January 30, 2001

Women's Soccer World© -March/April 1997 Edition©
Pia Sundhage - A unique Career in Sweden and the World

by Rainer Hennes

The number is a magical 146. It is the number of international playing appearances Pia Sundhage has made as a member of the Swedish National Team, giving her the most caps of any woman in soccer. In 1975, at the age of 15, she played in her first international game: an 0-0 tie against Finland. In the 1996 Olympics she played in her last one: a 3-1 victory over Denmark at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Florida.

Unfortunately for Pia this result did not enable Sweden to reach the semi-finals and a medal game. So Pia had no chance to play her 147th and 148th games which would have given her the record for the most caps for both women and men. This record is still held by Majed Abdullah from Saudi Arabia, who resigned after World Cup '94 in the U.S.

Pia's extraordinary career started at the age of six in the youth team of Ulrichshamn, which is a small town located about 70 miles east of Gothenburg. After recognizing that the small Ulrichshamn team could not satisfy her dreams of playing at the top level she moved to KIK Falkoping.

During the early '80's Pia had a very successful time with teams like Jitex BK from Gothenburg and Oesters Vaexjoe. After finishing school, she held a variety of jobs - from working in a car wash to being a secretary - while the women's international soccer scene started to develop in Europe. The first European Championship started in 1982. Sweden and England qualified for the finals in 1984. By then Pia had already become an important national player and celebrated her first big personal success when she scored in the 1-0 away victory over England. Unfortunately, Sweden lost the return game at home by the same result. No goals were scored by the teams in extra time so a penalty shoot-out was required to decide the entire Championship. Today Pia's comments recalling that situation sound really cool: "I took the last shot. We won the final. It was a marvelous success."

Pia's name has become synonymous with women's soccer in Sweden, and she has received many awards at both the national and international levels. With time Pia's role evolved from forward to mid-fielder and finally to sweeper. She was captain of the National Team for many years. "I think the World Cup 1991 in China and the 1996 Olympics last summer have been milestones in our sport," she says. But the 37-year-old "legend" is also proud of the '95 World Cup, which was hosted by her home country.

Pia is the Swedish record holder in scoring for her National Team with 71 goals, and she will probably retain this position for some time since the next closest scorer Lena Videkull (70 goals) recently retired from international competition. Soccer remains fun for Pia in spite of the hard physical work necessary to stay at the top level. "To be a good player one must always love soccer," she says.

She found that a strong relationship between soccer and music helped her create her own personal sports philosophy. "Soccer and music belong together. You need a certain rhythm and feeling for both." Her favorites in music are well known rock-legends Bob Dylan, Neil Young and Eric Clapton. She also likes Bruce Springsteen, Paul Simon and Mark Knopfer from Dire Straits. People who suggest that Pia could have been a professional guitar player are correct. She is a really good one! Many at the closing official banquet after the 1989 European Championship tournament in Germany will not forget the time after dinner when the Swedish team climbed onto the stage and Pia asked for a guitar "to get a real rock'n'roll party going." The mostly elderly officials could not believe their eyes. The same thing happened two years later at the next European Championship closing celebration in Denmark. The difference this time was that UEFA's President, Lennart Johansson (also from Sweden), joined in on piano, and his UEFA colleagues did at least tap their fingers and feet in time to the music.

Most of her career Pia spent playing for Swedish club teams, except for one year in the '80's when she played in Italy for the professional team Lazio Rome. Although she never felt comfortable there, she says: "I am glad that I did not miss that experience. It was an important part of my life."

During the '90's Pia started to combine playing and coaching and last year she was player and coach of Hammarby IF, Stockholm, where she has lived for several years. She holds the Swedish highest level coaching degree and the Swedish Federation appointed her coach of the U-16 girls' National Team, a position she held for several years. After announcing her retirement from playing internationally following the 1996 Olympics, she was named as Head Coach of the U-20 National Team and the Assistant Coach of the Women's National Team under Head Coach Marika Domanski-Lyfors.

Pia Sundhage
Born: Sweden, Feb.13, 1960

International Caps: 146 (from 1975-1996)
European Championships: Gold 1984
Silver 1987
Bronze 1989
Silver 1995
World Championships: Bronze 1991
National level: League Champion 1979, '81, '84, '89
Cup winner 1981, '84, '94, '95
Former teams: Jitex BK Gothenburg
Hammarby IF Stockholm
SS Lazio Rome (Italy)
Oesters Vaexjoe
KIK Falkoping
IfK Ulrichshamn (6 years old)
Current club team: Hammarby IF Stockholm (as a player/coach 1992-present)

Head Coach: Under-16 National Team (1990-96)
Under-20 National Team (1996-present)

Assistant Coach: Women's National Team (1996-present)