Joachim Björklund

Joachim Björklund (born 15 March 1971) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a centre back. He is the assistant coach of Sarpsborg 08 in the Norwegian Eliteserien.

Joachim Björklund
Joachim Björklund
Personal information
Full name Joachim Björklund
Date of birth (1971-03-15) 15 March 1971
Place of birth Växjö, Sweden
Height 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Position(s) Centre back
Youth career
Öster
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1989–1990 Öster 6 (0)
1990–1992 Brann 56 (0)
1993–1995 IFK Göteborg 46 (0)
1995–1996 Vicenza 33 (0)
1996–1998 Rangers 59 (0)
1998–2001 Valencia 57 (1)
2001–2002 Venezia 18 (0)
2002–2004 Sunderland 57 (0)
2004–2005 Wolverhampton Wanderers 3 (0)
Total 335 (1)
International career
1986–1987 Sweden U17 13 (0)
1988–1989 Sweden U19 10 (0)
1990–1992 Sweden U21/O 24 (0)
1992–2000 Sweden 78 (0)
Managerial career
2018–2021 Hammarby IF (assistant)
2022– Sarpsborg 08 (assistant)
Medal record
 Sweden
FIFA World Cup
Bronze medal – third place1994
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Beginning his playing career with Östers IF and SK Brann, Björklund went on to win three Swedish championships with IFK Göteborg before representing clubs in the Scottish Premiership, Serie A, La Liga, and the Premier League. A full international between 1992 and 2000, Björklund won 78 caps for the Sweden national team and was a part of the teams that competed at Euro 1992, Euro 2000, and finished third at the 1994 FIFA World Cup.

Club career

Taking the leap from junior team obscurity at Östers IF to becoming a star in Brann, Björklund was later sold to IFK Göteborg.[1] There, his side achieved a surprise 3–1 victory over Manchester United in the group stage of the 1994–95 Champions League which ultimately helped them win Group A ahead of FC Barcelona, Manchester United, and Galatasaray before being eliminated in the quarter-finals by FC Bayern Munich. At the end of the following season, he was transferred to Vicenza in Serie A,[1] and the following year to Rangers in the Scottish Premiership,[1] for £2.2 million.[2] where he won a Scottish league championship medal. He moved to Valencia for £2.5 million on 20 June 1998[3] and spent three years at Valencia before joining Venezia in Italy, where he played for just one season. While at Valencia, he helped the team reach the 1999–2000 and 2000–01 UEFA Champions League finals.[4]

Björklund joined Sunderland in January 2002 for £1.5 million,[5] but was unable to prevent them from being relegated in the following 2002–03 season. However the 2003–04 season was better, as he helped Sunderland finish third in Division One and reach the FA Cup semi finals yet his services were deemed to be no longer required by manager Mick McCarthy so he joined Wolverhampton Wanderers, who had just been relegated from the Premier League.[6][7] He left the club and retired after just one injury-hampered season that restricted him to just five appearances in total as the club failed to win an immediate return to the top flight.[8]

International career

For many years he formed a successful central defensive partnership with Patrik Andersson for the Swedish national team. Björklund was selected for the UEFA Euro 1992,[9] 1994 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2000. At the 1994 FIFA World Cup, he helped the team finish third behind Brazil and Italy. He was also a member of the Swedish squad that competed at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona.

Due to lack of playing time at his club Valencia, Björklund was dropped from the Swedish squad during the early stages of the 2002 FIFA World Cup qualifying. Disappointed, he decided to retire from the national team at the age of 30.[10]

Post-playing career

Having finished his playing career, he worked as a scout for Valencia, mainly targeting the Nordic countries. He also worked as a pundit for Swedish Canal+, covering La Liga football, for several years.[11]

Assistant at Hammarby IF

On 28 January 2018, Björklund was appointed assistant coach of Hammarby IF in Allsvenskan, under head coach Stefan Billborn.[12] In their first season, the club finished 4th in the table, after being placed first in the league mid-season.[13]

In 2019, Hammarby started the league play in a mediocre fashion, but made a strong finish to the season (with eight straight wins during between match day 22 and 30) and ultimately finished 3rd in Allsvenskan. This meant that the club qualified for the 2020–21 UEFA Europa League, their first continental competition in over ten years.[14]

On 5 January 2020, both Billborn and Björklund signed a three-year contract extension with Hammarby.[15] In a season postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the side disappointedly finished 8th in the table.[16] The club won 3–0 against Puskás Akadémia in the first round of the 2020–21 UEFA Europa League, but was eliminated from the tournament in the second round against Lech Poznań through a 0–3 loss.[17][18]

On 30 May 2021, Björklund won the 2020–21 Svenska Cupen with Hammarby IF, through a 5–4 win on penalties (0–0 after full-time) against BK Häcken in the final.[19][20] On 11 June 2021, Hammarby decided to terminate Stefan Billborn's contract, with the club placed 8th in the 2021 Allsvenskan table after eight rounds, although Björklund stayed in his position for the rest of the year.[21]

