Viktor Gyökeres

Viktor Einar Gyökeres (Hungarian pronunciation: [ˈɟøkɛrɛʃ];[3] born 4 June 1998) is a Swedish professional footballer who plays as a forward for Primeira Liga side Sporting CP and Sweden national team.

This article is about the Swedish footballer. For the village in the commune of Mireșu Mare known as Gyökeres (Remeți pe Someș), see Mireșu Mare.
Viktor Gyökeres
Gyökeres with Brighton & Hove Albion in 2018
Personal information
Full name Viktor Einar Gyökeres[1]
Date of birth (1998-06-04) 4 June 1998[2]
Place of birth Stockholm, Sweden
Height 1.87 m (6 ft 2 in)[2]
Position(s) Forward
Team information
Current team
 Sporting CP
Number 9
Youth career
IFK Aspudden-Tellus
2013–2015 IF Brommapojkarna
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2015–2017 IF Brommapojkarna 56 (20)
2018–2021 Brighton & Hove Albion 0 (0)
2019–2020 → FC St. Pauli (loan) 26 (7)
2020–2021 → Swansea City (loan) 11 (0)
2021 → Coventry City (loan) 19 (3)
2021–2023 Coventry City 91 (38)
2023– Sporting CP 7 (6)
International career‡
2015–2018 Sweden U19 18 (10)
2019–2020 Sweden U21 8 (4)
2019– Sweden 17 (5)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 21:47, 8 October 2023 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 17:48, 19 October 2023 (UTC)

Gyökeres made his senior debut with Swedish side Brommapojkarna in 2015, with whom he made over fifty appearances before signing for Brighton & Hove Albion three years later.

Gyökeres has also represented Sweden at various youth levels and was the joint-top goalscorer at the 2017 UEFA European Under-19 Championship, before making his senior international debut in 2019.

Club career

IF Brommapojkarna

Gyökeres signed for Brommapojkarna from IFK Aspudden-Tellus in 2013 and joined up with the club's under-17 side. He progressed through the youth teams and made his senior debut two years later.[4] He scored his first goals for the club on 20 August 2015, netting a brace in a 3–0 Svenska Cupen win over IF Sylvia.[4] The following year, with the club having suffered relegation the season before, Gyökeres scored seven goals to help Brommapojkarna secure promotion back into the Superettan.[5] He later helped Brommapojkarna into the semi-finals of the Svenska Cupen when he scored the winning goal in the quarter finals against top division side, Elfsborg.[6] Brommapojkarna were unable to progress further, though, as they were beaten 4–0 by IFK Norrköping in the next round.[7]

On 6 September 2017, having scored 10 league goals at the time, Gyökeres signed a two-and-a-half-year contract with Premier League side Brighton & Hove Albion with the deal to go through at the conclusion of the Superettan season.[8][9] He ended the season with a return of 13 goals in 29 league appearances, including a hat-trick on the final day as Brommapojkarna secured promotion to the Allsvenskan as league champions.[10][11][12]

Brighton & Hove Albion

Gyökeres officially joined Brighton on 1 January 2018 and began training with the club's under-23 side.[10] He made his senior debut for the club on 28 August, starting in a 1–0 EFL Cup defeat to Southampton.[13] On 26 January 2019, Gyökeres made his FA Cup debut coming on as a sub in a 0–0 draw at home to West Bromwich Albion.[14]

In July 2019 he moved on loan to German second tier side FC St. Pauli for the 2019–20 season.[15] On the opening day of the season he made his debut coming on as a sub in a 1–1 away draw to Arminia.[16] Gyökeres scored his first goal for St Pauli on 29 September scoring the second in a 2–0 home victory over SV Sandhausen.[17]

On 17 September 2020, Gyökeres scored his first goal for Brighton in a 4–0 victory against Portsmouth in the EFL Cup.[18]

On 2 October 2020, Gyökeres joined EFL Championship side Swansea City on loan for the remainder of the 2020–21 season.[19] He made his debut a day later, coming on as a substitute in a 2–1 home win over Millwall.[20] He scored his first goal for the club on 9 January 2021, scoring the second in a 2–0 away win over Stevenage sending Swansea through to the fourth round of the FA Cup.[21] He was recalled by Brighton on 14 January 2021.[22]

Coventry City

Gyökeres joined Coventry City on loan on 15 January 2021.[23][24] He made his debut four days later starting and playing 59 minutes of the 3–0 away loss at Reading.[25][26] He scored on his first appearance at St Andrew's netting the first in a eventual 2–0 victory over Sheffield Wednesday on 27 January, his first league goal in English football.[27]

He returned to Coventry City on a permanent deal on 9 July 2021, after signing a three-year contract.[28][29] Gyökeres scored in Coventry's opening game of the 2021–22 Championship season on 8 August, putting Coventry back level in an eventual 2–1 victory over Nottingham Forest in Coventry's first home game since April 2019 after ground sharing with Birmingham City.[30] Gyökeres scored 17 goals in 45 league appearances for Coventry in the 2021–22 season.[31]

In the 2022–23 Championship season he was named as the player of the month in November after scoring four goals in four games, leading Coventry to four straight wins during that period.[32] Three goals and three assists saw him win the award for a second time in March 2023.[33]

