Roy Hodgson Biography

Roy Hodgson, born 9 August 1947 in Croydon, London, England, is an English former footballer who currently works as a coach. He was most recently manager of the Crystal Palace club between 2017 and 2021. Currently, Roy Hodgson is unemployed.

He is best known for coaching Switzerland, taking them to the 1994 World Cup finals for the first time in 28 years and guiding them to the Euro-96 tournament for the first time in 36 years. His coaching career has spanned many clubs including Malmö, Inter, Blackburn Rovers, Udinese, Fulham, Liverpool and West Bromwich Albion. He is also well-known as England's head coach.

He was the manager of the Finnish national team from January 2006. His team was in the fight for qualification for Euro 2008 until the end (they eventually took third place). In the qualification round, they won and drew with Poland and secured a point against Portugal. After the last match of the qualification, Hodgson resigned.

Roy Hodgson was officially introduced as Liverpool's new coach on 1 July 2010. His contract was for three years. But just six months later, following poor results in the English Premier League, he left the club by mutual agreement. He was replaced by Kenny Dalglish.

He was appointed coach of West Bromwich Albion on 11 February 2011, and in May 2011 he was named manager of the England national team. During Euro 2012 he led the England national team to the quarter-finals in which they lost to Italy 2:4 in the penalty shootout.

All You Need to Know About Roy Hodgson Biography

While Roy Hodgson has won many awards and titles in many European countries, however, he is yet to win honour in his home country. He was named LMA Manager of the Year in 2010.

Roy Hodgson Information

Now that we know him better, in this section of

Roy Hodgson biography

, we will share some general information about him such as

Roy Hodgson nationality

to let you know him even more.

Roy Hodgson Bio

• Full Name: Roy Hodgson

• Nickname: Royson

• Profession: Professional Football Coach

Roy Hodgson Physical Stats

• Weight: 78 Kg

• Height: 1.8 m

• Eye Color: Light Blue

• Hair Color: Grey

Roy Hodgson Football Information

• Position: Defender

• Jersey Number: 4

• Professional Debut: 1965

Roy Hodgson Date of Birth and Personal Info

• Date of Birth: 9 August 1947

• Birth Place: Croydon, England

• Zodiac Sign: Leo

• Nationality: English

In this section of

Roy Hodgson biography

stay tuned as we want to share some information about

Roy Hodgson childhood

and more.

Roy Hodgson Early Life

As an average footballer, Roy was unable to break into the Crystal Palace squad and spent most of his career in the lower leagues. Later, he played a few years in non-professional football with the Tonbridge Angels, Gravesend and Northfleet.

Roy Hodgson Profile

After trying out as an assistant coach at Maidstone United, he developed some knowledge and insight into the game and decided to try his hand at coaching. His first coaching experience was abroad, in Sweden.

Halmstad

Though by that time the young coach only had worked as an assistant in a modest Maidstone United, he quickly and skillfully transformed Halmstad from a struggling to survive in the league to national champion in the first season, 1976. Three years later, he would repeat this achievement.

At Halmstad Hodgson made his debut in European competition - in the season 1977/78 his team lost on aggregate in two matches in the round of 16 of the European Cup Winners′ Cup against Dynamo Dresden.

"Sometimes being able to choose is an evil thing. When I joined Halmstad at the age of 29, I had no choice because I, without any connections or name, as an unknown player, would not have been taken anywhere else. It was a choice between staying in football or not, which is always a question with a predetermined answer for me," Hodgson recalls from the beginning of his coaching career.

Bristol City

When Hodgson made Halmstad champions in 1976, only to repeat the success three years later, the name of this young and promising coach was heard of in England, and Roy was invited to

. His first job in England would be a failure - the Crimson had serious financial problems.

Hodgson would work at Bristol City for four months in the position of assistant coach and then head coach (the team under him mostly got draws - in 20 games he got 12 draws), as a result, he was forced to leave the club. The club suddenly went bankrupt at the time and he had to return to Scandinavia.

Örebro

Hodgson made his return to Sweden after his tenure at Bristol City. The Englishman's two seasons at Örebro should be regarded as a worthy transit to

, albeit a good one.

His work with Örebro and Malmö was a new triumph for him. Hodgson, who outwardly resembles a modest and very diplomatic man, was not shy about laughing at the audacity of the way things were organised in Sweden.

