Magnus Hedman

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Magnus Hedman
Magnus Hedman c.jpg
Magnus Hedman signing books in May 2012
Personal information
Full name Magnus Carl Hedman[1]
Date of birth (1973-03-19) 19 March 1973 (age 48)
Place of birth Huddinge, Sweden
Height 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in)
Position(s) Goalkeeper
Youth career
1978–1982 Vårby Gård IF
1983–1987 IFK Stockholm
1987–1990 AIK
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1990–1997 AIK 127 (0)
1997–2002 Coventry City 134 (0)
2002–2005 Celtic 26 (0)
2004 → Ancona (loan) 3 (0)
2006–2007 Chelsea 0 (0)
2013 Frej 1 (0)
Total 291 (0)
National team
1988–1989 Sweden U17 10 (0)
1990–1991 Sweden U19 5 (0)
1992–1995 Sweden U21 29 (0)
1995 Sweden B 1 (0)
1997–2004 Sweden 58 (0)
Honours
 Sweden
FIFA World Cup
Bronze medal – third place 1994
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Magnus Carl Hedman (pronounced [ˈmǎŋːnɵs ˈhěːdman]; born 19 March 1973) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Beginning his career with AIK in 1990, he went on play in the English Premier League, Scottish Premier League, and Italian Serie A before retiring in 2005. He played 58 matches for the Sweden national team, and represented his country at the 1994 and 2002 FIFA World Cups, as well as UEFA Euro 2000 and 2004. He was the recipient of the 2000 Guldbollen.

Club career[]

Early career[]

Hedman was born in Botkyrka, and began his footballing career with Vårby Gårds IF and IFK Stockholm.[2] He signed with AIK in 1987 and made his Allsvenskan debut for the club during the 1990 Allsvenskan season at only 17 years of age.[2] He won the 1992 Allsvenskan championship with AIK and eventually moved abroad to play for English club Coventry City in July 1997.[2]

Coventry City[]

Hedman was replaced by future England international Chris Kirkland in the Coventry City team during their relegation from the FA Premier League in the 2000–01 season. He regained his place following Kirkland's transfer to Liverpool after a single game of the 2001–02 season. His Coventry City career came to an acrimonious conclusion towards the end of that season, when he was approached on the pitch during an away match against Preston North End on 6 April 2002 by a 'fan' who was questioning his commitment to the club and desire to play in the Football League Championship.

Celtic, loan at Ancona, and retirement[]

Hedman played two further games for Coventry that season before moving on to Celtic in the Scottish Premier League in 2002. He had a loan spell at Italian team A.C. Ancona in 2004, a time in which he later claimed to have witnessed bribery on part of his Ancona teammates.[3] He played a further season for Celtic, before being released at the start of the 2005–06 season. He then retired from professional football.

Back to England[]

In September 2006, he was rumoured to be making a sensational comeback at English club Newcastle United. According to himself he denied an offer from the club, citing it was too short of a contract to be interesting.[4] The club itself denied ever contacting the goalkeeper. On 9 November 2006, it was announced that Hedman would join reigning Premier League champions Chelsea on a week's trial, due to Chelsea's current lack of fully fit goalkeepers except for Henrique Hilário and youth team keeper Yves Ma-Kalambay. The move was eventually completed on 14 November 2006, with Hedman taking the number 22 shirt previously worn by Eiður Guðjohnsen. At the end of the season Hedman was released from his contract, having made no official appearances for the club.

In November 2008 he claimed he was approached by Manchester City to provide back up following the injury to their then-number 1 keeper Joe Hart. Hedman began training with Tottenham Hotspur on 5 January 2009, with a view to gaining a contract with Spurs until at least the end of the 2008–09 season, of which he did not achieve. According to BBC Sport, Hedman has begun working with the backroom staff of Weymouth F.C, with a view to training goalkeepers at the club.[5]

IK Frej[]

He was the goalkeeping coach for then third-tier club IK Frej. On 21 June 2013, he made a one-match comeback and played 90 minutes in Frej's 3–1 victory against Selånger FK.

International career[]

Hedman was chosen as a backup for first-choice keeper Thomas Ravelli in Sweden's squad at the 1994 World Cup.[2] He debuted for the Swedish national team in February 1997, and was chosen for the Swedish squad at the Euro 2000 where he played all Sweden's matches and conceded goals from Bart Goor and Emile Mpenza against Belgium and from Luigi Di Biagio and Alessandro Del Piero against Italy (both lost 2–1). The other match, against Turkey, was 0–0 draw. He won the 2000 Guldbollen award. He also played full-time for Sweden at the 2002 World Cup. He was chosen to represent Sweden at the Euro 2004, where he served as a back-up for keeper Andreas Isaksson.[6]

Personal life[]

He is divorced from Magdalena Graaf, a Swedish author, former model and pop singer. The couple have two sons together.

Career statistics[]

International[]

Appearances and goals by national team and year[6]
National team Year Apps Goals
Sweden 1997 5 0
1998 6 0
1999 9 0
2000 10 0
2001 11 0
2002 10 0
2003 3 0
2004 4 0
Total 58 0

Honours[]

AIK

Celtic

Sweden

Individual

Notes[]

  1. ^ "Magnus Hedman". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 8 March 2017.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "500 AIK:are - Magnus Hedman". www.aik.se. Retrieved 21 January 2021.
  3. ^ (in Swedish) Magnus Hedman: Mina lagkamrater var mutade Archived 26 April 2006 at the Wayback Machine, Aftonbladet, 11 September 2004
  4. ^ Tuesday's football gossip, BBC, 26 September 2006
  5. ^ "HEDMAN CLAIMS CITY APPROACH". Sporting Life. Retrieved 22 November 2008.
  6. ^ a b "Magnus Hedman - Spelarstatistik - Svensk fotboll". www.svenskfotboll.se. (in Swedish). Retrieved 21 January 2021.
  7. ^ "Stora Grabbars Märke - Svensk fotboll". www.svenskfotboll.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 21 January 2021.

External links[]

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