Magnus Hedman

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Magnus Hedman (born March 19, 1973 in Huddinge) is a Swedish football goalkeeper. He has played 58 matches for the Sweden national football team, and represented his country at two FIFA World Cup and two European Championship tournaments.

He is married to Magdalena Graaf, a Swedish model and former pop singer. The couple have three sons together.

[edit] Biography

Hedman started his career with AIK in 1990 . He won the 1992 Allsvenskan championship with AIK, and was chosen as a backup for first-choice keeper Thomas Ravelli at the 1994 World Cup. He debuted for the Swedish national team in February 1997, and moved abroad to play for English club Coventry City in July that year. Hedman was chosen for the Swedish squad at the Euro 2000 where he played all Sweden's matches. He won the 2000 Guldbollen award. He also played full time for Sweden at the 2002 World Cup.

Hedman was replaced by future England international Chris Kirkland in the Coventry City team during their relegation from the F.A. Premier League in the 2000/2001 season. He regained his place following Kirkland's transfer to Liverpool after a single game of the 2001/2002 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 6th April 2002 by a 'fan' who was questioning his commitment to the club and desire to play in the Football League Championship.

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.^[1] While at Ancona, he was chosen to represent Sweden at the Euro 2004, where he served as a back-up for keeper Andreas Isaksson. He played a further season for Celtic, before being released at the start of the 2005-06 season. He then retired from professional football.

In September 2006, he was rumoured to be making a sensational comeback at English Premier League side Newcastle United. According to himself he denied an offer from the club, citing it was too short of a contract to be interesting.^[2] The club itself has denied ever contacting the goalkeeper. On November 9, 2006 it was announced that Hedman would join English Premiership Champions Chelsea on a week's trial, due to Chelsea's current lack of fully fit goalkeepers except for Henrique Hilario and youth team keeper Yves Makalambay. The move was eventually completed on November 14, 2006, taking the No. 22 shirt previously worn by Eidur Gudjohnsen. The same day he made his debut for Chelsea in a friendly against Crystal Palace which resulted in a 3-1 win. Hedman has since been released from his contract, having made no appearances for Chelsea.

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

• Swedish national football team 2004 profile
• Magnus Hedman career stats at Soccerbase

v • d • e Sweden squad - 1994 FIFA World Cup Third Place 1 Ravelli • 2 R. Nilsson • 3 P. Andersson • 4 Björklund • 5 Ljung • 6 Schwarz • 7 Larsson • 8 Ingesson • 9 Thern • 10 Dahlin • 11 Brolin • 12 Eriksson • 13 M. Nilsson • 14 Kåmark • 15 Lučić • 16 Limpar • 17 Rehn • 18 Mild • 19 K. Andersson • 20 Erlingmark • 21 Blomqvist • 22 Hedman • Coach: Svensson

v • d • e Sweden squad - UEFA Euro 2000 1 Hedman • 2 Nilsson • 3 P. Andersson • 4 Björklund • 5 Lučić • 6 Sundgren • 7 Mild • 8 Gustafsson • 9 Ljungberg • 10 Pettersson • 11 Alexandersson • 12 Kihlstedt • 13 Svensson • 14 Mellberg • 15 D. Andersson • 16 A. Andersson • 17 Mjällby • 18 Osmanovski • 19 K. Andersson • 20 Larsson • 21 Allbäck • 22 Asper • Coach: Lagerbäck & Söderberg

v • d • e Sweden squad - 2002 FIFA World Cup 1 Hedman • 2 Mellberg • 3 P. Andersson • 4 Mjällby • 5 Michael Svensson • 6 Linderoth • 7 Alexandersson • 8 A. Svensson • 9 Ljungberg • 10 Allbäck • 11 Larsson • 12 Kihlstedt • 13 Antonelius • 14 Edman • 15 Jakobsson • 16 Lučić • 17 Magnus Svensson • 18 Jonson • 19 Farnerud • 20 D. Andersson • 21 Ibrahimović • 22 A. Andersson • 23 Isaksson • Coach: Lagerbäck & Söderberg

v • d • e Sweden squad - UEFA Euro 2004 1 Isaksson • 2 Lučić • 3 Mellberg • 4 Mjällby • 5 Edman • 6 Linderoth • 7 Nilsson • 8 Svensson • 9 Ljungberg • 10 Ibrahimović • 11 Larsson • 12 Hedman • 13 Hansson • 14 Östlund • 15 Jakobsson • 16 Källström • 17 Andersson • 18 Jonson • 19 Farnerud • 20 Allbäck • 21 Wilhelmsson • 22 Wahlstedt • 23 Kihlstedt • Coach: Lagerbäck & Söderberg