Malmö

Hodgson became the most successful coach in the club's history and one of the stands at the local Swedbank Stadium is still named after him, Roy's Corner. In five years, Malmo went on to win two Swedish league titles (1986, 1988) and two Swedish cups (1986, 1989) and made some big noise in Europe.

In 1986/87, they reached the quarterfinals of the Cup Winners' Cup, before being thrashed by the likes of Ajax and in 1989/90, they knocked out

from the European Champions Cup. During those years, Martin Dahlin, Johanas Tern and Stefan Schwarz all were playing for Malmo.

The number of victories could have been greater had it not been for the local league's peculiar regulations, as Roy Hodgson explains himself:

"Five times we finished the championship in first place with Malmö, but we were champions only twice. They were always changing the rules of the competition, and when they introduced a playoff system, we were not ready - we were playing in the European competitions during those fixtures and could not give our all in the domestic arena. But that's just it! We lost once because of the away goal rule, a year later we could have won because of it, but the rule was no longer in effect! We lost on penalties."

After considering his mission at Malmö fulfilled, he left the club in 1990, giving up the head coaching job to fellow countryman Bob Haughton. In this section of Roy Hodgson biography stay tuned as we want to share some information about his coaching career in

.

Xamax

In 1990, Roy signed for the Swiss side Neuchâtel Xamax. Hodgson's new team made a name for themselves in Europe as they reached the UEFA Cup semi-finals in 1991/92, in a 5-1 home win over Celtic FC in Scotland. The Egyptian forward Hossam Hassan scored the winner in that game.

Xamax were drawn against Real Madrid in the quarter-finals. In the first leg at home, Xamax caused another sensation by beating the Real Madrid CF 1-0. In the return leg, though, Butragueño and company put Hodgson's team in their place beating them 4-0.

His successful work with the club from Neuchâtel, would serve as a pass to the Swiss national team for Roy Hodgson.

Swiss National Team

Hodgson was appointed head coach of

on 26 January 1992. He succeeded Uli Stielike, who interestingly replaced Hodgson at Neuchatel Xamax. To start with, he took the national team to the World Cup for the first time since 1966 with Italy and Portugal in the qualifying group. That was when the whole football world would talk about the talented English coach.

At the World Cup in the United States, the Swiss national team performed quite well, advancing from the group. Kubilay Türkilmaz, Alain Cytter, Ciriaco Sforza and Stefan Schapuiza were the stars of Hodgson's side, once ranked third by FIFA.

Under the Englishman, the Swiss national team also qualified for the Euro-96 tournament without any problems, but... Hodgson had to leave the team, accepting an offer that could change his life.

Inter Milan

Hodgson would not go to the European Championships in England with the Swiss national team, and by terminating his contract with the Swiss Football Union, he accepted the offer from Inter Milan in October 1995. Hodgson was invited to the great Milan club after a resounding success in Switzerland.

Hodgson's finest moment as Italian club's manager was the 1996/97 UEFA Cup final, which was lost on penalties to Germany's Schalke 04 at the San Siro. While Inter were consistently at the top of the table, fans were not happy with Nerazzurri's performance.

He had already pre-arranged a future deal with

owner Jack Walker in 1996. The metal tycoon's millions made the Wanderers champions in 1995, but the following season coach Ray Harford failed to deliver and was sacked in October 1996, with a precipice of relegation looming over the team.

In November 1996, Hodgson extended his contract with Inter until the end of June 1999. Intending to leave for Blackburn Rovers in the summer of 1997 he said: "I was 100 per cent sure that Blackburn wanted me to join them. I couldn't say that about Inter," Hodgson later admitted.

Walker was diagnosed with cancer and the man, whose contribution to Blackburn's history can hardly be underestimated, began to fear for the club's future. Luckily, interim coach Tony Parkes retained the club's place in the top flight. Hodgson's decision to leave Inter was first and foremost driven by a desire to achieve something at home, although it can well be inferred from Roy's own words that he was not enthusiastic about Italy as a footballing country, as he says:

"In Italy, the players must be mentally stronger. For Inter, each defeat is like a funeral. I remember Ronaldo's debut: in the pre-season game we lost to Barcelona - there was so much uproar! People in England would have said, "We lost because of a stupid goal. In Italy, they said, "How could we lose?" "What does it mean before the start of the season?" "Inter were a real graveyard for the players."

English football in 1997 was struggling to catch up with the development of the game in Italy, and thus there were popular comparisons between the Premier League and Serie A, which tended to conclude that English football was only strong in character, while Italians were much smarter and more intelligent on the pitch.

