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Private Notes
Torbjörn Nilsson can dribble off the whole team in training, but during a match it locks up. He begins to brood and his self-confidence fails. It is the late 70s and IFK Gothenburg's new coach Sven-Göran "Svennis" Eriksson calls in a Norwegian sports psychologist. Hardly anyone has heard of mental training yet, but the psychologist makes Torbjörn let go of his fear and start thinking in new ways. Svennis understood Torbjörn's vulnerability as a person and his greatness as a player, which made Torbjörn's self-confidence grow. An artist's soul was freed and he was able to blossom into one of Europe's best strikers. With a Torbjörn Nilsson in top form, IFK Gothenburg was able to win the UEFA Cup in 1982 - the first time a Swedish club team won one of the major tournaments in Europe.
As soon as Pia Sundhage had learned to walk, she had a ball as an eternal companion. She grows up in little Marbäck in Västergötland in the 60s, where she is forced to go by the name Pelle in order to play matches. Pia made her national team debut as a 15-year-old and was a resident in blue and yellow for just over two decades. Her career is unparalleled in Swedish women's football. But perhaps her journey would not have been possible without the pioneers at the sewing factory in Öxabäck, who formed Sweden's first women's team after an evening at the pub. Kerstin Johnson and Kerstin Larsson helped write football history when the first series match in women's football was played in 1968. Private films reflect a time when the love of the game overcame mistrust and prejudice. Pia was then eight years old. She would become Sweden's first professional abroad. Pia was lured with pocket money and a promise to borrow the president's moped.
