Former police officer Thomas Dennerby to lead India in FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup 2022

Everyone might know Swede Thomas Dennerby as the man at the helm leading India's U-17 women's team in the upcoming FIFA World Cup, but many might not know that he in fact was a police officer in his younger days!

Surprising, right? He came through the police academy and his playing career was semi-professional, simultaneously serving as a police officer because the money he used to get from football was not enough for livelihood.

With an interview with the AIFF, the coach recalled his days with the force. "My friends used to tease me by saying that I was too kind to be a police officer. But I'd tell them that if someone should be kind, it should be a police officer."

Thomas Dennerby took charge of the Indian Women's U-17 team back in 2019. He had a stint with the Nigerian Women's team during the 2019 FIFA Women's World cup in France. Dennerby also coached the Indian senior women's team for the 2022 AFC Asia cup.

During the first few years of Dennerby's playing career, he was part of a group who were basically semi-professionals. Money was hard to come by, so Dennerby and co. would slog it out in a variety of jobs while still feeding the football bug in them.

"We were police officers, firefighters, someone would be driving an ambulance, and so on. You had to have an education and a job because the money you'd earn from football was not enough. You could live on it, but it was on the edge," Thomas said to the AIFF.

The 63-year-old tactician used to be a defender in his playing days. He joined Hammarby IF, a first-division club in Sweden in 1977. Thomas played eight games for Hammarby including 4 games in the UEFA cup which was discontinued in 2009. He retired from his playing career in 1988.

Dennerby has vast experience in Women's Football, working with several teams before becoming the first-ever foreigner to coach the Indian Senior Women's team. His first managerial stint was at Vartans IK, a Stockholm-based club. After leaving Vartans he took charge of the Swedish Women's team in 2005.

The Swedish women's team finished third in the 2011 Women's world cup, beating France in the playoffs for third place. His notable achievements also include a quarter-final appearance in the 2012 Olympics with the Swedish National Team.

He took charge of the Senior team of Nigerian Women's in 2018, where he had another memorable time. The 63-year-old led the falcons to a third-place finish in the 2018 Wafu women's cup, eventually winning it in 2019.

Thomas Dennerby was also awarded the Coach of the year (Nigeria) title in 2018. But he left the falcons on bad terms and India immediately utilised the chance to rope him in for leading the eves.