Nils Liedholm (born October 8, 1922 in Valdemarsvik) was a Swedish footballer, famous for being part of Sweden's "Gre-No-Li" trio with Gunnar Gren and Gunnar Nordahl. He is the last member of this trio still alive.

Liedholm joined his first club, IK Sleipner in 1942. In 1946, he joined IFK Norrköping, a bigger Swedish club with whom he won two Swedish league titles. During his time with Norrköping, he also earned 18 caps for the Swedish national team, winning an Olympic gold medal. This eventually gave him the chance to join Milan in 1949. He made his Serie A debut on September 11, 1949 in a 3-1 win against Sampdoria. In his first season with Milan, the midfielder played 37 games and scored 18 goals. In 1951, Liedholm won the first of his four scudetto titles. Another two titles followed in 1955 and 1957. A player with a club that was having the best spell of its life up to that point, Liedholm also won the Latin Cup in 1951 and 1956. Famously, it took two years playing for Milan until Liedholm misplaced even one pass. The rarity of this event apparently prompted an ovation that lasted five minutes.

Liedholm was also one of the first players to realise the importance of fitness to a good performance. Consequently, he put in many more hours of training than other players, saying himself that he did the 100 metres, 3000 metres, javelin, shot put and high jump twice a week.

In 1958, Liedholm, by then aged almost 36, helped Sweden to reach the World Cup Final, where the team lost out to a Brazil side led by the teenage Pelé. His club career would continue until he was almost 40.

After he finished playing, Liedholm enjoyed some time in the backrooms at Milan, before getting promotion for both Verona and then Varese. This brought him to the attention of Fiorentina and then Milan, where he finally took control of the first team. He guided them to their tenth league title in 1979 before moving to become the manager of Roma. He took them to their second league title ever in 1983 using the zonal marking system, which was unusual in Italy at the time. A year later, his Roma side lost on penalties to Liverpool in the European Cup Final. He also won the Coppa Italia three times with Roma, in 1981, 1983 and 1984.

As well as saying that the modern game is much more frantic and fast-paced than when he was involved, Liedholm, always a professional, also observed that "they [players] do not do much to avoid fouling players... It is too easy to stop a player by fouling him. Proper training teaches you how to win the ball without committing a foul, which is much more difficult."

After leaving the game (but still living in Italy), Liedholm ran a vineyard for a while. This enterprise is now run by his son. His opinions, however, still carry a lot of weight in Italian football.

External links

• Greatest Swedish Players
• Golden Great: Nils Liedholm
• Liedholm's Career at RSSSF.com