Sporting CP

On 13 July 2023, Gyökeres signed a five-year contract with Primeira Liga side Sporting CP, who paid a club record transfer fee of €20 million (plus €4 million in bonuses) for him.[34][35] On 12 August, he made his debut for the club, starting and scoring twice in a 3–2 league victory at home to Vizela.[36] On 21 September, Gyökeres made his debut in European competitions, starting and scoring in a 2–1 victory away at Sturm Graz, in the UEFA Europa League group stage.[37] On 26 October, he was shown the first ever red card of his club career, seven minutes into Sporting CP's visit to Raków Częstochowa in a UEFA Europa League group stage match.[38]

International career

Youth

Gyökeres played youth football for Sweden at under-19 and under-21 level.[39]

Gyökeres featured regularly for Sweden in the nation's qualification campaign for the 2017 UEFA European Under-19 Championship during which he scored twice, including the winning goal against Italy to help Sweden qualify for the tournament for the first time.[5][40] He was then selected for the squad which took part in the tournament in Georgia and scored in all three of Sweden's group matches but was unable to help the nation progress to the knockout stages of the tournament. His return of three goals later saw him share the Golden Boot award with England's Ben Brereton and Ryan Sessegnon, and the Netherlands' Joël Piroe.[41]

Senior

On 8 January 2019, Gyökeres made his senior international debut for the Sweden national football team in a 0–1 loss against Finland.[42] Just three days later, Gyökeres scored his first senior goal for Sweden in a 2–2 draw vs Iceland.[43]

In October 2021, after scoring 9 goals in 11 EFL Championship games for Coventry, Gyökeres was called up to the Swedish national team to replace Zlatan Ibrahimovic to face Kosovo and Greece for the 2022 World Cup qualifiers.[44]

On 16 October 2023, Viktor Gyökeres had given Sweden a 15th-minute lead before Romelu Lukaku equalised in an away game against Belgium, when the UEFA Euro 2024 qualifier was abandoned at half-time following a Islamist-related fatal shooting in Brussels that targeted and killed two Swedes outside the stadium.[45]

Style of play

Quick on the turn, a powerful, fast runner with the ball at his feet and a threat in front of goal, Viktor Gyökeres is a strongly built footballer and uses his strength to secure possession when under pressure. He is also effective in providing his team's defenders with some respite following a clearance. As a strong and physical forward, he is noted for is pace, stamina and finishing, as well as for his ability to surprise opponents with bursts of technical display due to his skill manipulating a football, working it in tight areas and improvising when needed.[46][47][48]

Goal celebrations

Gyökeres celebrates his goals by crossing both of his hands over is mouth in order to resemble character Hannibal Lecter's restraint mask. Josh Eccles, former team-mate of Gyökeres at the English club Coventry City, explained in 2023 when the Swedish was already playing for Sporting CP: "I think the celebration is because of the character in the film (Hannibal). He eats people and Viktor destroys defences."[49][50][51]

Personal life

Gyökeres was born and raised in Stockholm,[52] and is of Hungarian descent.[53] He is in a relationship with Amanda Nildén who is a female professional footballer. Upon his transfer to Brighton in 2018, Nildén moved with him to England and impressed enough to secure a spot in the club's ladies team.[54]

Career statistics

Club
As of match played 26 October 2023
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National cup[lower-alpha 1] League cup[lower-alpha 2] Continental Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Brommapojkarna 2015[2] Superettan 8043———123
2016[2] Division 1 19762———259
2017[2] Superettan 291310———3013
Total 56201150000006725
Brighton & Hove Albion 2017–18[55] Premier League 000000——00
2018–19[56] Premier League 004010——50
2019–20[57] Premier League 000000——00
2020–21[58] Premier League 000031——31
Total 004041000081
FC St. Pauli (loan) 2019–20[2] 2. Bundesliga 2672000——287
Swansea City (loan) 2020–21[58] Championship 1101100——121
Coventry City (loan) 2020–21[58] Championship 1930000——193
Coventry City 2021–22[31] Championship 45172100——4718
2022–23[59] Championship 46211100—3[lower-alpha 3]05022
Total 9138320000309740
Sporting CP 2023–24 Primeira Liga 7600003[lower-alpha 4]200108
Career total 2107420841323024085
  1. Includes Svenska Cupen, FA Cup
  2. Includes EFL Cup
  3. Appearances in Championship play-offs
  4. Appearance(s) in UEFA Europa League

International
As of match played 16 October 2023[60]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National teamYearAppsGoals
Sweden 201921
202000
202120
202271
202363
Total175
Scores and results list Sweden's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Gyökeres goal.
List of international goals scored by Viktor Gyökeres[60]
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition Ref.
111 January 2019Khalifa International Stadium, Doha, Qatar Iceland1–12–2Friendly [61]
2 12 June 2022 Ullevaal Stadium, Oslo, Norway  Norway 2–3 2–3 2022–23 UEFA Nations League B [62]
3 27 March 2023 Friends Arena, Solna, Sweden  Azerbaijan 3–0 5–0 UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying [63]
4 9 September 2023 Lilleküla Stadium, Tallinn, Estonia  Estonia 1–0 5–0 UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying [64]
5 16 October 2023 King Baudouin Stadium, Brussels, Belgium  Belgium 1–0 1–1[note 1] UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying [67]
  1. Sweden's Euro 2024 qualifying match away to Belgium was abandoned at half-time with the score 1–1 due to security reasons, after two Swedish supporters were killed in a terrorist shooting in Brussels.[65] On 19 October 2023, UEFA decided that the half-time score would be considered final and the match would not be resumed.[66]

Honours

IF Brommapojkarna

Individual

References
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