Tom Turesson

Hammarby

On 24 September 1961, Turesson scored in his senior debut for Hammarby in Allsvenskan, aged 19, in a 4–2 away win against Örgryte IS. He immediately broke into the squad as a regular, and formed an offensive partnership with players like Karl-Evert Skoglund, Lars Boman and Lars-Ove Johansson, playing all 22 fixtures as Hammarby finished 9th in the table in 1962. Thuresson was, however, unable to save the club from relegation in 1963 despite scoring 7 goals in 20 league appearances. In 1964, Karl-Evert's brother Lennart "Nacka" Skoglund had returned to Hammarby from a professional career in the Italian Serie A. Hammarby won Division 2 in a remarkable fashion, with Skoglund and Turesson playing on each flank of the pitch as wingers, as the side scored 80 goals in just 22 fixtures. Back in Allsvenskan 1965, Hammarby was unable to produce any sort of challenge and immediately got relegated from the top division, even though Turesson was voted as the best right-winger in the whole league by Sweden's dominating sports magazine Idrottsbladet. He became known as a prolific goalscorer who possessed a great ability to handle the ball. Back in the second tier in 1966, Turesson decided to stay with Hammarby and once again led the club to a straight promotion, before history repeated itself when Hammarby suffered a relegation from Allsvenskan in 1967. Tired of bouncing up and down the divisions, during a period when Hammarby was considered as a yo-yo club, Turesson…

Turesson made his senior debut for Sweden on 16 September 1962, aged 20, in a 2–1 loss against Norway in an away friendly. In 1966, he broke into the Swedish squad as a regular, after scoring a hat-trick in a 4–2 win against Norway on 18 September. He featured in five of six qualifying games ahead of the UEFA Euro 1968, as Sweden failed to qualify for the main tournament. Turesson was called up for the 1970 FIFA World Cup, where Sweden got knocked out after the group stage. He scored in Sweden's 1–1 draw against Israel.

Turesson returned to Hammarby IF in 1978, two seasons after his retirement, being appointed as the new manager as the club. Hammarby's chairman Lennart Nyman had been in negotiations, that ultimately came out unsuccessful, with several other possible recruitments before convincing Turesson to take the position. Hammarby's squad consisted of established key players like Jan Sjöström, Kenneth Ohlsson, Mats Werner and Billy Ohlsson, together with younger talents such as Thomas Dennerby, Klas Johansson, Michael Andersson, Sten-Ove Ramberg, Mikael Rönnberg and Peter Gerhardsson. The club had a tough first half of the season, being involved in the relegation battle, before finally finishing 9th in the table. At the end of the year, Turesson was replaced by Bengt "Julle" Gustavsson.

Born in Östervåla, Turesson grew up in the village of Vendel in Uppland County. He started to play football with local club IK Rex as a youngster. Turesson attracted interest from both Djurgårdens IF and their rivals Hammarby IF, and chose to join the latter after a successful trial where he impressed manager Folke Adamsson.