Nils Erik Liedholm (pronounced [ˈnɪlːs ˈlîːdhɔlm]; 8 October 1922 – 5 November 2007)[2][3] was a Swedish football midfielder and coach.

[6] At the end of the 20th century, Liedholm was voted the best Swedish player of the millennium by the readers of Sweden's largest newspaper, Aftonbladet.

According to legend, it took two years playing for Milan until Liedholm misplaced his first pass at the San Siro, the rarity prompting a five-minute ovation from the home crowd.

Aged almost 36, he helped Sweden to reach the World Cup final, where the team lost out to a Brazil side that included Didi and 17-year-old Pelé.

He also possessed good technique, control, class, and an accurate shot, although he was known to be an unselfish team-player, who played with his head up and rarely undertook individual dribbles, and preferred to build attacks through movement and his slow passing game; moreover, he was an athletic footballer with a strong physique, who was known for his pace, fitness, and work-rate, which enabled him to cover a lot of ground and help out at both ends of the pitch.

Leading talents such as Paulo Roberto Falcão and Bruno Conti, he took them to their second league title ever in 1983 using the zonal marking system, which was unusual in Italy at the time.

"[9] As a manager, Liedholm was known for implementing a defensive system based on zonal marking in Italy, and for his ability to instruct his players on his footballing philosophy based on patient ball possession and fluid positioning, which was inspired by Dutch Total Football; as such he was one of the first managers in Italy to move away from a more counter-attacking and man-marking playing style, and he encouraged his players to make use of the entire pitch.

In order to disorient and break down his opponents' defensive shape, he made use of a series of horizontal passes, a tactic which became known as the "spider's web."

During his time at Roma, he used a fluid formation which resembled a 1–3–3–3, which made use of an offensive sweeper who was expected to advance into midfield and to start attacking plays, and which did not use a genuine centre-forward.

[25][26] Liedholm was married to Maria Lucia "Nina" Gabotto di San Giovanni, a countess who could trace her ancestry back to the 900s.