In an interview, Hodgson said that the day when Manchester United, Arsenal, Aston Villa or anyone else wins a European trophy, people will talk about the opposition team and will praise the football of Foggy Albion.

In this section of

Roy Hodgson biography

stay tuned as we want to share some information about his Blackburn career.

Blackburn Rovers

This was his second attempt to establish himself in England, and once again the main motivation was a passionate desire to achieve something at home. During his first season in 1997/98, Hodgson did not fail: Blackburn finished in 6th place, winning a trip to the UEFA Cup, Roy himself was named Premier League Coach of the Month twice in a season.

Inspired by the success, Hodgson decided presumptuously not to reinforce the squad. As the season began, Colin Hendry transferred to Rangers, Chris Sutton and Kevin Gallagher suffered injuries, who were key players in the team, and so Blackburn started to struggle.

The Blackburn management, without waiting for the winter transfer window, dismissed the coach. By May 1999, already without Hodgson "Rovers", acknowledged as the most wasteful club in the Premier League, relegated from the top flight.

Return to the Inter Milan

Following Glenn Hoddle's departure as England head coach in February 1999, British bookmakers regarded Hodgson as one of the favourites for the vacant post: the odds on him were taken at a ratio of 5:2. Once the English Football Association governing body chose Kevin Keegan, Roy rejoined Inter as their technical director. Luckily, he still had a friendly relationship with the Nerazzurri's owner and president Massimo Moratti.

Inter announced that the 51-year-old Britishman will work until the end of the season in conjunction with acting head coach Luciano Castellini, while everybody already knew that Marcello Lippi will lead the Milanese club in the new season.

In the end, Roy himself regretted his choice. In fact, he revealed to the media what a mistake he has made. After the hype was raised the club management have no choice but to send the Englishman home. He later admitted that the decision was one of the dumbest of his life. "I should have waited a year or six months in England - perhaps I would have received an invitation from one of the so-called big clubs."

Grasshoppers

In 1999, not so long after he departed from Inter Milan, he went back to Switzerland, this time signing a contract with another Swiss club,

. With his new club, Hodgson worked for almost the entire season - or precisely for nine months. Following a 0-2 home defeat to Lucerne in the Swiss league final in May 2000, he decided to step down as head coach of the team.

Copenhagen

Hodgson made the move to Denmark to coach Copenhagen. In Denmark he proved to be a real success, when he successfully took a team that had ended the previous two seasons in seventh and eighth place, to become the league champions in the 2000/01 season. He also won the Danish Cup and the Danish Super Cup in 2001.

He explains the secret of his success in the Nordic countries to be the discipline of the people there: "They believe that if you have a coach, he will teach you something".

In autumn 2000, after the departure of Kevin Keegan as England head coach Hodgson was once again considered as a real contender for the job. However, the choice was made in favour of Sweden's Sven Joran Eriksson, who was Hodgson's trainee.

Udinese

He joined the Italian side

in 2001. Roy preferred working at Udinese to the prospect of playing with Copenhagen in the Champions League. Moreover, as representatives of Copenhagen claim, Hodgson broke the contract in force until June 2002 with his departure.

At Udinese, the Englishman replaced

but ended up working with the Zebras for less than six months: The Englishman would go on to play 17 games, clinch seven wins and finish ninth in Serie A. Although he got off to a successful start, he was fired for allegedly stating that he regretted taking over as coach of that club.

United Arab Emirates national team

After being sacked from Udinese, Hodgson joined the United Arab Emirates national team as head coach in April 2002, taking charge of the Main and Olympic teams. His deal was for one million dollars, to be paid to the coach over a period of two years.

Hodgson would not last two years at the Emirates. In January 2004, he was famously sent off following an unsuccessful performance in the Gulf Cup of Nations. Somewhat curiously, the coach would learn of his dismissal from the newspapers.

Today, Hodgson recalls his work with the United Arab Emirates national team with a smile: "Some of the things we attempted to introduce in their country were not just new - they were like an earthquake. We were trying to get the message across that if training is at 10:30, that's when you have to be there at 10:30. Whereas if we're having dinner at five o'clock, it's five o'clock sharp when I'm waiting for you at the table. So OK - they arrive at five, that's fine. Three minutes later two of them are running across the road to McDonald's! We could put a big fence around their hotel, but half the bastards would still rather starve to death!"

