Section:GDN 1J PaGe:8 Edition Date:190801 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 31/7/2019 17:59 cYanmaGentaYellowbla
- The Guardian Thursday 1 Aug ust 2019
8
Dame Janet Beer,
vice-chancellor,
University of
Liverpool, 63 ;
Derek Birdsall,
graphic designer
and typographer,
85; Karen Carney,
footballer, 32 ;
Diana Chambers,
pro-chancellor,
Bradford
University, 77;
Coolio, rapper,
56 ; Robert Cray,
blues guitarist and
singer, 66; Chuck
D, rapper, 59;
Oliver Dowden,
MP, paymaster
general , 41; The
Right Rev Terence
Drainey, Roman
Catholic bishop of
Middlesbrough,
70; Adrian
Dunbar, actor,
61 ; Joe Elliott,
musician, 60 ;
Fiona Hyslop,
MSP, minister
for culture and
external aff airs,
55; David James,
footballer, 49 ;
Sam Mendes,
theatre and fi lm
director, 54;
Andy Roxburgh,
football coach,
76; Bastian
Schweinsteiger,
footballer, 35 ; Prof
Laurie Taylor,
sociologist , 83;
Lee Wallace,
footballer, 32;
Honeysuckle
Weeks, actor, 40;
Prof Alex Wilkie,
mathematician, 71.L
ennart Johansson,
who has died aged
89, was president of
Uefa , the European
football association,
for 17 years, from
1990 to 2007,
during which time
he oversaw its growth from an
organisation with seven employees
and a tiny annual turnover into
one that employed 200 people and
controlled vast riches. He regarded
his greatest achievement there as
being the trans formation of the
European Cup – which previously
involved just the champions of
each European league – into the
Champions League , which took in
many more of the top teams and
generated far greater revenue.
He was also at the helm when
Uefa had to deal with the 199 5
Bosman ruling, which belatedly
brought freedom of contract into
football. Widely seen as a man
who wanted to keep football close
to its grass roots, even though he
was responsible for bringing huge
amounts of money into the game,
he complained after Bosman that
players’ salaries had spiralled out ofLennart Johansson
Former Uefa president
and pioneer of the
Champions League
proceeded, in due course, to the
shabby fi asco of choosing Qatar, a
tiny state with no football history,
to host the 2022 World Cup. Of
Blatter and his ally, the previous
Fifa president João Havelange ,
Johansson said: “If the price I have
to pay to win is to behave like them,
then I refrain. Then at least I will
leave with my self-respect.” Which
indeed he did.
Johansson had done little
campaigning, in the belief that “my
track record could talk for itself ”.
Afterwards he said: “I was angry
for three days, then I decided that
a man of my age should have the
sense to step down and be pleased
with what he has achieved.”
Nonetheless, he continued as Uefa
president for a further nine years. He
was eventually replaced by Michel
Platini , who, along with Blatter, was
later banned from football for eight
years by Fifa’s ethics committee.
Born in Stockholm , Sweden,
Johansson began work at 15 as an
order clerk for Forbo Forshaga, a
fi rm that made linoleum. He worked
his way up the business, becoming
successively sales manager,
managing director for 12 years and,
fi nally, chairman of the board.
Simultaneously he became involved
in the administration of AIK Solna ,
a sports club in the district of
Stockholm in which he lived.
Initially he worked with the partcontrol, and regretted the fact that
big European clubs had switched to
buying ready-made stars rather than
developing their own youngsters.
Johansson’s period at Uefa was
regarded as sound and honest, and
as a respected and trusted fi gure in
European football he was the clear
favourite to become president of
world football’s governing body,
Fifa , when he stood for election in- However, to general surprise
and some consternation, he was
beaten by Sepp Blatter , who was at
that point Fifa’s general secretary.
Johansson’s failure was a
source of regret to many, not least
because he had talked of trying to
deal with ongoing corruption at
Fifa , particularly in relation to the
hosting of World Cups. “The days
when the president and the general
secretary ran Fifa to suit themselves
are over,” he had predicted , when it
seemed he was heading for victory.
“Committees must no longer
be formed by the president. We
must have only people on these
committees who are clean and who
are untouchable.”
Alas, he was tilting at windmills,
and with the election of Blatter Fifa
A trusted fi gure
in European
football,
Johansson was
clear favourite
to be president of
Fifa,but he was
beaten by Sepp
Blatter
FABRICE COFFRINIof the club that played bandy, a
Swedish game similar to ice hockey,
and rose to be its chairman. In
due course, however, the football
section of the AIK club asked him to
be their chairman, which resulted
in his subsequent appointment
as chairman of the association of
Swedish football clubs. That led, in
1967, to his election as president of
the Swedish football association and
thence to the top job at Uefa.
Mindful of the corruption in
football administration, Johansson
was at pains to point out that he
received only expenses for his
football administration roles until
Uefa began paying him a salary in- Before that, and during his
fi rst 10 years at Uefa, he lived on his
private pension savings.
From 2001 onwards, the trophy
awarded to the Swedish football
champions was named the Lennart
Johansson Bowl in his honour.
In retirement he spent more
time at home in Sweden, much of it
fi shing. He was made an honorary
president of Fifa, which allowed him
to continue travelling around the
world to pursue his lifelong interest
in watching football.
Johansson’s wife, Lola, whom he
married in 1981, died in 2017. He had
fi ve children.
Brian Glanville
Nils Lennart Johansson, football
administrator, born 5 November
1929; died 4 June 2019Birthdays
Announcements
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He regretted
that the big
clubs had switched to
buying ready-made
stars rather than
developing their own [email protected]
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