UEFA President attends Swedish awards

UEFA President Michel Platini attended the Swedish Football Association (SvFF) awards on Monday as a specially invited guest. Mr Platini had the honour of presenting the great Kurt Hamrin with Swedish football's lifetime achievement award.

Stockholm's Globe Arena was packed for the annual football gala, which was broadcast live on Swedish television. When Michel Platini came on stage, he took the opportunity to congratulate his host nation for a successful year, during which the women's national team reached third place at the FIFA Women's World Cup in Germany and the men's team qualified for the UEFA EURO 2012 final round next summer.

Mr Platini went on to speak of Sweden's strong footballing traditions. "I was born in the 1950s and grew up [in France] watching Kopa and Fontaine, but you had Gre-No-Li," said the UEFA President, referring to the renowned trio of Gunnar Gren, Gunnar Nordahl and Nils Liedholm – the formidable triumvirate of Swedish forwards who made their mark domestically and in the international game.

Moments later, Mr Platini welcomed a former Sweden team-mate of the famous three on to the platform at the Globe Arena. One-time winger Kurt Hamrin – a winner of the European Champion Clubs' Cup with AC Milan and the European Cup Winners' Cup with Milan and ACF Fiorentina, and a FIFA World Cup finalist with Sweden in 1958 – received the Swedish game's lifetime achievement award from the UEFA President.

At the weekend, Mr Platini visited Norway, where he attended the men's and women's domestic cup finals and met senior officials of the Football Association of Norway (NFF).