Thomas Ravelli
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Thomas Ravelli (born August 13, 1959 in Växjö) is a former Swedish football (soccer) goalkeeper, the all-time appearance leader for the Swedish national team with 143 caps.
On the club level, Ravelli played for Swedish clubs IFK Göteborg and Östers IF, winning the Swedish championship six times with the former and twice with the latter. He also played for the Tampa Bay Mutiny of Major League Soccer. Ravelli's international career spanned from 1981 to 1997; he played in the 1990 World Cup, Euro 92, and the 1994 World Cup, when Sweden finished third.
He is especially well known for saving two goals during the penalty shootout that ended the quarterfinal match between Sweden and Romania in the 1994 World Cup. During the "sudden death" portion of the penalty shootout, Romania needed to score in order to remain in contention; when Ravelli blocked the shot, Sweden won the game.
His twin brother Andreas has also been a successful soccer player. Ravelli is married, and has three children.
Ravelli had a bad temper on the pitch (and, allegedly, off the pitch too) and was part of quite a few incidents in Swedish top division Allsvenskan. For example, on one occasion he called AIK:s coloured striker Pascal Simpson "negro", something he got heavily criticized for, not the least from the AIK crowd.
Ravelli was recently featured as a playable character on the FIFA 2006 videogame as a member of the Classic XI team, where he could play along side such greats as Zico, Eric Cantona, and Franz Beckenbauer, he can also be selected for the Sweden national team in the game.
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Sweden squad - 1990 World Cup | |
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1 Andersson | 2 J. Eriksson | 3 Hysén | 4 Larsson | 5 Ljung | 6 R. Nilsson | 7 Nyhlen | 8 Schwarz | 9 Engkvist | 10 Ingesson | 11 Jansson | 12 L. Eriksson | 13 Limpar | 14 J. Nilsson | 15 Strömberg | 16 Thern | 17 Brolin | 18 Ekström | 19 Gren | 20 Magnusson | 21 Pettersson | 22 Ravelli | Coach: Nordin |
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Sweden squad - 1994 World Cup Third Place | |
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1 Ravelli | 2 R. Nilsson | 3 P. Andersson | 4 Björklund | 5 Ljung | 6 Schwarz | 7 Larsson | 8 Ingesson | 9 Thern | 10 Dahlin | 11 Brolin | 12 Eriksson | 13 M. Nilsson | 14 Kåmark | 15 Lučić | 16 Limpar | 17 Rehn | 18 Mild | 19 K. Andersson | 20 Erlingmark | 21 Blomqvist | 22 Hedman | Coach: Svensson |
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