Frank Pettersson was seen as a great goalkeeper talent when he 16 years old moved to Stockholm to play with the junior team in AIK. Once there, he was soon promoted to the A-team, where he was the second and third goalkeeper in an all-Swedish club.
To gain more experience, Pettersson was loaned out to the Division 2 team Degerfors in 2004, but there was not as much playing time as he had hoped for. Instead, he returned to his home area to play Division 2 football with Köping FF, where he remained for several years.
– There I stood in the election and the qualifier if I would do something else or give football another chance. Then Dalkurd, who was in the north, called, and then I moved up to Borlänge before 2010, Pettersson tells Fotbollskanalen.
In Dalkurd, he achieved great success with promotion to both the Superettan and the Allsvenskan. But it was never an all-Swedish game for Pettersson.
After the Allsvenskan promotion in 2017, Dalkurd moved its A-team operations from Borlänge to Uppsala (with a stopover in Gävle). Then the goalkeeper chose to move to Jönköping for games with J-Södra in the Superettan.
Now, four years later, Pettersson chooses to end his playing career and put his gloves on the shelf. A message he announced on Wednesday. The 37-year-old goalkeeper now tells Fotbollskanalen more about the reasons behind the decision.
– I received a message from J-Södra quite shortly after the season ended. Immediately after that, I felt that it was clear that I would continue driving. Both the body and the head were set on it. I feel that I could have played several more years at a good level. The first few days it happened a lot for a 37-year-old, I would say, so it felt like it could work out to something really good, says Pettersson.
That did not happen.
– I have probably become a little picky over the years and I also have a family with a partner and two small children. In the end, I felt that something very good was required. The organization, the city, what role I get in the association. I still want to develop despite my age. The longer the time went by, I felt that it will be difficult to get all this.
Instead, Pettersson will now focus on a civilian career outside of football. He will work as Key Account Manager at the IT and technology company Framtiden.
– We thrive very well in Jönköping and have bought accommodation here, so this felt like the best solution. It spontaneously feels like a great service and a great chance to get.
How do you think players and supporters in football Sweden will remember your playing career?
– Good question. I want to think that my own supporters, they may not remember me best, but I think I have always stood back and done my best – even when it got heavier. That is probably the opinion I have heard that people have about me, says Pettersson.
He continues:
– What the opponents think is a little harder to know, but these days when I went out with that I quit, I have received very very kind greetings, even from competing teams. There have been very many, both old teammates and coaches, people you have met over the years. More than I thought would put any weight on me actually putting my gloves on the shelf. It indicates that you have not been a total idiot during these years anyway (laughs). I want to hope that I have offered myself and been quite easy to get along with. Probably a bit of a jerk on the plane, but I think that’s part of it.
What is your best memory from your playing career?
– Then I would still say that it is when we went up in the Allsvenskan with Dalkurd 2017. We had built something for several years with a frame there, so to be able to take that step together was cool.
And the worst?
– Thankfully, I have never left a series, so I would probably say this autumn with J-Södra. We played twelve games without winning and almost went from positive qualifier to negative qualifier during one fall. It has been stressful, but I hope that J-Södra can be strengthened from the fact that they solved it and take action from there.
Can you put football behind you now?
– Yes, but I work that way. I can only do things 100 percent. It has already called teams down here and asked if I want to be a player or goalkeeping coach, but right now I just want to focus on family and the new job to do the two things as best I can. I have had a partner who pulled a huge load with two children, so I want to give as much as I can back there while I want to do the new job as best I can. Then I think I will have something with football again in the future, but exactly when and what it will be we will see.
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