1. Pia Sundhage was the head coach of the United States women's national team from 2008 to 2012 and led the team to two Olympic gold medals and a silver medal at the World Cup.
29 Facts About Pia Sundhage
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Pia Sundhage's success led to her winning the 2012 FIFA World Coach of the Year.
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Pia Sundhage later became the head coach of her native Sweden women's national football team from 2012 to 2017, winning an Olympic silver medal in 2016.
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Pia Sundhage started with IFK Ulricehamn as a youth player and eventually moved to Falkopings KIK in 1978.
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Pia Sundhage then joined Jitex BK from 1979 to 1981.
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Pia Sundhage played 1982 to 1983 with Osters IF, scoring 30 times in her first season with the club and chipping in 35 more in her second season.
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Pia Sundhage played the 1986 season with Hammarby IF, before she moved back to Jitex BK from 1979 through 1989.
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Pia Sundhage finished her career with Hammarby IF DFF, playing from 1990 until she retired in 1996.
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Pia Sundhage won four Damallsvenskan championships, all with Jitex BK, as well as two additional Svenska Cupen with the club.
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Pia Sundhage won two Svenska Cupen with Hammarby IF DFF.
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Pia Sundhage made her first appearance for the Sweden national team as a 15-year-old in 1975, eventually amassing 146 caps and scoring 71 goals for her country.
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Pia Sundhage participated for Sweden in the 1991 and 1995 editions of the FIFA Women's World Cup and the 1996 Summer Olympics.
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Pia Sundhage won, and was the top scorer, in the 1984 UEFA Women's Championship.
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Pia Sundhage's image appeared on a Swedish postage stamp in 1988.
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In 2000, Pia Sundhage finished sixth in the voting for FIFA Women's Player of the Century.
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Pia Sundhage then took assistants jobs with Vallentuna BK and AIK Fotboll Dam before moving across the Atlantic Ocean to become an assistant with Philadelphia Charge of the new Women's United Soccer Association in the United States.
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Pia Sundhage eventually was hired on by Boston Breakers as the head coach, winning the league title and being named the 2003 WUSA Coach of the Year in the process.
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Pia Sundhage served as an assistant to Marika Domanski-Lyfors for the China Women's national team during the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup.
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Pia Sundhage was announced as the United States women's national team head coach on 13 November 2007.
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Pia Sundhage became the seventh head coach in the US team's history and the third woman.
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Pia Sundhage was on the verge of winning the 2009 Algarve Cup, but the United States lost out to Sundhage's native Sweden on penalties.
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Pia Sundhage coached the women's team to the final of the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup, where the team advanced to the final for the first time since 1999.
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On 1 September 2012, Pia Sundhage announced she was stepping down as the USwomen's head coach having expressed a desire to seek opportunities in her native Sweden.
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The Swedish Football Association announced early 2 September 2012 that Pia Sundhage signed a four-year contract that starts on 1 December.
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Pia Sundhage replaced Thomas Dennerby, who resigned after Sweden failed to reach the semifinals in 2012 Olympics.
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Pia Sundhage took over her new duties on 1 January 2018.
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In July 2019, Pia Sundhage accepted an invitation from the Brazilian Football Confederation to become the new coach of the Brazil women's national football team.
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In January 2010, Pia Sundhage mentioned in a Swedish TV interview that as a lesbian she has not felt any homophobia as a coach.
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Pia Sundhage was awarded the Illis quorum in the eighth size by the Swedish government in 2021.