Jonas Magnus Thern (born 20 March 1967) is a Swedish football manager who manages Allsvenskan club IFK Värnamo. He is also a former professional player who played as a midfielder. Starting off his career with Malmö FF in 1985, he went on to represent FC Zürich, Benfica, Napoli, Roma, and Rangers before retiring in 1999. A full international between 1987 and 1997, he won 75 caps for the Sweden national team and captained the Sweden side that finished third at the 1994 FIFA World Cup. He also represented his country at the 1988 Summer Olympics, 1990 FIFA World Cup, as well as UEFA Euro 1992. He was the recipient of the 1989 Guldbollen as Sweden's best footballer of the year.
This biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. (June 2009) |
Personal information | |||||||||||||
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Full name | Jonas Magnus Thern | ||||||||||||
Date of birth | (1967-03-20) 20 March 1967 (age 55) | ||||||||||||
Place of birth | Falköping, Sweden | ||||||||||||
Height | 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) | ||||||||||||
Position(s) | Midfielder, sweeper | ||||||||||||
Youth career | |||||||||||||
1982–1985 | IFK Värnamo | ||||||||||||
Senior career* | |||||||||||||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||
1985–1987 | Malmö FF | 41 | (6) | ||||||||||
1987 | FC Zürich | 5 | (0) | ||||||||||
1988–1989 | Malmö FF | 35 | (5) | ||||||||||
1989–1992 | Benfica | 100 | (10) | ||||||||||
1992–1994 | Napoli | 48 | (1) | ||||||||||
1994–1997 | Roma | 59 | (3) | ||||||||||
1997–1999 | Rangers | 23 | (5) | ||||||||||
Total | 308 | (31) | |||||||||||
National team | |||||||||||||
1984–1985 | Sweden U19 | 10 | (2) | ||||||||||
1986–1988 | Sweden U21/O | 15 | (3) | ||||||||||
1987–1997 | Sweden | 75 | (6) | ||||||||||
Teams managed | |||||||||||||
2000–2001 | IFK Värnamo | ||||||||||||
2002–2003 | Halmstads BK | ||||||||||||
2010 | IFK Värnamo | ||||||||||||
2017 | Landskrona BoIS (assistant) | ||||||||||||
2019– | IFK Värnamo | ||||||||||||
Honours
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*Club domestic league appearances and goals |
Born and raised in the town of Värnamo in southern central Sweden, Thern started his professional career in 1985 when he joined the classic Swedish club of Malmö FF, where he stayed for four years, earning him two titles in the 1986 and 1988 Allsvenskan. In 1989, he won the Guldbollen as Sweden's Footballer of the Year.
In 1989 he left for Benfica. He was part of a successful group of Scandinavian players that played for Benfica at the time, composed of Danish international Michael Manniche (1983–1987), and the Swedish "armada"; Mats Magnusson (1987–1992), Thern (1989–1992), Glenn Strömberg (1982–84) and Stefan Schwarz (1990–1994) alongside coach Sven-Göran Eriksson (1982–1984 and 1989–1992).
Thern went on to play in Italy for Napoli and Roma but moved to Scotland to join for Rangers on 1 July 1997, however, his career was cut short by injuries.
For Sweden, he played in the 1990 FIFA World Cup and Euro 1992,[1] and then won the bronze medal in the 1994 FIFA World Cup in the United States.[2] Thern also competed for Sweden at the 1988 Summer Olympics.[3] Thern was the Sweden captain for seven years, between 1990 and 1997.
After he retired as a player he became head coach for IFK Värnamo between 2000 and 2001 and Halmstads BK 2001–2003.
In 2021, he led IFK Värnamo to promotion to Allsvenskan for the first time ever in the club's history.[4]
Jonas has a son, Simon, who is also a footballer. His daughter, Alicia, is an equestrian.
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team | Season | Apps | Goals |
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Sweden | |||
1987 | 2 | 0 | |
1988 | 10 | 3 | |
1989 | 8 | 1 | |
1990 | 4 | 1 | |
1991 | 6 | 1 | |
1992 | 9 | 0 | |
1993 | 4 | 0 | |
1994 | 11 | 0 | |
1995 | 6 | 0 | |
1996 | 8 | 0 | |
1997 | 7 | 0 | |
Total | 75 | 6 |
International goals
# | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
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1. | 12 January 1988 | Estadio Municipal de Maspalomas, Maspalomas, Spain | East Germany | 2–1 | 4–1 | Friendly |
2. | 4–1 | |||||
3. | 15 January 1988 | Estadio Municipal de Maspalomas, Maspalomas, Spain | Finland | 1–0 | 1–0 | Friendly |
4. | 16 August 1989 | Malmö Stadion, Malmö, Sweden | France | 1–0 | 2–4 | Friendly |
5. | 27 May 1990 | Råsunda Stadium, Solna, Sweden | Finland | 6–0 | 6–0 | Friendly |
6. | 4 September 1991 | Råsunda Stadium, Solna, Sweden | Yugoslavia | 4–2 | 4–3 | Friendly |
Malmö
Benfica
Rangers
Sweden
Individual
Swedish Football Hall of Fame inductees | |
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2003 | |
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2009 |
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2010 |
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2011 | |
2012 | |
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2014 |
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2015 |
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2016 |
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2017 | |
2018 | |
2019 |
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2020 |
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2021 |
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Halmstads BK – managers | |
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