page_title: Sven Bergqvist
section_title: Football
hierarchical_section_title: Sven Bergqvist / Athletic career / Football
caption_attribution_description: Svenska: Sven Bergqvist, legendarisk fotbollsmålvakt.
context_page_description: Sven "Svenne Berka" Bergqvist was a Swedish bandy, ice hockey and football player, known for representing Hammarby IF in all three sports.
context_section_description: In 1932, at the age of 17, he debuted in Hammarby's senior football team. Bergqvist would stay as the team's regular goalkeeper up until 1934, playing in the Swedish second tier then known as Division 2.
  He enjoyed a short stint at the Allsvenskan club AIK, one of Hammarby's main rivals, during the season of 1935. But Bergqvist failed to make a single appearance for the club and soon returned to Hammarby, reportedly turning down a move abroad to then French giants Racing Club de Paris, that would have turned Bergqvist into the first professional Swedish footballer.
  "Svenne Berka" would then remain as a prolific player at Hammarby until 1947. During this period he was a part of a successful promotion campaign to Allsvenskan in 1939. Between 1944 and 1946, he also acted as a player-manager of Hammarby. Bergqvist made a total of 212 competitive appearances during his two stints at the club.
  He also won 35 caps for the Swedish national football team between 1935 and 1943. In his second cap, on 30 June 1935, Sweden defeated Germany in a memorable victory. Bergqvist played his only major international tournament for his country in the 1936 Berlin Summer Olympics.
  His nickname "Svenne Berka" originated from the supporters of Hammarby, who shortened his full name in accordance to the then reigning Stockholm dialect. But the nickname became nationally household when the popular recording artist Alice Babs referred to Bergqvist as "Svenne Berka" in the song "Vårat gäng" during the 1940s. Bergqvist was also characterized as always wearing an own sewn cap on the pitch, which inspired a long lasting fashion trend among male youngsters living in Södermalm.
  In 2004, he was voted as Hammarby Fotboll's fifth biggest profile throughout the history of the club. He is also a recipient of the honorary award "Big boy", which is handed out by the Swedish Football Association.
caption: Sven Bergqvist as football goalkeeper.
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