Hasse Persson

Hans "Hasse" Persson (20 January 1929 – 29 July 2001), often called HP, was a Swedish professional footballer who played as a forward. In his time, he was immensely popular in the football club Landskrona BoIS.

Biography Hasse "HP" Persson started his football career in his hometown Klippan before the age of 20, and in 1949 he took the step to Helsingborgs IF and Allsvenskan. There, he soon blossomed into his role as left inner and got his debut in the Sweden men's national team. His first game for Sweden was in September 1952 in Helsinki in an international match against Finland and he made a hat trick in an 8-1 triumph. The next international against Norway that same autumn he made the decisive 2-1 goal, and he also scored in his international game number three, against Italy. In this match, however, he injured his neck and had to leave the game in half time. The injury came to be fatal, and as a result of it he had to say no to test games with Italian side AC Milan.

Hasse Persson was something of a bohemian. Many are the stories of a willful and exuberant gentleman who often went his own ways. After a turbulent time, he left Helsingborgs IF. In 1955, HP wrote a contract with Helsingborgs IF arch rivals, Landskrona BoIS. In Landskrona, he soon became a big star in the city and it is said that he alone brought big crowds to Landskrona IP. There are many citizens in Landskrona who believes that the club never had a better player than Persson. Many of those who experienced the 1950s and 1960s have their special Hasse Persson-memories. This is almost always about goals from impossible distances, rocket shots, phenomenal assists or various other technical showpieces.