Lennart Backman

Kurt Lennart Ingemar Backman (born 7 February 1934) is a Swedish former footballer who played as a winger. He made more than 200 Allsvenskan appearances for IFK Norrköping and AIK between 1957 and 1968. He also played 31 international games for the Sweden national team, scoring three goals.

Lennart Backman
Personal information
Full name Kurt Lennart Ingemar Backman
Date of birth (1934-02-07) 7 February 1934
Place of birth Skellefteå, Sweden
Position(s) Winger
Youth career
Skellefteå IF
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1950–1956 Skellefteå IF
1957–1958 IFK Norrköping 32 (6)
1959–1968 AIK 194 (51)
National team
1958–1965 Sweden B 2 (0)
1958–1966 Sweden 31 (3)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Club career

Born in Skellefteå, Backman started off his career with Skellefteå IF.[1] In 1957, he signed for the Allsvenskan team IFK Norrköping where he played for two seasons.[2] In 1959, he signed with AIK with which he spent ten seasons, appearing in a total of 194 league games.[1] Nine of these seasons were spent in Allsvenskan, while he spent the 1962 season with AIK in Division 2 Svealand.[1] In Division 2, Backman scored a total of 19 goals in 24 games, helping AIK win Division 2 Svealand and win promotion back to Allsvenskan by qualifying through the 1962 Allsvenskan promotion playoffs.[1] He retired from professional football in 1968.[3]

International career
The Sweden national football team in 1961 with this players – from the left, standing: Bengt "Fölet" Berndtsson, Torbjörn Jonsson, Åke "Bajdoff" Johansson, Agne Simonsson, Rune Börjesson and Lennart Backman; crouched: Olle "Lill-Lappen" Hellström, Orvar Bergmark, Bengt "Zamora" Nyholm, Lennart Wing and Gösta "Knivsta" Sandberg.

Backman made his full international debut for the Sweden national team on 7 May 1958 in a friendly game against Switzerland ahead of the 1958 FIFA World Cup.[4] 65 minutes into his debut, Backman was replaced by Sylvie Bengtsson after picking up a knee injury.[4] The injury ended up keeping Backman out of Sweden's 1958 World Cup squad and sidelined him from all football for the next couple of months.[4][5]

Backman scored his first international goal for Sweden in a 6–0 friendly win against Denmark on 21 June 1959.[4] He made his competitive debut for Sweden on 19 October 1960 in a 1962 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Belgium which Sweden won 2–0.[4] He also represented Sweden in the UEFA Euro 1964 and 1966 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaigns, but never appeared in a major international tournament.[4] He made his final international appearance on 4 June 1966 in a friendly against Finland.[4]

In total, Backman won 31 caps for Sweden and scored three goals.[4][3] He also appeared twice for the Sweden B team.[4]

Career statistics

International
Appearances and goals by national team and year[4]
National team Year Apps Goals
Sweden 1958 2 0
1959 4 2
1960 5 0
1961 8 1
1962 3 0
1963 6 0
1964 1 0
1965 1 0
1966 1 0
Total 31 3
Scores and results list Sweden's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Backman goal.
List of international goals scored by Lennart Backman
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition Ref.
1 21 June 1959 Parken, Copenhagen, Denmark  Denmark 4–0 6–0 Friendly [6]
2 28 June 1959 Népstadion, Budapest, Hungary  Hungary 2–3 2–3 Friendly [7]
3 9 August 1961 Idrottsparken, Norrköping, Sweden  Finland 4–0 4–0 Friendly [8]

Honours

Club

AIK

Individual

Bandy and ice hockey career

A versatile athlete, Backman also represented AIK in bandy and ice hockey during his footballing career.[2] He appeared a total of 16 times for the Sweden national bandy team, and helped his country finish second at the 1961 Bandy World Championship and third at the 1963 Bandy World Championship.[2][10]

References
  1. "500 AIK:are - Lennart Backman". www.aik.se. Retrieved 14 December 2020.
  2. "22. Lennart Backman". Skånes Bandyförbund (in Swedish). Retrieved 14 December 2020.
  3. "Glömda svenska fotbollshjältar (15): Dribblern och eleganten Lennart Backman". Tommy Hanssons Blogg (in Swedish). 18 November 2019. Retrieved 14 December 2020.
  4. "Lennart Backman - Spelarstatistik - Svensk fotboll". www.svenskfotboll.se. (in Swedish). Retrieved 14 December 2020.
  5. "22. Lennart Backman". Skånes Bandyförbund (in Swedish). Retrieved 14 December 2020.
  6. "Danmark - Sverige - Matchfakta - Svensk fotboll". www.svenskfotboll.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 14 December 2020.
  7. "Ungern - Sverige - Matchfakta - Svensk fotboll". www.svenskfotboll.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 14 December 2020.
  8. "Sverige - Finland - Matchfakta - Svensk fotboll". www.svenskfotboll.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 14 December 2020.
  9. "Stora Grabbars Märke - Svensk fotboll". www.svenskfotboll.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 14 December 2020.
  10. "Lennart Backman nära att bli historisk på hemmaplan". Svenska Bandyförbundet (in Swedish). Retrieved 14 December 2020.
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