Martin Foyston

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Martin Foyston
231227 Foyston Martin 160826 4013.jpg
Foyston being presented at Östers IF
Personal information
Date of birth (1982-09-22) 22 September 1982 (age 43) [1]
Place of birth Hull, England
Managerial career
YearsTeam
2024–2025 Östers IF

Martin Foyston (born 22 September 1982) is an English football manager.

Contents

Foyston began his career as a video analyst at Fulham in 2005. Having obtained UEFA coaching licences, he moved to Sweden in 2013, and worked as assistant manager at several clubs and the Norway national team. His first senior head coach job was at Östers IF, winning promotion from Superettan in his first season in 2024, but being sacked during the Allsvenskan season in 2025.

Career

Fulham

Born in Kingston upon Hull, Foyston was a youth player at hometown club Hull City before studying film and media production at college and university. [2] After graduating in 2005, he joined Premier League club Fulham as a match analyst. [2]

Foyston credited Roy Hodgson, who arrived as Fulham manager in late 2007, as being the best coach in England and inspiring him to become a manager. [2] Having earned his UEFA B licence and started the A licence, he made the decision in 2013 to emigrate to Sweden, his wife's country. [2] He deliberately went without having a job lined up, and Fulham player Damien Duff gave him a copy of the novel The Alchemist, which resonated with his situation. [2]

Assistant in Scandinavia

Foyston immediately turned down an analyst job at Allsvenskan champions IF Elfsborg, believing the job would be too easy. [2] He got an assistant manager job at Djurgårdens IF Fotboll using the influence of former Fulham player Brede Hangeland, who had played under new head coach Per-Mathias Høgmo for Norway under-21. [2] When Høgmo was hired by Norway's senior team, Foyston followed him, initially in tandem with his job at Djurgården. He quit his post with the Swedish club due to a lack of agreement with new manager Pelle Olsson. [2]

Norway failed to qualify for UEFA Euro 2016 and made a poor start to 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification, leading to Høgmo's resignation. [2] Foyston had one more year on his contract with the Norwegian Football Federation, but he moved to Strømsgodset Toppfotball in the country's Eliteserien, under manager Tor Ole Skullerud. [2]

In December 2018, Foyston was given his first head coach role, returning to Sweden to lead Hammarby Fotboll's under-19 team. [3] A year later, he returned to assistant duties at farm team IK Frej. [4] He began 2021 by being appointed to an assistant job with Finland under-21, and in June he moved to BK Häcken as second-in-command to Høgmo. [5]

Östers IF

At the end of 2023, Foyston was hired in his first head coach role at a senior club, Superettan club Östers IF. [6] On 9 November 2024, in the last fixture of the season, his side won 2–1 away to champions Degerfors IF to be promoted in second place, ending 11 years outside the Allsvenskan. [7]

On 30 March 2025, Foyston's first top-flight game was a 4–3 loss away to IFK Norrköping. [8] He was sacked on 4 September with the team in 14th place, in the relegation play-off position; his last game was a 4–0 loss to Hammarby. [9]

References

  1. ↑ "Martin Foyston". World Football. Retrieved 9 September 2025.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Harvey, Tom (5 December 2017). "The film student who took up video analysis and ended up coaching Norway". The Guardian . Retrieved 20 August 2025.
  3. ↑ "Bajen värvar engelsk tränare med bakgrund i Djurgården" [Bajen sign English coach with background at Djurgården] (in Swedish). Fotboll Direkt. 6 December 2018. Retrieved 20 August 2025.
  4. ↑ Carlsson, Pierre (27 January 2020). "Klart: Janne Mian basar över Frej 2020 – förstärks av ytterligare Bajentränare" [Official: Janne Mian is boss of Frej 2020 – joined by additional Bajen coaches] (in Swedish). Fotboll Skanalen. Retrieved 20 August 2025.
  5. ↑ "Bästa vänner – så bygger tränarduon "nya" Häcken" [Best friends – this is how the coaching duo builds the "new" Häcken]. Göteborgs-Posten (in Swedish). 12 July 2021. Retrieved 20 August 2025.
  6. ↑ Kristofferson, Daniel (27 December 2023). "Avslöjar: Martin Foyston tar över Östers IF". Aftonbladet (in Swedish). Retrieved 20 August 2025.
  7. ↑ de Ron, Fredrik (9 November 2024). "Så ska Martin Foyston fira Östers uppflyttning: "Hoppas de tog med tillräckligt med öl"" [This is how Martin Foyston will celebrate Öster's promotion: "I hope they brought enough beer"] (in Swedish). Fotboll Direkt. Retrieved 20 August 2025.
  8. ↑ Elg, Filip (31 March 2025). "Foyston: "Vi blev sårbara runt egen box med vår mittfältstrio"" [Foyston: "We became vulnerable around our own box with our midfield trio"]. Smålandsposten (in Swedish). Retrieved 20 August 2025.
  9. ↑ Söderlund, Tobias (4 September 2025). "Martin Foyston får sparken av Öster" [Martin Foyston gets fired by Öster]. Expressen (in Swedish). Retrieved 9 September 2025.
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