Rikard Norling
![]() Norling in 2011 | |||
Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Rikard Olof Norling | ||
Date of birth | 4 June 1971 | ||
Place of birth | Stockholm, Sweden | ||
Position(s) | Midfielder | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
1990–1991 | IF Brommapojkarna | 4 | (1) |
Managerial career | |||
1992–1993 | Brommapojkarna (youth team) | ||
1994–1995 | IK Bele | ||
1996–1998 | AIK (youth team) | ||
1998–2001 | AIK (assistant manager) | ||
2002–2003 | Väsby IK | ||
2003–2004 | GIF Sundsvall | ||
2004–2008 | AIK | ||
2010–2011 | Assyriska FF | ||
2011–2013 | Malmö FF | ||
2013–2015 | Brann | ||
2016–2020 | AIK | ||
2021–2022 | IFK Norrköping | ||
2024– | FC Stockholm | ||
*Club domestic league appearances and goals |
Rikard Olof Norling (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈrɪ̌kːaɖ ˈnûːɭɪŋ]; born 4 June 1971) is a Swedish football manager.
Forced to retire early from his professional playing career due to an injury, Rikard Norling started a coaching career at the age of 22. In his early managerial career, Norling headed IK Bele, Väsby IK and GIF Sundsvall before taking on his first major position as manager for AIK in 2005. After helping AIK secure promotion back to Allsvenskan in 2005 and finishing as runners-up in the league as newcomers in 2006, he was sacked after conflicts with the club board. He took a short break before he came back to the coaching scene as he was appointed manager for Assyriska FF. Norling managed Assyriska to a fourth-place position in Superettan in 2010. Halfway through the 2011 season he was presented as the new manager for reigning Swedish champions Malmö FF to replace Roland Nilsson. At Malmö FF he won the 2013 league title and the club finished in the top during all of Norlings three seasons at the club. In May 2016 Norling returned to AIK as manager again.
Playing career
Norling started his career at IK Bele where he played together with future Celtic star Johan Mjällby during his early teens. He then switched to IF Brommapojkarna where he was considered a very promising player, he remained at the club until a back injury forced him to retire as a player at the age of 21.
Coaching career
Early career
At the age of 22 Norling started his coaching career at
The following year AIK reached the
AIK
Norling was appointed as AIK's manager on 11 November 2004 following the club's relegation from the top level in Swedish football, the Allsvenskan, the same year. He led the team to a quick promotion by winning the second level, the Superettan, in style clinching the berth with three games still to play. He put his team in a position to become the first newcomer to snatch the league title in 38 years although AIK finished as runners-up in the end of the 2006 campaign. Norling remained at AIK until November 2008 when he and manager Charlie Granfelt both were relieved from their posts.[1]
Assyriska
In January 2010, he joined
Malmö FF
On 25 May 2011,
The 2012 season was Norlings first full year season as Malmö FF manager. He guided the club to a 3rd place in the league and qualification to the qualifying rounds to the 2013–14 UEFA Europa League. Malmö FF was in the title race until the last match where an away win against AIK would have sufficed to win the title as champions IF Elfsborg drew against Åtvidabergs FF as Malmö FF lost against AIK. After the 2012 season reports stated that there was a conflict of interests between Norling and the club's director of sports Per Ågren, reports went as far as to say that the two men weren't on speaking terms.[4] It was said that Norling was unsatisfied with the way Ågren dealt with contract negotiations and the transfers of players.[5] It was indicated that Norling was displeased by Ågren's decision to sell striker Mathias Ranégie to Italian side Udinese during the summer transfer window. The rift between Norling and Ågren was confirmed by club captain Jiloan Hamad.[6] On 16 November 2012 Malmö FF decided to hold a press conference to deal with the speculations and to clarify that both Norling and Ågren would stay at the club.[7]
Having seemingly repaired their relationship, Malmö FF with both Norling and Ågren in partnership signed striker
After a very successful second part of the season, Malmö FF eventually secured the 2013 league title in the penultimate match of the season in an away game against IF Elfsborg at Borås Arena. Norling stated after the match that he would stay at the club and was looking forward to prepare for the next season. However his last match as manager for Malmö FF proved to be the 2013 Svenska Supercupen where the club defeated IFK Göteborg to win its second official title of the season. On 27 November 2013 Norling announced his resignation from Malmö FF due to undisclosed reasons.[10]
Brann
Norling was unveiled as the new manager for Norwegian
AIK
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/21/Rikard_Norling_%28training_2016%2C_1%2C_cropped%29.jpg/220px-Rikard_Norling_%28training_2016%2C_1%2C_cropped%29.jpg)
Norling was appointed to his second spell as AIK's manager on 13 May 2016, following the sacking of Andreas Alm the same day. He signed his contract until 2020.[13] In 2018 AIK won the league with 67 points – the highest points gained in Allsvenskan, tied with Malmö FF in 2010.
