Bengt Gustavsson

Bengt started playing with the local team of Gusum and in 1947 joined the then nationally dominating club IFK Norrköping. At the end of the era of the great Hungarian coach Lajos Czeizler he was supposed to replace Gunnar Nordahl in midfield after he moved to AC Milan in 1949. In his first match against AIK he scored three goals, but the Austrian coach Karl Adamek, who was in charge from 1950 forward, moved him back into the defence where he should excel. In those years Norrköping won the Swedish championship of the years 1948, 1852 and 1956 and reached the cup final of 1953. In October 1951, Gustavsson debuted in the national team at their defeat against Denmark in Copenhagen. This was the last match of the 1948-51 Nordic Football Championship, which Sweden nevertheless finished as winner. In the following year he participated with Sweden at the football tournament of the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki. After losing in the semifinals to the ascending Golden Team of Hungary with 0–6 Sweden won the bronze medal, winning the third place match against Germany with 2–0. In 1953 Gustavsson was awarded the Guldbollen, the Golden Ball as Swedish footballer of the year. In 1956, Gustavsson joined the Italian first division side Atalanta Bergamo. There he was from the beginning as Libero a stalwart of the defence. In 1958 Atalanta was relegated to the second division, but returned to the Serie A the season after under coach Karl Adamek, who was in charge of the team for a year.

In 1958…

As player:

World Cup: Finalist 1958 Swedish Championship: 1948, 1952, 1956 Swedish Player of the Year: 1953 As manager:

Swedish Cup: 1970 Promotion to first division: 1967