Haha who would rank Annika Sörenstam higher then Zlatan...
But i agree with Stenmark! but i bet Tumba is pretty close aswell
Played in Swedish football team and in Swedish ice hockey team!
Active Swedish hockey player that has bigger presence than Ibrahimovic in Sweden?
- Thread starter Ziostilon
- Start date
Haha who would rank Annika Sörenstam higher then Zlatan...
But i agree with Stenmark! but i bet Tumba is pretty close aswell
Played in Swedish football team and in Swedish ice hockey team!
Bagge
Registered User
Not just in Sweden. Everyone talks about him in the rest of Europe also in the same ratio as Messi, Ronaldo, Ribery etc. The only place a hockey star could become bigger than a football star is in Canada and maybe USA.
Not just Europe. Hes a global superstar. Easily one of the best known players on the planet. Hes going to leave a black hole in Swedish soccer when hes done, which wont be far off now. Its not easy replacing a guy like that, and you would have to think interest might suffer. Swedish clubs are underachievers in Europe, and theres no great players really coming through. Not saying the sport wont remain popular, but even NBA suffered when Jordan left.
bottomofthefoodchain
Registered User
We finished 3rd in the under 17 World Cup less than a year ago, I'd say we have some decent players coming through.
Ibra was 17/18 when he made his debut for Malmö and nobody really knew who he was before then. Hopefully there is a new superstar on junior team somewhere
Franck
eltiT resU motsuC
We finished 3rd in the under 17 World Cup less than a year ago, I'd say we have some decent players coming through.
Ibra was 17/18 when he made his debut for Malmö and nobody really knew who he was before then. Hopefully there is a new superstar on junior team somewhere
I don't think we have anyone who has the potential to be anything close to Zlatan, but there are about half a dozen young talents at various youth academies around Europe who have the potential to be Champions League-level players. Valmir Berisha, the star of the Under 17 World Cup team being one of them.
Anyway, I think when Zlatan retires the national team will revert back to the old days of Lagerbäck, where the team was greater than the sum of its players (and where Zlatan never really fit in).
I may be one year shy of 40, and Stenmark may have been past his prime when I started following sports seriously, but Stenmark - nor Borg - were bigger than Zlatan, no way.
And no, I've never had a class canceled because either one of Borg or Stenmark competed, that was probably before I began school in 1982. (Oh dear, I AM getting old...)
This threas needs more Gunde Svan by the way, from the top of my mind, he was the poster boy for swedish sport when Borg and Stenmark retired.
Then again, the media landscape has changed drastically since Borg and Stenmark's heydays. Back then there were ten minutes of Sportnytt on TV1, and a few pages in the bigger newspapers. Until SVT Text began showing NHL standings, DN posted them roughly four times. In an entire season!
joe89
#5
- Apr 30, 2009
- 20,315
- 177
First of all times change, the kids now all have smartphones instead and we multi-task our information in a completely different way. We can be at work or school and still watch without shutting things down(productivity will be down however..). But you miss out on one important aspect -- football games are playing during the evening or at weekends, and championships are played during summer break. If we played a must-win qualifier or World Cup game classes would be cancelled without a doubt. If Zlatan played Champions League finals during day time, classes would be cancelled.
Myself, I'm younger, had at least one class cancelled to watch J-O Waldner play. And I heard about that happening with the cross-country these Olympics. So it's nothing unique to the older generation. If there's a national interest, classes are cancelled.
Euro/World Cup qualifiers and Champions League games are usually played in the evening and the big tournaments in the summer plus you can follow the score in mobile phones nowadays, so it's hard to compare with Stenmark.
I remember Sweden vs Argentina at the 2002 World Cup was played during my last day of school before that summer. They moved everything scheduled to the morning, so people could get home in time for the game.
I remember Sweden vs Argentina at the 2002 World Cup was played during my last day of school before that summer. They moved everything scheduled to the morning, so people could get home in time for the game.
We had the classes cancelled and the teachers brought TVs to each classroom so we could watch the game.
The Anders Svensson freekick will never be forgotten.
