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Lars Edvin "Lasse" Lagerbäck is a Swedish football manager and former player. He is currently the manager of the Nigeria National Team, the Super Eagles.
He is best known as the former manager of the Sweden National Team. He managed the Swedish National Team from 1998 until 2009 leading Sweden in five consecutive championships. He resigned as manager in 2009 after Sweden's failure to qualify for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
As youth, Lagerbäck played for Alby FF. When he was 13 years-old, he began playing for their P16 team. In 1970, he left and moved to Gimonäs CK under the guidance of Calle Lindelöf. He continued to play there until 1974. In 1974, he attended Gynastik and Idrottshögskolan (GIH), where he was a classmate of current assistant coach Roland Andersson.
In 1977, he was called up to the senior team. It was former teammate Kjell Pettersson that recommended him to Kilafors. He coached the Division IV team until 1982. In 1983, he moved to Arbrå IK until 1985. In 1987, he takes over Hudiksvall ABK but leaves by 1989.
In 1990, Lagerbäck takes a job with the Swedish Football Association. He began to coach the junior levels which included Fredrik Ljungberg. He helped Tommy Svensson and Tord Grip with Swedish National Team.
In 1996, Lagerbäck takes over Sweden B national team, until 1997. In 1998, Tommy Söderberg takes him on as assistant coach for the Swedish National Team. In 2000, he is promoted to dual-coach, a responsibility he would share with Söderberg until 2004.[5] Under his guidance, the Swedish National Team qualified for the Euro 2000 but lost in the group stages.
In 2002, he led Sweden to the World Cup where Sweden was in 'group death'. Sweden lost against Senegal. In 2004, Sweden qualified for their third straight championship. In the Euro 2004, Sweden made it to the quarter-finals where they lost against Holland.[6] That same year, Tommy Söderberg left the Swedish National Team to coach the U21 Team.
After the departure of Söderberg, Lagerbäck appointed Roland Andersson as assistant coach. In 2006, Lagerback took Sweden to their fourth consecutive championship, the first time in Swedish history. He led Sweden to the 2006 World Cup, losing against Germany 2–0 in the knockout stage. Under Lagerbäck, Sweden also qualified for UEFA Euro 2008, however they were eliminated in the group stage after losing 2-0 against Russia. The team's early dismissal from the tournament led sport columnists to ask Lagerbäck to be sacked. Despite this, he signed an extension, which would keep him until the end of the 2010 FIFA World Cup campaign. After Sweden's unsuccessful qualification campaign for this summer's World Cup in South Africa, Lagerbäck resigned.
On 26 February 2010, he signed a 5 month (renewable) contract that would see him lead Nigeria to the 2010 FIFA World Cup Finals in South Africa.
Source: Wikipedia
