma of football icon.
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Because when you see the old pictures, you understand what a fantastic footballer the man from Jonsered was. My God, he has a total playhouse with the backs of some of the world’s biggest club teams at the time.
The Zlatan of the 80s
That’s why it hurts so much that one of Sweden’s best football players of all time never reached higher heights. He won the Golden Ball just once, represented the Blue Yellow in a paltry 28 internationals, made a handful of appearances for PSV Eindhoven and never broke through in Kaiserslautern.
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He never managed to take that last big step to become one of the world’s best footballers, even though he had the quality for it, but always returned home to the safety of IFK Gothenburg instead. He was from the 80s Zlatan Ibrahimovicbut unlike the tall Skåne who bubbles over with self-confidence, Nilsson had to fight but the mental barriers throughout his career.
After watching the first episode of “Soccer History”, all Swedes will continue to wonder what could have become of Torbjörn Nilsson. But we will never know and it hurts to this day.
What do you think of the first episode of “Soccer History”? Share the article and have your say!
READ MORE: Torbjörn Nilsson names Sweden’s best soccer player of all time – “God” reveals his own favorite
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