STOCKHOLM (AP) — Former Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt was recommended on Wednesday to become the next president of the country’s soccer federation.
Reinfeldt was prime minister from 2006-14 as leader of the Moderate Party and has no previous links to soccer.
“It is an exciting assignment because throughout my life I have tried to find socially useful assignments and for me soccer is just that,” Reinfeldt said. “It is also beneficial to society because it covers all of Sweden, soccer is in every corner of Sweden.”
Formally, the next chairman of the Swedish soccer association is to be elected to a two-year term on March 25 at a meeting that includes the district associations and the top clubs.
In a statement, the Swedish soccer association said it had “listened to the entire movement and unanimously decided” on Reinfeldt.
The two other candidates in the race had pulled out — Hélène Barnekow, who has had high-profile roles in the IT industry in Sweden at Microsoft and telecommunications firm Telia, and Lars-Christer Olsson, a former chief executive at UEFA and a member of its executive committee until 2021.
Karl-Erik Nilsson is stepping down as the federation’s president after 10 years. He is one of UEFA’s vice presidents and can stay on in that role into 2025.
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