Joachim Björklund
 |
|||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Joachim Björklund | ||
| Date of birth | 15 March 1971 | ||
| Place of birth | Växjö, Sweden | ||
| Height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | ||
| Playing position | 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) | |
| National team | |||
| 1992 | Sweden U23 | 4 | (0) |
| 1992–2000 | Sweden | 79 | (0) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
|||
Joachim Björklund (born 15 March 1971) is a former Swedish professional footballer.
Taking the leap from junior team obscurity to becoming a star in Brann, he was later sold to IFK Göteborg. There, his side achieved a surprise 3–1 victory over Manchester United in the group stage of the 1994–95 Champions League. At the end of the following season, he was transferred to Vicenza, and the following year to Rangers, where he won a Scottish league championship medal for £2.2m. He moved to Valencia for £2.5m in 1998 and spent three years at Valencia before joining Venezia in Italy, where he played for just one season.
Björklund joined Sunderland in January 2002 for £1.5million, 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. 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.
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 1992,1994 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2000. He was also a member of the Swedish squad that competed at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. His maternal uncle is Tommy Svensson, the Sweden national football team manager from 1991 to 1997.
...
Wikipedia