Viking

"I'm going back to Scandinavia again!" - Such were the headlines in the summer of 2004 when Hodgson signed for the club from Stavanger, sitting at the bottom of the table. At the time of Hodgson's arrival, the club was in the relegation zone, but they finished ninth at the end of the season and then qualified for the UEFA Cup. Following a period in charge, the club started to rank at the top of the table, with Viking finishing fifth in 2005.

The year 2005 was a successful one for Hodgson and Viking in the UEFA Cup. The club secured victories over Monaco and Austria Vienna. After a 0-1 defeat to Tromsø, Hodgson resigned in October 2005. Even then, it was known that in the near future, the Englishman is to join the Finnish national team.

Finland National Team

Hodgson was appointed head coach of the

in July 2006. Although Hodgson really knew how to work with national teams, provided they had the right mentality and a willingness to learn something.

In two years, the Finland national team was fighting for its first-ever participation in a major tournament, until the final game of the UEFA EURO 2008 qualifiers. A draw in the final game against Portugal dropped the Finns to fourth place in the group and they failed to qualify for the final tournament.

Hodgson was praised in Finland for his well-organised defence but blamed for an ineffective attack. The Finland team had played five 0-0 games in 14 qualifying games. At the end of November 2007, Hodgson's contract expired. "We would have preferred to continue with Hodgson, but he has made that decision himself," the Finnish Football Association said in a statement at the end of the qualifying round.

Hodgson refused to sign a new contract, but helped the association in choosing a successor with another Englishman, Stuart Baxter, assuming the Finnish national team head coach post. At the same time, he started discussions about a possible return to Inter in a quiet managerial position, while he was also under consideration for the vacant coach position in the Irish national team. Similarly, he was being considered as a replacement for England coach Steve McClaren.

In this section of Roy Hodgson biography stay tuned as we want to share some information about his career at

.

Fulham

The 60-year-old Hodgson decided to try his hand at English football for a third time on 20 December 2007, by signing a three-year contract with Fulham. He was contacted in late 2007 by Fulham's boss Mohamed Al-Fayed, who offered the experienced coach a job. Once again his job was to save the team from relegation. However, Hodgson was actually keen to return to England - and now he had to drop his other team, the Finland national team.

In January, Danish defender Brede Hangeland, forward Erik Neveland from Groningen and several other players joined the team. Meanwhile, they managed to win four of their last five matches. The London side would eventually beat Reading on goal difference to take a vital 17th place in the table.

In the summer, Hodgson strengthened the team again with Bobby Zamora and Andy Johnson, for a combined fee of around 11 million. He said about the signings: "The chairman of the board backs me, but that doesn't mean I'm going up to him and saying - buy me Kaka. That would be stupid."

Fulham had a great performance a year later, finished in seventh place and earned themselves a place in the Europa League. In the 2009/10 season, Fulham was forced to give up the Premier League: the extra matches in Europe were taking their toll on the players' form. However, the other side of the coin was a sensational performance in the Europa League and an extended season to the Hamburg final.

Before the Europa League fixture in Switzerland against Basel, Hodgson acknowledged that their eventual exit from the Europa League would not be a tragedy. "We are not

! No one will talk about a crisis." By the way, Al-Fayed only accepted the fight on the European stage if it does not interfere with domestic affairs in any way.

After defeating Basel at St Jakob Park, the club qualified for the knockout rounds. In the following stages, Fulham eliminated Shakhtar Donetsk, then Italian giants Juventus and German champions Wolfsburg.

On 29 April 2010, Hodgson led Fulham to their first major European final in their 130-year history, facing Hamburg in the semifinal match of the tournament, where Fulham won 2-1 on aggregate.

Hodgson was named Coach of the Year by the Football League Coaches Association on 10 May 2010. This award was given to Hodgson after a poll of coaches, including the managers of the top four leagues in England. He led the club to the final of its first major trophy in history two days later, only to lose the final in Hamburg to Atletico Madrid in extra time by a 2-1 score.

In late December 2009, Hodgson signed a new deal with Fulham. Hodgson himself said that "the only job that will make him leave Fulham" was working with the

.

Liverpool

Roy Hodgson was named as Liverpool FC's new manager on 30 June 2010. The Liverpool side officially confirmed on 1 July 2010 and introduced Hodgson to the press in his new job.

