Jan Olof "Janne" Andersson (Swedish pronunciation:[ˈjânːɛˈânːdɛˌʂɔn]; born 29 September 1962) is a Swedish football manager who most recently was the head coach of the Sweden national team.
From 2004 to 2009, Andersson coached Halmstads BK in the Swedish top tier league. In 2010, he managed Örgryte in the second tier. In 2011, he was appointed as manager of IFK Norrköping, a team newly promoted to the top tier. In 2015, Andersson led the team to win the Allsvenskan title. He was appointed manager of the Sweden national team in 2016. They qualified when he was manager for the 2018 World Cup and 2020 Euro, although unsuccessful in qualifying for the 2022 World Cup and 2024 Euro competitions.
His former playing career lasted 14 years between 1979 and 1993 with different Swedish clubs.
Playing career
Andersson spent the majority of his playing career with Alets IK, but also briefly represented IS Halma and Laholms FK.[4] A prolific goalscorer, he is Alet IK's all-time highest goalscorer and scored five goals in his last-ever appearance for the club.[5][6][7]
Managerial career
Early career
During Andersson's early managerial years, he managed Alets IK and Laholms FK.[8]
He took over Superettan team Örgryte IS in December 2009, who had just been relegated from Allsvenskan. During Andersson's stay at the club, Örgryte suffered from serious financial problems which eventually led their Superettan licence to be revoked. Andersson left the club after only one season.[10]
IFK Norrköping
In 2011, Andersson was appointed as the manager for IFK Norrköping who were making their comeback in Allsvenskan after two seasons in Superettan. In 2015, he led Norrköping to win the league for the first time in 26 years after defeating defending champions Malmö FF away in the last game.[11]
Sweden
Following Sweden's disappointing Euro 2016 display, Andersson took over as the head coach of the Sweden national team after almost seven years of Erik Hamrén being in charge.[12]
The next era of Andersson's Sweden proved to be a failure as Sweden failed to qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup held in Qatar, after losing to Poland 2–0 away in the decisive playoff fixture.[21] Sweden were also later relegated in the 2022–23 UEFA Nations League B to 2024–25 UEFA Nations League C after a poor showing, notably letting Slovenia to draw 1–1 at home that cost Sweden a place in League B.[22] In UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying, Sweden even suffered greater setbacks after string of defeats to Belgium and Austria proved lethal for Sweden's dream to qualify for the tournament; after Austria beat Azerbaijan 1–0 in Baku, Sweden thus failed to qualify for the UEFA Euro 2024, for the first time since 1996 they would not make it. After this failure, Janne Andersson announced he would step down as coach of Sweden,[23] which he did after the final match.[24]
Accolades
In July 2016, Andersson was named the 47th best manager in the world by football magazine FourFourTwo.[25] In November 2018, Andersson was named by FourFourTwo as the 17th best manager in the world.[26]
One of his role models is former Swedish handball coach Bengt Johansson, who is from the same neighbourhood (Söndrum) in Halmstad. Johansson served as Andersson's physical education teacher in primary school.[28]