Agne Simonsson

Tore Klas Agne Simonsson (19 October 1935 – 22 September 2020[1]) was a Swedish footballer who played as a striker. Beginning his career with Örgryte IS, he went on to represent Real Madrid and Real Sociedad in La Liga in the early 1960s before returning to Örgryte in 1963. Simonsson won 51 caps for the Sweden national team, and was a part of the Sweden team that finished second at the 1958 FIFA World Cup. He was also the recipient of the 1959 Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal after a spectacular performance for Sweden in an international game against England at Wembley Stadium.

Agne Simonsson
Agne Simonsson with Team Sweden in 1960
Personal information
Full name Tore Klas Agne Simonsson
Date of birth (1935-10-19)19 October 1935
Place of birth Göteborg, Sweden
Date of death 22 September 2020(2020-09-22) (aged 84)
Place of death Göteborg
Position(s) Striker
Youth career
BK René
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1953–1960 Örgryte IS 42 (25)
1960–1963 Real Madrid 3 (1)
1961–1962 → Real Sociedad (loan) 22 (8)
1963–1970 Örgryte IS 120 (80)
Total 187 (114)
National team
1957 Sweden U21 1 (3)
1957–1967 Sweden 51 (27)
Teams managed
1971–1972 Örgryte IS
1977–1982 BK Häcken
1983–1986 Örgryte IS
1988–1990 Iraklis
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only
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 "Lappen" Hellström, Orvar Bergmark, Bengt "Zamora" Nyholm, Lennart Wing and Gösta "Knivsta" Sandberg.

Club career

Örgryte IS

Simonsson played youth football for BK René before signing for Örgryte IS in 1949.[2] He made his senior debut for Örgryte in 1953, when the team played in Division 3.[2] He helped the team win promotion to Division 2 in 1955, and later won promotion to Allsvenskan in 1958 with Gunnar Gren as a player-coach.[2] While at Örgryte IS, he finished fifth in votes for the 1959 Ballon d'Or and was awarded the 1959 Guldbollen.[3]

Real Madrid

Widely regarded as the best center forward in the world after a string of impressive performances for the Sweden national team, Simonsson was signed by the La Liga team Real Madrid in 1960.[2] However, fierce competition from especially Alfredo Di Stéfano limited Simonsson's playing chances at the club and he ended up playing in only 3 league games during the 1960–61 La Liga season, scoring one goal as Real Madrid was crowned champions.[2] He was also a part of the Real Madrid teams that won the 1960 Intercontinental Cup and the 1962–63 La Liga, but did receive any playing time.[4] As of 2020, Simonsson is still the only Swede ever to have represented Real Madrid.[5]

Loan to Real Sociedad

For the 1961–62 La Liga season, Simonsson was loaned out to Real Sociedad for which he scored 8 goals in 22 league games.[2] However, at the end of the season Simonsson was forced to see his team be relegated, as the team finished 15th out of 16 teams in the table.[2]

Return to Örgryte IS

In 1963, Simonsson returned to Sweden and Örgryte IS to form a feared striker partnership together with Rune Börjesson.[2]

Simonsson is Örgryte IS' best ever goal scorer in league play with a total of 206 goals.[6]

International career

Early career

Simonsson made his only appearance for the Sweden U21 team on 22 September 1957 in a friendly game against Finland, scoring a hat-trick in a 7–0 win.[7] He made his full international debut for Sweden a month later on 13 October 1957 in a friendly game against Norway, scoring two goals as Sweden won 5–2.[8]

1958 FIFA World Cup

Simonsson scored four goals as Sweden reached the final of the 1958 FIFA World Cup on home soil, including a goal in the final as Sweden lost 2–5 to Brazil.[9]

Later career

He was awarded the 1959 Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal as well as the 1959 Guldbollen after his performance against England on 28 October 1959 when Sweden beat the English 3–2 at Wembley Stadium and Simonsson scored two goals and made one assist.[10] This was only the second time in history that a team beat England at Wembley.[11]

He won his 51st and final cap in a 2–0 friendly win against Finland on 10 August 1967.[12] He scored a total of 27 international goals.[12]

