04 February 2024
Kurt Hamrin, one of the highest-scoring foreigners who played in Italy, has left us at the age of 89. It was Juventus who brought the Swede, born in Stockholm on 19 November 1934, to Serie A. He spent only one season in Turin, which was very important for his career. Afterwards, there were experiences in Padova, in Fiorentina (where he was Paolo Rossi's idol as a child fan, declaring how much his way of playing influenced him), in Milan and in Napoli.
THE YOUNG SWEDE
The photo above refers to a Juventus-Padova match from 1956/57. Hamrin is wearing the number 7, he is 22 years old, and is part of a team with a large focus on young talent, part of a re-building process that will soon bear fruit. In his homeland he established himself already as a youngster, becoming top scorer in the league. Gianni Agnelli understood his value, acting quickly to purchase him for a low price. Years later, in an interview, he would use the same formula he uttered for the acquisition of Michel Platini: "We took him for a piece of bread."
AGILITY
Refined, agile and a fast right winger, Kurt is nicknamed "Uccellino" (Bird). His impact on the Juventus world is more than positive. He immediately scores, with a brace, on his debut with Lazio at the Olimpico. He repeats this in his first match at the Comunale as well, scoring, providing assists and making great plays. The rest of the season did not see him as brilliant and continuous, however he finished with 8 goals in 23 games. And how quickly his ability to learn was demonstrated by the World Cup played in Sweden in 1958: Hamrin was the top scorer for his national team and also scored in the final, even if he had to surrender to the immense class of a very young Pelé.
LIKE LIAM BRADY
In some ways, Hamrin's story at Juventus is reminiscent to that of Liam Brady, who was forced to leave Juventus in 1982 because the regulations prevented the signing of more than two foreigners. The arrival of Platini and Boniek take the Irishman's place. The same thing happens to the Swede with the purchase of John Charles (in the photo) and Omar Sivori, with the exception of a tour in his country where all three play together and score. But how high the club's esteem for him was is given by the many declarations of Umberto Agnelli, who in 1984 in one of his all-time ideal Juve formations chooses him as his favourite right winger. Not only that: the then Juventus president fought hard for him, the victim of serious injuries in his first year in Italy, with a complaint addressed to the League aimed at protecting him. "It is our intention to play football, offering as much as we can to put on a good show, in order to invite spectators to flock to the stadiums in large numbers. For these reasons we have oriented ourselves towards the purchase of technical players, and Hamrin is undoubtedly a player with excellent qualities. In five months of the championship, however, the Swede was forced to be admitted to hospital twice for accidents that were not accidental, mind you, but were due to the intemperance of his opponents." As an opponent Hamrin scored 7 times against Juventus, in a period from 1959 to 1968: 5 with Fiorentina and 2 with Milan.
