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Robert Primus

Position: Senior Lecturer School/office: School of Health Sciences

Email: cm9iZXJ0LnByaW11cztvcnUuc2U=

Phone: +46 19 303105

Room: G2136

Research subject

Sport Science

About Robert Primus

Robert S. Primus (formerly Svensson) is a Senior Lecturer and Postdoctoral Scholar in Sport Science at Örebro University, where he also serves as the Director of the BSc Sport Management Programme.

Research

Robert’s research focuses on how various processes of change — such as professionalization, commercialization, academization, and the increased use of technologies — influence sports organizations and their stakeholders, with particular emphasis on the role of the coach in elite football.

He is currently conducting a postdoctoral research project, funded by the The Swedish Research Council for Sport Science and the Faculty of Medicine and Health at Örebro University. In this project, he investigates which technologies are used within Swedish elite football and how these shape power relations between managers, coaches, analysts, and players.

He is also interested in how elite coaches’ perceptions of the body and weight influence their coaching practices and relationships with athletes.

Education

Robert teaches in the Sport Management program, the Coaching program, and the Teacher Education program specializing in Physical Education and Health. He has been nominated for the Pedagogical Prize on several occasions.

Active projects

Education for sustainable sport management

Research groups

ReShape - Research in Sport, Health and Physical Education

Publications

Articles in journals

Primus, R. S. & Svensson, D. (2025). Två svenska pragmatiker formas: En jämförelse av Sven-Göran Erikssons och Pia Sundhages tränarfilosofier. Idrott, historia & samhälle. [BibTeX]
Primus, R. S. (2024). Out of the shadows into the limelight: the impact of commercialization on the Swedish men's elite football coach from the 1960s until today. Sport in Society: Cultures, Media, Politics, Commerce, 27 (12), 1938-1957. [BibTeX]
Varea, V. , Primus, R. S. , Barker-Ruchti, N. & Quennerstedt, M. (2024). The anatomy of body shaming in sports coaching. Sport in Society: Cultures, Media, Politics, Commerce, 1-18. [BibTeX]
Svensson Primus, R. & Svensson, D. (2023). Becoming Swedish pragmatics: comparing the coaching philosophies of Sven-Goran Eriksson and Pia Sundhage. Sport Coaching Review. [BibTeX]
Barker-Ruchti, N. , Svensson, R. , Svensson, D. & Fransson, D. (2021). Don’t buy a pig in a poke: Considering challenges of and problems with performance analysis technologies in Swedish men’s elite football. Performance Enhancement & Health, 9 (1). [BibTeX]
Svensson, D. , Svensson, R. , Barker-Ruchti, N. & Fransson, D. (2020). Tränaren och tekniken: Om teknologins växande roll i svensk elitfotboll. Idrottsforskaren. [BibTeX]
Alsarve, D. & Svensson, R. (2015). I amatörismens gränsland: Konsekvenser av fotbollstränarens ökade inflytande i den flersektionella idrottsföreningen under det tidiga 1900-talet. Idrott, historia & samhälle, 21-35. [BibTeX]
Svensson, R. (2015). Rapport från Workshop för idrottshistorisk forskning, Örebro, 22-23 oktober, 2015. Idrottsforum.org/Nordic sport science forum. [BibTeX]

Articles, book reviews

Svensson, R. (2019). A valuable contribution to the growing research field of sports coaching history. Idrottsforum.org/Nordic sport science forum. [BibTeX]
Svensson, R. (2018). Needs more methodology and more sports history to live up to its title. Idrottsforum.org/Nordic sport science forum. [BibTeX]
Svensson, R. (2015). Fotbollsintresset växte på lärorik resa i strategers sällskap: recension av Fotbollens strateger. Idrottsforum.org/Nordic sport science forum. [BibTeX]
Svensson, R. (2015). Många bra bidrag hänger i luften i redaktionssvag coaching-antologi: recension av The Routledge Handbook of Sports Coaching. Idrottsforum.org/Nordic sport science forum. [BibTeX]
Svensson, R. (2015). Recension av Trenerroller. Idrottsforum.org/Nordic sport science forum. [BibTeX]

Chapters in books

Svensson Primus, R. , Alsarve, D. & Svensson, D. (2023). Between Grassroots Democracy and Professional Commercialism in Sweden. In: Mihaly Szerovay; Arto Nevala; Hannu Itkonen, Football in the Nordic countries: practices, equality and influence (pp. 64-76). London: Routledge. [BibTeX]
Svensson, D. & Svensson, R. (2021). 'Science Says': Swedish Sports Coaching and Science During the Twentieth Century. In: Dave Day, Sports Coaching in Europe: Cultural Histories (pp. 56-75). London: Routledge. [BibTeX]
Svensson, R. (2020). Ur skuggan in i strålkastarljuset: Kommersialiseringens inverkan på tränarrollen. In: Book, Karin; Bäckström, Åsa; Fahlström, PG; Carlsson, Bo, Sport management. Del 3: Idrottens marknader och konsumtionskultur. Stockholm: SISU Idrottsböcker. [BibTeX]