The new coach's appointment was met with caution by major Liverpool fan groups as they doubted the adequacy of club chief executive Christian Purslow, who was recruiting a replacement for Rafael Benitez, and that Hodgson was favoured over Liverpool legend Kenny Dalglish, who had proposed himself as a contender for the Reds manager's post.

Nevertheless, team leaders Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher publicly showed their support for the team's new coach.

Roy Hodgson stepped down as Liverpool's head coach on 8 January 2011 "by mutual agreement" with the club's board. He was replaced by Kenny Dalglish, who signed a contract with Liverpool until 2013 on 12 May 2011.

West Bromwich Albion

Roy Hodgson was announced as West Bromwich Albion's head coach on 11 February 2011. In the first match under Hodgson on 12 February 2011, West Bromwich drew 3-3 with West Ham. He left his post on 1 May 2012, due to his appointment as head coach of the England national team.

England national team

On the 1st of May 2012, he was made England's head coach, having signed a four-year contract. Hodgson coached England at the Euro 2012 finals, where the English national team came out of the group and suffered a penalty shoot-out loss to Italy in the quarter-finals.

England performed poorly under Hodgson at the 2014 World Cup, when they lost to Italy and also to Uruguay by the same score of 1-2. Their only point in the group was taken by the English team in a draw with Costa Rica. In the European Championship qualifiers, England won all of their group games. Before the 2016 UEFA European Championship, Hodgson rejuvenated the national team by recruiting a couple of new faces to the squad.

Nevertheless, despite public expectations, the team's performance at the tournament turned out to be unsuccessful: England's squad had no trouble advancing from the group (in second place), however, in the quarterfinal Hodgson's team lost to the championship sensation Iceland with a score of 1:2. After the defeat, the coach announced his resignation.

Crystal Palace

Hodgson was made head coach of London club

on 12 September 2017. It was during his spell with the team that he managed to break the record of oldest manager in

with 71 years and 198 days, which previously belonged to

, when he was coaching Newcastle. The coach announced on 18 May 2021 that he would play 2 more matches and leave the club. He then decided to end his coaching career at the end of the season.

Style of Play

Many football experts have suggested that Roy Hodgson is a dictator in his job and the way he manages his teams and Hodgson is not hiding this fact. He does not dictate in what form players must go to a game - such things, he says, do not influence the result. However, discipline does. "With democracy, the coach won't achieve anything. And I don't care about the opinion of all the players in general - just a couple of the most experienced ones".

Reception

While he is one of the most respected football managers in the history of English football, but during his coaching career, he failed to win a single honour in his home country and rather all of his awards and titles were won in other countries.

Roy Hodgson outside Football

As a dedicated book lover, Roy Hodgson draws inspiration from reading books, to which he dedicates almost all of his free time, especially these days that he has retired from coaching football teams.

Roy Hodgson can speak many languages, for example, he is fluent in Norwegian, Swedish and Italian and also knows good German, and can speak Danish, French and Finnish.

Roy Hodgson Personal Life

In this section of Roy Hodgson biography, we will take a look into his personal life and share some info about

Roy Hodgson life story

and

Roy Hodgson religion

.

Family, Children and Relationships

Hodgson is married to Sheila, and with her, he has two sons, Christopher and Michael. Having retired from the world of football after many years in the game, he is spending most of his time with his family.

Philanthropy

During his career as a famous football coach, Roy Hodgson has always been active in charity projects. For example, in 2014, when he was manager of the English national team, he arranged a dinner Question and Answers session only to raise £60,000 for the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.

Legal Issues

At the moment of writing this Roy Hodgson biography article, there are no reports of any legal issues or disputes regarding him in the media.

Roy Hodgson Career Statistics

In this section of Roy Hodgson biography, we will take a look at his career stats on the international and club level.

Club

During his playing career, Roy Hodgson never made it to professional football after playing in the youth ranks of Crystal Palace and later on, had some playing time in the lower and non-professional leagues.

Managerial

Roy Hodgson has a win ratio of 43.4 percent as he managed to collect 526 wins, 334 draws and 353 defeats in a total of 1213 matches as of 23 May 2021. His most successful spell as a manager was with the Swedish side Malmo with a 59.4 percent win ratio.

Roy Hodgson Honors

He has won many awards and titles as a manager, which we can mention the Allsvenskan with

, Swedish League and Cup with Malmo FC several times, Swiss Super Cup with Xamax, Danish Super Cup with Copenhagen and some others.

He was also named as LMA Manager of the Year in 2010 and has been voted English Premier League Manager of the Month on several occasions.

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