Thom Åhlund

Thom Alvar Ålund (born 17 February 1953) is a Swedish former football player and manager, best known for representing Hammarby IF. In 1979, he won four caps for the Sweden men's national football team.

Club career

Early career Born in Stockholm, Åhlund started his career with Djurgårdens IF as a youngster. He soon moved to IF Brommapojkarna, in the Swedish lower divisions, where he made his senior debut in 1971.

Hammarby IF In 1973, at age 19, Åhlund joined Hammarby IF in Allsvenskan, Sweden's first tier. He immediately broke into the squad and played 25 league games in his debut season, as Hammarby finished 8th in the table, scoring his first goal for the club in a 1–0 home win against IF Saab on 26 August.

Manager Olle Nyström re-positioned Åhlund from a central midfielder to a libero in 1974. Known as an elegant player, he was soon compared with Franz Beckenbauer by supporters of the club.

In 1977, Hammarby reached the final of Svenska Cupen, the main domestic cup, but lost 0–1 to Östers IF.

Åhlund was on the verge of becoming a professional abroad, attracting interest from clubs in both Belgium and Germany throughout his career. In 1980, he almost transferred to the competing Swedish club Mjällby AIF together with Sten-Ove Ramberg, a teammate at Hammarby. Both players eventually decided to turn down the offer following outrage from the club's supporters.

After the domestic success, Hammarby competed in the European Cup Winners' Cup the following year, ultimately getting knocked out by FC Haka in the second round (2–3 on aggregate). Åhlund decided to leave Hammarby after the loss on 2 November 1983, which coincidentally also was Kenneth Ohlsson's last game for the club.

Managerial career After his player-coach stint at Skövde AIK, Åhlund spent the later stages of the 1980s and the 1990s coaching Friska Viljor, Umeå FC, Syrianska FC and FOC Farsta in the domestic lower divisions.

Honours

Player-coach Skövde AIK

Division 3 Mellersta Götaland: 1985 (lost in the promotion playoffs), 1986 (promoted)