BIOGRAPHY
Magnus Wislander joins a number of his Swedish contemporaries in the Hall of Fame. The line player is one of the five Swedes to have won four EHF EURO titles, adding to those trophies three Olympic silver medals, and a pair of World Championship gold, silver and bronze medals.
Born in Gothenburg, Wislander first joined local club Tuve IF before shifting to local rivals Redbergslids IK, where he became a senior player. In fact, he spent several years with Redberglids before being hired by THW Kiel.
Wislander moved to Kiel in 1990, the same year in which he won his first international medal for Sweden - World Championship gold - although some five years after his senior debut. That was the start of a brilliant career for club and country that would last almost two decades.
For Sweden, Wislander played 386 games and scored 1,191 goals, playing both centre back and line player during his career. He holds the record for the most goals scored for Sweden. Rarely did a major tournament pass without Wislander and the rest of the ‘Bengan Boys’ winning a medal; they reached the podium 13 times in 13 seasons.
With Kiel, Wislander won seven German championships and two EHF Cups, and reached the EHF Champions League final in 2000, where the Zebras were beaten by Barcelona.
In recognition of his achievements, Wislander was named best player of the 20th century by the International Handball Federation, the Swedish Handball Federation, and Kiel.
After leaving Kiel in 2002, Wislander returned to Redbergslids for three seasons, first as player-coach and then as coach. In 2022 he took on the role of coach to Sweden’s goalball team, and also now works as a handball commentator.
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