Franck
eltiT resU motsuC
My old school didn't give a flying **** about sports, never cancelled or moved classes, never put TVs in the classrooms or any of that stuff. Remember talking to friends about pretending to be sick so we could stay home to watch Sweden vs. Nigeria back in 2002.
I bet this guy is more famous in Sweden then Lidström is
I bet not.
Come back to us Alex, when you won something noticeable. (I hope he will soon
)I bet not.
Come back to us Alex, when you won something noticeable. (I hope he will soon
I'm pretty sure he is
Alex himself sold out Globen when it was UFC Fightnight here in Sweden i would like to see Niklas Lidström do that
We finished 3rd in the under 17 World Cup less than a year ago, I'd say we have some decent players coming through.
Ibra was 17/18 when he made his debut for Malmö and nobody really knew who he was before then. Hopefully there is a new superstar on junior team somewhere
Franck
eltiT resU motsuC
http://www.expressen.se/sport/hockey/nhl/lidstrom-hyllad-i-globen/I'm pretty sure he is
Oh you see there thats nice
Gustafsson and they thinking about hold the championship match between Jones and Gustafsson at Friends Arena with 65k people
I still think Gustafsson is bigger then Lidström
SurMartin
Registered User
I had never even heard of this Gustafsson guy until I read this thread. MMA(?) is a niche sport here to say the least.Oh you see there thats nice
Gustafsson and they thinking about hold the championship match between Jones and Gustafsson at Friends Arena with 65k people
I still think Gustafsson is bigger then Lidström
Like i said Gustafsson is more famous then Lindström here in Sweden and probably in the USA aswell... after his championship fight against Jon Jones he is the "new" Ingo so to speak... and MMA is the worlds fastest growing sport aswell so i guess its just naturall...
svartgul
Hata Löven
@SurMartin, then perhaps you don't read alot of national sports media, unless its regarding hockey. Gustafsson has been written and talked about quite frequently this year in all of Swedish media both in print and TV news.
I honestly don't think he's bigger than Lidström yet. World-wide he's obviously WAY more famous than Lidström is, and he's on his way in Sweden too. If he wins against Jones next fight, the deal is sealed though.
I'm 110% sure that he is more famouse then Lindström here in Sweden... the only two other players i could think is more famouse than Gustafsson is Peter Forsberg and Mats Sundin.
joe89
#5
- Apr 30, 2009
- 20,315
- 177
Woah, slow down here. MMA still mostly interests males and those under 40, but the fans are extremely rabid and loud. If you used sportbladet, twitter, flashback and such parameters they will probably lead you to believe that Gustafsson is one of Sweden's most recognized athletes already. But those places attract said age groups and gender, where Gustafsson reigns supreme. For the better part of the rest, he's not yet a household name. His fights have limited availability and they're on obscure times. That slims his presence down effectively. Case in point: Idrottsgalan.
But it's true that Lidström isn't the most famous hockey player we ever had, certainly not the measuring stick anyway. 2006 Olympics etched him into the Swedish hearts though. Henrik Lundqvist is far more recognizable and exposed in media however, for one.
The best question to ask yourself is probably, does my not-as-sports-interested mother know who Zlatan is? Hell yes. Charlotte Kalla is? Yes. Henrik Lundqvist? Yes. Nick Lidström is? Probably. Alex Gustafsson is? Probably not. That's what 'presence' is about.
But it's true that Lidström isn't the most famous hockey player we ever had, certainly not the measuring stick anyway. 2006 Olympics etched him into the Swedish hearts though. Henrik Lundqvist is far more recognizable and exposed in media however, for one.
The best question to ask yourself is probably, does my not-as-sports-interested mother know who Zlatan is? Hell yes. Charlotte Kalla is? Yes. Henrik Lundqvist? Yes. Nick Lidström is? Probably. Alex Gustafsson is? Probably not. That's what 'presence' is about.
Would a non-interested sports mother know who he was if her sports interested family didn't explain who he was? I know my mother would have 0 idea who he was if I didn't explain who he was once every few years.
Zlatan is the only sports person you WILL know in Sweden, there is no way around it. You have to be a blind deaf mute person who lives in a cave with no human contact to not know who he is here.
