Staffan Olsson

Erik Staffan Olsson (born 26 March 1964) is a Swedish handball coach and former player. Olsson, who always played with no 13, was a left-handed right backcourt player with one of the most feared shots of all the elite players. Later in his career he won praise for his great playmaking skills. He was inducted into the EHF Hall of Fame in 2024.^[1]

Staffan Olsson
Olsson in 2013
Personal information
Full name	Erik Staffan Olsson
Born	(1964-03-26) 26 March 1964 (age 61) Uppsala, Sweden
Height	1.99 m (6 ft 6 in)
Playing position	Right Back
Club information
Current club	Netherlands (head coach)
Senior clubs
Years	Team
0000–1980	Skånela
1980–1989	HK Cliff
1989–1991	TV Hüttenberg
1992–1996	TV Niederwurzbach
1996–2003	THW Kiel
2003–2006	Hammarby
loan	→ Ademar León
National team
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1986–2004	Sweden	358	(855)
Teams managed
2005–2011	Hammarby
2008–2016	Sweden (with Ola Lindgren)
2015–2018	Paris Saint-Germain (assistant)
2022–	Netherlands
Medal record Olympic Games 1992 Barcelona Team 1996 Atlanta Team 2000 Sydney Team World Championship 1990 Czechoslovakia 1999 Egypt 1997 Japan 1993 Sweden 1995 Iceland European Championship 1994 Portugal 1998 Italy 2000 Croatia 2002 Sweden

From September 2022 he is the head coach of the Netherlands' men’s national team.^[2]

Player career

Olsson was born in Uppsala. He started his career, at the age of 10, in the Swedish team Skånela. Other clubs are Huttenberg, Niederwurzbach, HK Cliff, THW Kiel and Hammarby. He played 358 caps (852 goals) with the Sweden men's national handball team.

After a long career in Germany, he returned to Sweden and played his final season in Hammarby Handball, a club he later coached to three consecutive national championships.

Olympics

In 1988 he was a member of the Swedish handball team which finished fifth in the Olympic tournament. He played all six matches and scored 16 goals.

Four years later he was part of the Swedish team which won the silver medal. He played six matches and scored seven goals.

At the 1996 Games he won his second silver medal with the Swedish team. He played five matches and scored seven goals.

His last Olympic appearance was at the Sydney Games in 2000 when he won his third silver medal with the Swedish team. He played six matches and scored twelve goals.

Resume

• Caps/Goals: 357/852 goals (1984–2002)
• World champion 1990 (in Prague, Czechoslovakia) and 1999 (in Cairo, Egypt)
• European champion 1994, 1998, 2000 and 2002
• World champion runner up 1997
• 3rd place in the 1993 and 1995 World championships
• German champion with THW Kiel 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2002
• Participated in four Summer Olympics: Seoul (1988), Barcelona (1992), Atlanta (1996) and Athens (2000)
• Swedish champion with Hammarby 2006, 2007 and 2008 (as coach)