Career statistics

International
Appearances and goals by national team and year[12]
National teamYearAppsGoals
Sweden 1957 2 2
1958 9 8
1959 7 6
1960 3 3
1961 4 2
196200
196341
196451
196533
196691
196750
Total5127
Scores and results list Sweden's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Simonsson goal.
List of international goals scored by Agne Simonsson[12]
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1 13 October 1957 Råsunda Stadium, Solna, Sweden  Norway 1–0 5–2 Friendly
2 3–0
3 7 May 1958 Olympia, Helsingborg, Sweden   Switzerland 2–1 3–2 Friendly
4 3–2
5 8 June 1958 Råsunda Stadium, Solna, Sweden  Mexico 1–0 3–0 1958 FIFA World Cup
6 3–0
7 19 June 1958 Råsunda Stadium, Solna, Sweden  Soviet Union 2–0 3–0 1958 FIFA World Cup
8 29 June 1958 Råsunda Stadium, Solna, Sweden  Brazil 2–4 2–5 1958 FIFA World Cup Final
9 20 August 1958 Helsinki Olympic Stadium, Helsinki, Finland  Finland 7–1 7–1 Friendly
10 14 September 1958 Ullevaal Stadium, Oslo, Norway  Norway 2–0 2–0 Friendly
11 21 May 1958 Ullevi, Gothenburg, Sweden  Portugal 1–0 2–0 Friendly
12 21 June 1959 Parken Stadium, Copenhagen, Denmark  Denmark 2–0 6–0 Friendly
13 2 August 1959 Malmö Stadium, Malmö, Sweden  Finland 3–1 3–1 Friendly
14 18 August 1959 Gamla Ullevi, Gothenburg, Sweden  Norway 3–0 6–0 Friendly
15 28 October 1959 Wembley Stadium, London, United Kingdom  England 1–1 3–2 Friendly
16 2–1
17 18 May 1960 Malmö Stadium, Malmö, Sweden  Ireland 2–0 4–1 Friendly
18 3–0
19 22 June 1960 Helsinki Olympic Stadium, Helsinki, Finland  Finland 3–0 3–0 Friendly
20 28 May 1961 Råsunda Stadium, Solna, Sweden   Switzerland 3–0 4–0 1962 FIFA World Cup qualifier
21 29 October 1961 Wankdorf Stadium, Bern, Switzerland   Switzerland 1–0 2–3 1962 FIFA World Cup qualifier
22 3 November 1963 Råsunda Stadium, Solna Sweden  Germany 1–0 2–1 Friendly
23 29 April 1964 De Kuip, Rotterdam, Netherlands  Netherlands 1–0 1–0 Friendly
24 5 May 1965 Nya Parken, Norrköping, Sweden  Cyprus 1–0 3–0 1966 FIFA World Cup qualifier
25 3–0
26 22 August 1965 Skogsvallen, Luleå, Sweden  Finland 2–2 2–2 Friendly
27 6 November 1966 Råsunda Stadium, Solna, Sweden  Denmark 1–1 2–1 Friendly

Managerial career

In 1982, he managed BK Häcken to win promotion to their first ever season in Allsvenskan.[13] As a manager for Örgryte IS, Simonsson led the team to the 1985 Swedish Championship title, winning them their first league title since 1913.[14]

Honours
Örgryte IS
Real Madrid
Sweden
Awards
Records

BK Häcken

Örgryte IS

References
  1. https://www.aftonbladet.se/sportbladet/fotboll/a/mB6EGq/agne-simonsson-har-avlidit--blev-84-ar
  2. Tonnvik, Mattias Balkander,Emma (2020-09-23). "Här är Agne Simonssons karriär". gp.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 2020-09-23.
  3. "uefa.com". web.archive.org. 2008-12-11. Retrieved 2020-09-24.
  4. "Official Announcement: passing of Simonsson | Real Madrid CF". Real Madrid C.F. - Web Oficial. Retrieved 2020-09-28.
  5. "Real Madrids enda svensk: "Trevligt"". www.expressen.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 2020-09-23.
  6. "Flest seriemål". fotboll.ois.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 2020-06-17.
  7. "Finland - Sverige - Matchfakta - Svensk fotboll". www.svenskfotboll.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 2020-09-23.
  8. "Sverige - Norge - Matchfakta - Svensk fotboll". www.svenskfotboll.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 2020-09-23.
  9. "Sverige - Brasilien - Matchfakta - Svensk fotboll". www.svenskfotboll.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 2020-09-23.
  10. "England - Sverige - Matchfakta - Svensk fotboll". www.svenskfotboll.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 2020-09-23.
  11. "Legendaren Agne Simonsson död". SVT Sport (in Swedish). 2020-09-23. Retrieved 2020-09-23.
  12. "Agne Simonsson - Spelarstatistik - Svensk fotboll". www.svenskfotboll.se. (in Swedish). Retrieved 2020-09-23.
  13. "En legendar har lämnat oss". bkhacken.se (in Swedish). 2020-09-23. Retrieved 2020-09-28.
  14. "Agne Simonsson är död – blev 84 år gammal: "En tung dag för alla fotbollsälskare"". www.expressen.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 2020-09-23.
  15. "1977 - Clas Glenning Football". sites.google.com. Retrieved 2020-09-28.
Preceded by
Richard Dahl		 Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal
1959		 Succeeded by
Jane Cederqvist
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