Conference papers

Primus, R. S. (2024). Becoming Swedish pragmatics: Comparing the coaching philosophies of Sven-Göran Eriksson and Pia Sundhage. In: ISHPES Congress 2024 Cultural transfers and circulation of knowledge: debates and controversies in the history of physical education and sport. Paper presented at ISHPES Congress 2024, Curitiba, Brazil, September 10-13, 2024. [BibTeX]
Barker-Ruchti, N. , Primus, R. S. , Svensson, D. & Fransson, D. (2024). Don’t buy a pig in a poke: Considering challenges of and problems with performance analysis technologies in Swedish men’s elite football. In: International research conference in Sport Science, Örebro, April 22-23, 2024 Promoting international and transdisciplanry cooperations beyond the borders of Sport Sceince - A French-Swedish initiative. Paper presented at International research conference in Sport Science, Örebro, April 22-23, 2024. [BibTeX]
Primus, R. S. (2022). The History of Swedish Football. In: Nordic Football Conference, Jyväskylä, May 11-12, 2022. Paper presented at Nordic Football Conference, Jyväskylä, May 11-12, 2022. [BibTeX]
Svensson, R. & Svensson, D. (2020). ‘Science Says’: Swedish Sports Coaching and Science During the Twentieth Century. Paper presented at Idrottshistorisk nätverksträff, Malmö, Mars 5-6, 2020. [BibTeX]
Svensson, R. (2019). From tracksuit to trench coat: The changing position of the Swedish male elite soccer coach between the 1960s and the 2010s. Paper presented at 24th Annual Congress of the European College of Sport Science, Prague, July 3-6, 2019. [BibTeX]
Svensson, D. , Svensson, R. , Fransson, D. & Barker-Ruchti, N. (2019). Techno-challenge: Implications of technology on sports coaching in Sweden. In: Svensk förening för beteende- och samhällsvetenskaplig idrottsforsknings (SVEBI) årliga konferens 2019 (Idrotts)tendenser i tiden. Paper presented at Svensk förening för beteende- och samhällsvetenskaplig idrottsforsknings (SVEBI) årliga konferens, Stockholm, 21-22 november, 2019. [BibTeX]
Svensson, R. (2017). From tracksuit to trench coat: The changing position of the Swedish elite soccer coach from the 1960s to the 2010s. In: 18th International ISHPES congress, Alexandria, April 3-6, 2017 The Transformation of Sport and Physical Activity through Time: Journeys in History. Paper presented at ISHPES Congress, Alexandria, April 3-6, 2017. (pp. 36-36). ISHPES. [BibTeX]
Svensson, R. & O'Regan, N. (2016). The making of the elite football coach: Coach education programs in Ireland, Sweden, Scotland and Belgium. In: European Conference on Educational Research (ECER). Paper presented at European Conference on Educational Research, Dublin, Ireland, August 22-26, 2016. [BibTeX]
Svensson, R. (2015). Att analysera Svenska fotbollförbundets tränarutbildningsmaterial: Ett metodpaper med empirisk illustration. In: Workshop för historisk idrottsforskning 2015. Paper presented at Workshop för historisk idrottsforskning 2015, Örebro, 22-23 okt, 2015. (pp. 1-18). [BibTeX]
Svensson, R. & Alsarve, D. (2015). The difficulty of killing two birds with one stone: Fostering competitive athletes and democratic citizens in a Swedish Sports Club between the 1960s and 1980s. In: European College of Sport Science (ECSS). Paper presented at European College of Sport Science (ECSS)20th annual congress of the European College of Sport Science, Malmö, June 24-27, 2015. [BibTeX]
Alsarve, D. & Svensson, R. (2014). I amatörismens gränsland?: konsekvenser av fotbollstränarens professionalisering i 1920-talets flersektionella idrottsförening. In: Svenska historikermötet, 2014. Paper presented at Svenska historikermötet, Stockholm, Sweden, 8-10 maj, 2014. Stockholm: [BibTeX]
Svensson, R. (2014). The pedagogical development of elite football coaches: the case of Sweden . In: BERA -British Educational Research Association, 2014. Paper presented at BERA -British Educational Research Association, London, UK, September 23-25, 2014. [BibTeX]
Svensson, R. (2013). The changing role of the Swedish elite football coach. In: Book of Abstracts Nobel Day Festivities 10th of December 2013.. Paper presented at Nobel Day Festivities, Örebro, 10 December, 2013. Örebro: Örebro University. [BibTeX]

Doctoral theses, monographs

Svensson, R. (2019). Från träningsoverall till trenchcoat: Tränarpositionens förändring inom svensk herrelitfotboll mellan 1960- och 2010-talet. (Doctoral dissertation). Örebro: Örebro University. [BibTeX]