Lars Lagerbäck

Lars "Lasse" Lagerbäck IPA| [laːʂ 'lɑsɛ 'laːgɛrbɛk] (born 16 July 1948) is a football manager. After Euro 2004, he became the sole manager for the Sweden national football team. He first joined the national team's coaching staff in 1997 as an assistant to Tommy Söderberg, and was promoted to joint coach in 2000. The pair led Sweden through the 2002 World Cup and Euro 2004; after the latter event, Söderberg left the senior national side to take over the coaching job of Sweden national under-21 football team.

Lagerbäck fell under severe scrutiny during the 2006 World Cup. He was very lax throughout the entire duration of the tournament, even when his side fell behind Germany 2-0 in the first 10 minutes of the game. He also made a baffling decision not to start talented midfielder Christian Wilhelmsson, who wasn't sent in until the 68th minute. Following the cup, Lagerbäck announced that he would only remain with the squad until Euro 2008, after which he would resign. In a subsequent press conference, the 3rd April 2007, according to Dagens Nyheter´s Johan Esk, Lagerbäck contradicted earlier statements of him resigning after the 2008 European Cup, by saying that he "wasn't sure" if this would be the last qualification to a big tournament he would be part of. However, news filtered through on January 4th that Lagerbäck had signed a new 2-year contract extension.

Although sometimes criticised for promoting less entertaining football, Lagerbäck stands out as arguably the most consistently successful manager of Sweden. As of 2008, he has steered his team through five straight qualifications for major international tournaments. This is a feat never before accomplished in the history of Swedish football.

Lars Lagarback has a degree in economics.