Anton Höglund is 22 years old and serves as an assistant coach for Västerås SK in the Allsvenskan, Sweden's top football league. He became assistant coach when Alexander Rubin was hired as head coach in the fall, after Kalle Karlsson, according to official sources. Höglund joined VSK's academy in 2023, though Expressen Sport reported it was 2022, and he progressed from assistant coach for the P16 team to the senior team via the academy. Last season in the Superettan, the second tier, he had the role of transition coach, responsible for developing young players in the senior team, as reported by official sources.
Swedish football has seen a rise in young coaches, with the Swedish coaching corps in 2020 being one of the youngest in the world, according to official sources. In recent years, several young assistant coaches have appeared in leadership teams in Sweden's highest series, including Martin Falk in AIK, Theodor Olsson in Sirius, and Douglas Jakobsen in Hammarby, as noted by official sources. Höglund is from Karlstad, Värmland, and is described as 'lillgammal' (precocious or old beyond his years) by official sources. A report from CIES Football Observatory indicates the Allsvenskan had the world's youngest coaches on average at 42.1 years in 2023.
Both in my head and body, I am older. I am not so very fascinated by modernities like AI and social media.
Höglund's coaching philosophy blends traditional and modern approaches. He realized early that he was better at leading than playing, according to Expressen Sport. He is not very fascinated by modernities like AI and social media. He works partly with expected goals and expected threats but does not look at them very much, as reported by Expressen Sport. He has various Excel documents on his computer, some 10-15 years old, with transfer-related content, according to Expressen Sport. He has watched a lot of football and consumed many podcasts, prioritizing this over schoolwork, as noted by Expressen Sport. SVT Nyheter Västmanland, through a deeper search, could not find any assistant coach or head coach who was younger in Allsvenskan history, which Värmlands Folkblad and Expressen also reported.
Of course, I very much look forward to us getting started.
I must be the youngest ever.
I have actually not reflected on that. I know that I am 22, but mentally I am really an old man. I am bad at social media, I am terrified of AI.
Yes, I do. I think it is interesting with expected goals and expected threats, it is fun to calculate such things. I work partly with it, but I do not look at it very much.
I have no idea, actually.
But yes, I must be.
It fell naturally because I had followed the corresponding age group, the 07s, in Karlstad earlier.
Both yes and no. It can go fast in this industry and when Rubin became head coach, I got the question, which felt natural based on that we have worked super well together since day one.
I have watched so extremely much football, consumed so insanely many podcasts. I have put homework and schoolwork aside and instead sat and watched where Benfica recruits its players from. I have always known that I want to work with football. But in which function? Should I become a journalist? Coach? Scout? Sports director?
I have a bunch of different Excel documents that are in the computer. Some of them are 10-15 years old. It is a lot of different things, much transfer-related.