Ralf Edström

thumb|right|Ralf Edström scoring 1–0 against [[Germany national football team|West Germany in the 1974 FIFA World Cup]]

Ralf Sigvard Edström (born 7 October 1952) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a forward. Widely regarded as Sweden's best player in the 1970s, he started off his career with Degerfors IF in the late 1960s and went on to represent Åtvidabergs FF, PSV Eindhoven, IFK Göteborg, Standard Liege, and AS Monaco before retiring at Örgryte IS in 1985. A full international between 1972 and 1980, he won 40 caps for the Sweden national team and scored 15 goals. He represented his country at the 1974 and 1978 FIFA World Cups and was awarded Guldbollen as Sweden's best player in 1972 and 1974.

Club career

Starting his career in Degerfors IF, a club known to produce many young talents, Edström moved to Åtvidabergs FF and became national champion in 1972. He moved to PSV Eindhoven in 1973 and was part of the team that became national champion in 1974–75 and 1975–76. He also won the Swedish, Dutch and Belgian Cups and was voted Swedish player of the year twice (1972 and 1974, winning Guldbollen). He injured his knee while at AS Monaco which prevented him from playing any games for Örgryte IS and ultimately led to his retirement from professional football in 1985.

While representing Sweden at the 1978 FIFA World Cup in Argentina, Edström was arrested for speaking to a person in Buenos Aires; however, the Argentine military released him upon recognising its error (that he was not one of its citizens but a professional footballer who was in the country for the tournament it was hosting).

Personal life

He has been an expert radio commentator since the 1980s.

Career statistics

Club

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

|+ Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

! rowspan="2" |Club

! rowspan="2" |Season

! colspan="3" |League

! colspan="2" |Cup

! colspan="2" |Continental

! colspan="2" |Other

! colspan="2" |Total

!Division

!Apps

!Goals

!Apps

!Goals

!Apps

!Goals

!Apps

!Goals

!Apps

!Goals

| rowspan="4" |Åtvidaberg

|1971||Allsvenskan||22||6

|1972

|Allsvenskan||19||16

|1973

|Allsvenskan||11||6

! colspan="2" |Total

! 52

!28

| rowspan="5" |PSV Eindhoven

|1973–74||Eredivisie||33||19

|1974–75

|Eredivisie||32||16

|1975–76

|Eredivisie||29||15

|1976–77

|Eredivisie||18||5

! colspan="2" |Total

! 153

!81

| rowspan="4" |IFK Göteborg

|1977||Allsvenskan||8||4

| colspan="2" |–

|10

|1978

|Allsvenskan||17||6

| colspan="2" |–

|21

|1979

|Allsvenskan||12||4

| colspan="2" |–

|14

! colspan="2" |Total

! 37

!14

! colspan="2" |–

!45

!21

| rowspan="3" |Standard Liège

|1979–80||First Division||31||18

|1980–81

|First Division||20||9

! colspan="2" |Total

! 51

!27

| rowspan="3" |Monaco

|1981–82||Division 1||35||15

|1982–83

|Division 1||14||1

! colspan="2" |Total

! 49

!16

| rowspan="4" |Örgryte

|1983||Allsvenskan||0||0

|1984

|Allsvenskan||0||0

|1985

|Allsvenskan||0||0

! colspan="2" |Total

!0||0

! colspan="3" |Total

!350||156

International

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

|+Appearances and goals by national team and year

!National team

!Year

!Apps

!Goals

| rowspan="8" |Sweden

|1972

|1973

|1974

|1975

|1976

|1977

|1978

|1980

! colspan="2" |Total

!40

!15

:Scores and results list Sweden's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Edström goal.

{| class="wikitable sortable"

|+List of international goals scored by Ralf Edström

! scope="col" |No.

! scope="col" |Date

! scope="col" |Venue

! scope="col" |Opponent

! scope="col" |Score

! scope="col" |Result

! scope="col" |Competition

! scope="col" class="unsortable" |

| align="center" |1

| rowspan="3" |6 August 1972

| rowspan="3" |Råsunda Stadium, Solna, Sweden

| rowspan="3" |

| align="center" |1–0

| rowspan="3" align="center" |4–4

| rowspan="3" |Friendly

| rowspan="3" |

| align="center" |2

| align="center"|2–3

| align="center" |3

| align="center"|4–4

| align="center" |4

| rowspan="2" |17 September 1972

| rowspan="2" |Ullevaal Stadion, Oslo, Norway

| rowspan="2" |

| align="center"|1–0

| rowspan="2" align="center"|3–1

| rowspan="2" |1972–77 Nordic Football Championship

| rowspan="2" |

| align="center" |5

| align="center"|3–1

| align="center"|6

| rowspan="3" |15 October 1972

| rowspan="3" |Ullevi, Gothenburg, Sweden

| rowspan="3" |

| align="center"|1–0

| rowspan="3" align="center"|7–0

| rowspan="3" |1974 FIFA World Cup qualifier

| rowspan="3" |

| align="center"|7

| align="center"|3–0

| align="center"|8

| align="center"|7–0

| align="center"|9

|13 June 1973

|Nepstadion, Budapest, Hungary

| align="center"|3–3

|1974 FIFA World Cup qualifier

| align="center"|10

| rowspan="2" |23 June 1974

| rowspan="2" |Rheinstadion, Düsseldorf, Germany

| rowspan="2" |

| align="center"|1–0

| rowspan="2" align="center"|3–0

| rowspan="2" |1974 FIFA World Cup

| rowspan="2" |

| align="center"|11

| align="center"|3–0

| align="center"|12

|30 June 1974

|Rheinstadion, Düsseldorf, Germany

| align="center"|1–0

| align="center"|2–4

|1974 FIFA World Cup

| align="center"|13

|3 July 1974

|Rheinstadion, Düsseldorf, Germany

| align="center"|1–1

|1974 FIFA World Cup

| align="center"|14

|19 May 1975

|Örjans Vall, Halmstad, Sweden

| align="center"|1–0

| align="center"|4–0

|Friendly

| align="center"|15

|4 June 1975

|Råsunda Stadium, Solna, Sweden

| align="center"|1–0

| align="center"|1–2

|UEFA Euro 1976 qualifier

Honours

Åtvidabergs FF

Allsvenskan: 1972, 1973
Svenska Cupen: 1970–71

PSV Eindhoven

Eredivisie: 1974–75, 1975–76
KNVB Cup: 1973–74, 1975–76

IFK Göteborg

Swedish Football Hall of Fame: 2003

Club career

Personal life

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

References

External links