Celtic legend Henrik Larsson takes Falkenberg job

Henrik Larsson and current Celtic manager Neil Lennon celebrate at the end of the 2003 Scottish Cup Final. Picture: Robert Perry

“We can now present Henrik Larsson as our new coach. We have met several times and carefully gone through the conditions at Falkenberg,” said sporting director Hakan Nilsson.

Larsson, 42, will take over as coach in the new year.

“This is going to be a lot of fun and inspiring,” he said, adding that he was well aware that the small club on Sweden’s west coast are among the favourites for relegation.

“I like challenges, and I’m looking forward to doing something that everyone outside Falkenberg believes is impossible.” As a player, Larsson won the Golden Boot at Celtic in 2001 as Europe’s top scorer before moving to Barcelona in 2006, where he won the Champions League. He also had a short loan spell at Manchester United in 2007.

Larsson was part of the Sweden team that finished third at the 1994 World Cup in the United States. He made the last of his 106 appearances for Sweden in a 1-0 loss to Denmark in October 2009 in a World Cup qualifier.

Despite an illustrious playing pedigree, his management career has so far been less successful, failing to lift Landskrona out of the second division during a three-year spell.

Since leaving Landskrona in November 2012, Larsson has helped out at fourth division Hogaborg, where his 16-year-old son is a midfielder.

Falkenberg won the recently completed second-tier Superettan in Sweden by a point from Orebro, who will join them in the top flight next year.

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