Obituary for Sweden's football icon Kurt Hamrin: He was hated in Germany, he was loved in Italy

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Kurt Hamrin in the Milan jersey

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Tt News Agency / REUTERS

Another piece of history is dying. Kurt Hamrin is dead; he was the last person to be there at the 1958 World Cup final, when the very young Pelé and his Brazilians played the Swedish hosts to the wall using every trick in the book. Mario Zagallo, the great Brazilian, preceded him in January as the only remaining player from the World Cup team. Now there is no one left of the 22 who stood on the pitch in the famous Rasunda Stadium in Solna near Stockholm 66 years ago.

Garrincha, Vava, Pelé, Zagallo, Gunnar Gren, Nils Liedholm, now he too. Kurt Hamrin, known as Kurre, was 89 years old.

First ice hockey national player

This Kurt Hamrin was a phenomenon in many ways. He was so talented in sports that he became a national team player early on. But not in football, but in ice hockey. It was only after two international matches on the ice for Tre Kroner that he considered switching to football - and a short time later he was in Sweden's selection team.

Hamrin was an unstable spirit, and that didn't just apply to sports. He didn't last long in his homeland either. After four years at AIK Solna, the club he had led with his goals from the second to the first Swedish league, he moved south from Scandinavia. Italy was the country of longing in the 1950s. This didn't just apply to the Germans, who melted into Rudi Schuricke's Capri fishermen, it also applied to Swedish football.

They named him Little Bird

Liedholm, Gren and Gunnar Nordahl were already making their money in Italian football, Hamrin followed them in 1955, it was one of the best decisions of his life. He also went on a journey here, at the end of his biography there were five Italian clubs, they were the big names: Juventus, AC Florence, AC Milan, SSC Napoli, plus Calcio Padova.

14 years in Italy, and how successful they were! Champion and winner of the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1968 and European Cup Winners' Cup with Milan in 1969, European Cup Winners' Cup with Florence in 1961 and goals, goals, goals. Italy became the happiness of his life. The Swede soaked up Italy, the way of life, the sun, the enthusiasm of the Tifosi. During his nine years at Fiorentina he literally exploded on the pitch; to Fiorentina fans it seemed as if he was flying across the pitch. They named him l'uccelino, the little bird. The nomad Hamrin found his home in Florence and lived here until his death.

Juskowiak's provocateur

Hamrin scored 150 goals in the league for Fiorentina, something even the godlike Gabriel Battistuta later failed to achieve. In total, he missed the opposing goalkeepers in Italy 190 goals, which means he is still in ninth place in the all-time top scorer list in Serie A - he was only recently pushed out of eighth place by former Dortmund player Ciro Immobile. Hamrin is still the second best non-Italian in the top scorer rankings, behind his compatriot Nordahl.

As much as he was revered beyond the Alps, he was a hate figure in Germany. In Sweden's 1958 World Cup semi-final against defending champions Germany, he provoked his opponent Erich Juskowiak to such an extent that the German, already extremely annoyed by the constant "Heja Sverige" from the stands, blew his fuses. He kicked Hamrin in a revenge foul and was sent off for it. Also because Hamrin, who was washed up in Italy, rolled around on the floor until the referee showed him a red card. To make matters worse, the winger then scored to make it 3-1.

“Never set foot in Sweden again”

Afterwards all hell broke loose in Germany, the press complained about the scandalous game, and Hamrin was the bogeyman. People turned up their noses at the fact that Hamrin, like Gren and Liedholm, earned his money abroad; the German newspapers wrote disparagingly about “mercenaries” and “legionnaires.” The then DFB President Peco Bauwens went so far as to say: “We will never enter this country again, never play against Sweden again.”

Swedish tourists in Germany were denied gas at gas stations, and Swedish cars in Germany had their tires slashed. Restaurants took the “Schwedenplatte” off the menu, as the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” reminds us in its World Cup library. All because of Kurre Hamrin.

Only the team itself did not join this chauvinistic chorus. Herberger congratulated the Swedes fairly, and Helmut Rahn, the boss, made a real boss move by also praising the supposed bogeyman: "In this game, Hamrin would always have found a way past Juskowiak."

German football fans only had the opportunity to take revenge ten years later, when AC Milan and Hamrin played in the European Cup Winners' Cup final against Hamburger SV.

Milan won 2-0. Kurre Hamrin scored both goals.