Assistant at Sarpsborg 08

On 9 January 2022, Björklund reunited with Stefan Billborn, becoming his assistant coach at Sarpsborg 08 in the Norwegian Eliteserien.[22][23]

Personal life

He is the son of Swedish football coach Karl-Gunnar Björklund, and the father of footballers Kalle Björklund who represented Hammarby IF, Västerås SK and Falkenberg FF and William Björklund who belonged to the Hammarby youth teams and now play for United IK Nordic.[24] His maternal uncle is Tommy Svensson, the Sweden national football team manager from 1991 to 1997.

Career statistics

International
Appearances and goals by national team and year[25]
National teamYearAppsGoals
Sweden 199290
199340
1994180
199580
199680
199780
1998 6 0
1999 7 0
2000 9 0
Total780

Honours

Player

IFK Göteborg

Rangers

Valencia

Sweden

Manager

Hammarby IF

References
  1. Bjäreborn, Christoffer (19 June 2001). "Monaco vill ha Joachim Björklund". Aftonbladet (in Swedish). Retrieved 22 February 2011.
  2. "9IAR20: Joachim Signs For Gers". Rangers Football Club. Rangers.co.uk. 5 July 2016.
  3. "On This Day: Jun 20". Rangers Football Club. Rangers.co.uk. 20 June 2017.
  4. "Joachim Björklund: "Vi mötte ju ett gäng tyskar"". Fotbollsmagasinet Offside (in Swedish). 25 May 2018. Retrieved 19 October 2020.
  5. "Black Cats snap up Bjorkland". The Daily Telegraph. 28 January 2002. Retrieved 22 February 2011.
  6. "McCartney's new deal". BBC. BBC Sport. 24 May 2004. Retrieved 22 February 2011.
  7. "Wolves sign Bjorklund". BBC. BBC Sport. 5 August 2004. Retrieved 22 February 2011.
  8. Cooper, Scott (6 May 2005). "Wolves Defender Set To Retire". thefootballnetwork.net. Retrieved 22 February 2011.
  9. Courtney, Barrie (22 June 2004). "European Championship 1992 – Final Tournament – Full Details". RSSSF. Retrieved 22 February 2011.
  10. "Jockes hämnd: nobbar Blågult". Aftonbladet (in Swedish). Retrieved 19 October 2020.
  11. Magnusson, Oskar (24 August 2010). "Björklunds nya jobb: tv-expert". Aftonbladet (in Swedish). Retrieved 22 February 2011.
  12. "Joachim Björklund ny assisterande tränare i Hammarby". Hammarby Fotboll. Hammarby Fotboll. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
  13. "Stefan Billborn om 2018 - del 1" (in Swedish). Hammarby Fotboll. 18 December 2018. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
  14. "Åtta raka räckte inte – lilla silvret till Bajen" (in Swedish). Hammarby Fotboll. 2 November 2019. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  15. "Hammarby förlänger med Billborn och Björklund" (in Swedish). Hammarby Fotboll. 5 January 2020. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
  16. "Jesper Janssons besked: Stefan Billborn tränar Hammarby 2021" (in Swedish). Fotboll STHLM. 3 December 2020. Retrieved 31 May 2021.
  17. "Hammarby 3 – 0 Puskás Akadémia". UEFA. Retrieved 18 March 2021.
  18. "Hammarby 0 – 0 Lech". UEFA. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
  19. "Hammarby cupvinnare efter straffdrama" (in Swedish). Swedish Football Association. 30 May 2021. Retrieved 30 May 2021.
  20. "Historisk och dramatisk cupfinalseger mot Häcken" (in Swedish). Hammarby Fotboll. 30 May 2021. Retrieved 30 May 2021.
  21. "Hammarby avslutar samarbetet med Stefan Billborn" (in Swedish). Hammarby Fotboll. 11 June 2021. Retrieved 11 June 2021.
  22. "Joachim Björklund lämnar – går till Sarpsborg 08" (in Swedish). Hammarby Fotboll. 9 January 2022. Retrieved 9 January 2022.
  23. "Joachim Björklund inn i trenerteamet til Sarpsborg 08" (in Norwegian). Sarpsborg 08. 9 January 2022. Retrieved 9 January 2022.
  24. "Fotboll Sthlm möter Jocke Björklund: "Pappa är snabbast!"" (in Swedish). Fotboll STHLM. 19 October 2018. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
  25. "Joachim Björklund - Spelarstatistik - Svensk fotboll".
  26. "Valencia 2-1 Salzburg (Aggregate: 4 - 1)". uefa.com. Archived from the original on 23 June 2004. Retrieved 5 November 2020.
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