Norling was sacked by AIK on 27 July 2020, following being on a disappointing 12th place in the league after 11 played games of the season.[14]
IFK Norrköping
On 23 December 2020, Norling was appointed as the new manager of IFK Norrköping in Allsvenskan, replacing Jens Gustafsson.[15]
Personal life
Norling is married and a father of four.[citation needed]
Managerial statistics
- As of match played 23 December 2020
Team | From | To | Record | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
G1 | W | D | L | Win % | |||
Väsby IK | 1 January 2002 | 16 November 2003 | 54 | 37 | 7 | 10 | 68.52 |
GIF Sundsvall | 16 November 2003 | 11 November 2004 | 29 | 11 | 7 | 11 | 37.93 |
AIK | 11 November 2004 | 10 November 2008 | 126 | 61 | 35 | 30 | 48.41 |
Assyriska FF
|
1 January 2010 | 29 May 2011 | 41 | 18 | 8 | 15 | 43.90 |
Malmö FF | 3 June 2011 | 30 November 2013 | 105 | 56 | 27 | 22 | 53.33 |
Brann | 3 December 2013 | 27 May 2015 | 40 | 11 | 10 | 19 | 27.50 |
AIK | 13 May 2016 | 27 July 2020 | 169 | 97 | 42 | 30 | 57.40 |
IFK Norrköping | 23 December 2020 | ||||||
Total | 564 | 291 | 136 | 137 | 51.60 |
1 Only competitive matches are counted.
Honours
Manager
AIK
Malmö FF
Individual
- Allsvenskan manager of the year: 2013, 2018
References
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- ^ "Norling får sparken" (in Swedish). Svenska Dagbladet. 10 November 2008. Retrieved 30 May 2011.
- ^ "Rikard Norling ny tränare i Assyriska" (in Swedish). Dagens Nyheter. 2 December 2009. Retrieved 30 May 2011.
- ^ "Rikard Norling ny tränare i Malmö FF" (in Swedish). Malmö FF. 25 May 2011. Archived from the original on 2 June 2011. Retrieved 30 May 2011.
- ^ "Sprickan – mitt i guldstriden: "Pratar knappt med varandra"". fotbolldirekt.se (in Swedish). fotbolldirekt.se. 27 October 2012. Retrieved 16 August 2013.
- ^ "MFF-sprickan – Norling eller Ågren ska bort". expressen.se (in Swedish). Expressen. 11 November 2012. Retrieved 16 August 2013.
- ^ "Erkänner spricka: "Inte överens"". fotbolldirekt.se (in Swedish). fotbolldirekt.se. 11 November 2012. Retrieved 16 August 2013.
- ^ "Klargörande från Malmö FF". mff.se (in Swedish). Malmö FF. 16 November 2012. Archived from the original on 28 November 2012. Retrieved 16 August 2013.
- ^ "Uppgifter: MFF sparkar Norling". fotbolldirekt.se (in Swedish). fotbolldirekt.se. 13 August 2013. Retrieved 16 August 2013.
- ^ "Håkan Jeppsson kommenterar dagens mediespekulationer". mff.se (in Swedish). Malmö FF. 13 August 2013. Archived from the original on 17 August 2013. Retrieved 16 August 2013.
- ^ "Rikard Norling säger upp sig från MFF". mff.se (in Swedish). Malmö FF. 27 November 2013. Archived from the original on 30 November 2013. Retrieved 27 November 2013.
- ^ "Norling ferdig i Brann :- Vi passet ikke helt sammen, dessverre". bt.no (in Norwegian). Bergens Tidende. 27 May 2015. Retrieved 6 June 2015.
- ^ "Rikard Norling er Branns nye trener". brann.no (in Norwegian). SK Brann. 3 December 2013. Archived from the original on 6 December 2013. Retrieved 3 December 2013.
- ^ "Rikard Norling ny tränare i AIK". SvT.se. 13 May 2016. Retrieved 13 May 2016.
- ^ "AIK Fotboll entledigar Rikard Norling som chefstränare". AIK Fotboll. 27 July 2020. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
- ^ "Rikard Norling ny huvudtränare för IFK Norrköping" (in Swedish). IFK Norrköping. 23 December 2020. Retrieved 25 January 2021.