Magnus Hedman

Magnus Hedman

Personal information
Full name	Magnus Carl Hedman
Date of birth	March 19, 1973 (1973-03-19) (age 38)
Place of birth	Huddinge, Sweden
Height	1.96 m (6 ft 5 in)
Playing position	Goalkeeper (retired)
Youth career
1983–1987	IFK Stockholm
1987–1990	AIK
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1990–1997	AIK	127	(0)
1997–2002	Coventry City	134	(0)
2002–2005	Celtic	26	(0)
2004	→ Ancona (loan)	3	(0)
2006–2007	Chelsea	0	(0)
–	Total	290	(0 )
National team‡
1997–2004	Sweden	58	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 15:14, 18 October 2008 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 15:14, 18 October 2008 (UTC)

Magnus Carl Hedman (born 19 March 1973 in Huddinge) is a Swedish former football goalkeeper. He played 58 matches for the Sweden national football team, and represented his country at two FIFA World Cup and two European Championship tournaments.

He is recently divorced from Magdalena Graaf, a Swedish author, former model and pop singer. The couple have two sons together.

Biography

Hedman started his career with AIK in 1990. He won the 1992 Allsvenskan championship with AIK, and was chosen as a backup for first-choice keeper Thomas Ravelli at the 1994 World Cup. He debuted for the Swedish national team in February 1997, and moved abroad to play for English club Coventry City in July that year. Hedman was chosen for the Swedish squad at the Euro 2000 where he played all Sweden's matches and conceded goals from Bart Goor and Emile Mpenza against Belgium and from Luigi Di Biagio and Alessandro Del Piero against Italy (both lost 2-1). The other match, against Turkey, was 0-0 draw. He won the 2000 Guldbollen award. He also played full time for Sweden at the 2002 World Cup.

Hedman was replaced by future England international Chris Kirkland in the Coventry City team during their relegation from the FA Premier League in the 2000/01 season. He regained his place following Kirkland's transfer to Liverpool after a single game of the 2001/02 season. His Coventry City career came to an acrimonious conclusion towards the end of that season, when he was approached on the pitch during an away match against Preston North End on 6 April 2002 by a 'fan' who was questioning his commitment to the club and desire to play in the Football League Championship.

Hedman played two further games for Coventry that season before moving on to Celtic in the Scottish Premier League in 2002. He had a loan spell at Italian team A.C. Ancona in 2004, a time in which he later claimed to have witnessed bribery on part of his Ancona teammates.^[1] While at Ancona, he was chosen to represent Sweden at the Euro 2004, where he served as a back-up for keeper Andreas Isaksson. He played a further season for Celtic, before being released at the start of the 2005/06 season. He then retired from professional football.

In September 2006, he was rumoured to be making a sensational comeback at English FA Premier League club Newcastle United. According to himself he denied an offer from the club, citing it was too short of a contract to be interesting.^[2] The club itself has denied ever contacting the goalkeeper. On 9 November 2006 it was announced that Hedman would join FA Premier League Champions Chelsea on a week's trial, due to Chelsea's current lack of fully fit goalkeepers except for Henrique Hilário and youth team keeper Yves Makalambay. The move was eventually completed on 14 November 2006, taking the No. 22 shirt previously worn by Eidur Gudjohnsen. Hedman has since been released from his contract, having made no official appearances for Chelsea.

In November 2008 he claimed he was approached by Manchester City to provide back up following the injury to their current number 1 Joe Hart. Hedman began training with Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur on 5 January 2009, with a view to gaining a contract with Spurs until at least the end of the 2008–09 season, of which he did not achieve. According to BBC Sport, Hedman has begun working with the backroom staff of Weymouth F.C, with a view to training goalkeepers at the club. ^[3]

Notes

1. ^ (Swedish) Magnus Hedman: Mina lagkamrater var mutade, Aftonbladet, 11 September 2004
2. ^ Tuesday's football gossip, BBC, 26 September 2006
3. ^ "HEDMAN CLAIMS CITY APPROACH". Sporting Life. http://www.sportinglife.co.uk/football/transfer_centre/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=soccer/08/11/20/SOCCER_Man_City_Hedman.html. Retrieved 2008-11-22. 

External links

• Swedish national football team 2004 profile
• Magnus Hedman career stats at Soccerbase

Persondata
Name	Hedman, Magnus
Alternative names	Hedman, Magnus
Short description	footballer
Date of birth	1973-3-19
Place of birth	Huddinge, Sweden
Date of death
Place of death