Joakim Persson
Encyclopedia
Joakim Persson, is a former Swedish
footballer, who last played for Landskrona
.
before moving to Malmö FF
in 1992. He made his professional debut in a Swedish Cup
game against Landskrona in 1994.
Persson moved to the Italian
Serie A
club Atalanta
in 1996. He returned to Sweden after less than two seasons in Italy, having very rarely played for Atalanta's first-team, joining IFK Göteborg
in January, 1998. Things went little better for him in Sweden. He was often singled out by the media as the main cause of his team's poor performances throughout his two seasons with Göteborg. After the 1998 season he was voted as the "most overrated player" in the Allsvenskan
by his fellow players.
At the end of the 1999 season, Persson left IFK Göteborg in order to escape the intense scrutiny he had been subjected to. He joined Esbjerg fB
, of the Danish
Superliga
, midway through the league season, at the end of which they were relegated to the Danish 1st Division
. Persson stayed with the club and helped them to win the first division championship, and promotion, at the first attempt.
In the summer of 2002, after one further season with Esbjerg, Persson moved to Hansa Rostock of the German
Bundesliga
. Along with Andreas Jakobsson
, Marcus Lantz
, Peter Wibrån
, Magnus Arvidsson and Rade Prica
, Persson was one of six Swedes playing for the Mecklenburg
club. Under manager Armin Veh
he played as a holding midfielder, making 26 appearances in his first season with the club. The following season began with four successive defeats, after which Veh handed in his resignation and was replaced by Juri Schlünz
. Schlünz converted Persson from a midfielder into a defender and appointed him as the leader of the team's back four. After making just one substitute appearance in the first six games of the season, Persson went on to start 27 of the last 28 games. He scored his only league goal for Hansa in a 1-1 draw with Borussia Mönchengladbach
on November 1, 2003. Hansa finished the season in ninth place. Persson made 30 league starts during the 2004/05 season but was unable to prevent Hansa from finishing second-bottom of the league and being relegated to the 2nd Bundesliga
.
Following Hansa Rostock's relegation, Persson left the club to join Stabæk in Norway
's Tippeligaen
. Although he had been offered a longer contract, Persson decided to return to Sweden after 18 months in Norway. Persson signed with Landskrona prior to the 2007 Superettan season.
, scoring 8 goals. He also made 5 appearances for Sweden at junior level, scoring one goal.
Persson also made three appearances for the Sweden national football team
, all of which came in the 1997 King's Cup
. He played in games against Romania
and Japan
before playing in the final against the hosts Thailand
. Persson scored a goal in the final, helping the Swedes to a 3-1 win.
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
footballer, who last played for Landskrona
Landskrona BoIS
Landskrona BoIS is a Swedish professional football club located in Landskrona, which currently plays in the second highest Swedish division, Superettan. The club, formed on 7 February 1915 was a merger of two clubs from the city of Landskrona; IFK Landskrona and Diana...
.
Club career
Persson began his career as a youth-team player with HögaborgsHögaborgs BK
Högaborgs BK is a Swedish football club from Helsingborg that was founded in 1927. They currently play in the Swedish fourth division . The club is best known for breeding young talented players...
before moving to Malmö FF
Malmö FF
Malmö Fotbollförening, also known simply as Malmö FF, are a Swedish professional football club based in Malmö. The club is affiliated with Skånes Fotbollförbund and play their home games at Swedbank Stadion. The club colours, reflected in their crest and kit, are sky blue and white...
in 1992. He made his professional debut in a Swedish Cup
Svenska Cupen
Svenska Cupen , is a knockout cup competition in Swedish football and the main Swedish football cup. Svenska Cupen usually refers to the men's tournament, although a women's tournament is also held. Each year 98 teams compete, comprising the 16 teams from Allsvenskan and the 16 teams of Superettan...
game against Landskrona in 1994.
Persson moved to the Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
Serie A
Serie A
Serie A , now called Serie A TIM due to sponsorship by Telecom Italia, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and has been operating for over eighty years since 1929. It had been organized by Lega Calcio until 2010, but a new...
club Atalanta
Atalanta B.C.
Atalanta Bergamasca Calcio, commonly known as just Atalanta, Atalanta Bergamo or the abbreviation Atalanta BC, is an Italian football club based in Bergamo, Lombardy.They are nicknamed the Nerazzurri and the orobici...
in 1996. He returned to Sweden after less than two seasons in Italy, having very rarely played for Atalanta's first-team, joining IFK Göteborg
IFK Göteborg
IFK Göteborg is a Swedish professional football club based in Gothenburg. Founded in 1904, the club has won 18 national championship titles, five national cup titles, and two UEFA Cups....
in January, 1998. Things went little better for him in Sweden. He was often singled out by the media as the main cause of his team's poor performances throughout his two seasons with Göteborg. After the 1998 season he was voted as the "most overrated player" in the Allsvenskan
Allsvenskan
Allsvenskan is a Swedish professional league for association football clubs. At the top of the Swedish football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with Superettan...
by his fellow players.
At the end of the 1999 season, Persson left IFK Göteborg in order to escape the intense scrutiny he had been subjected to. He joined Esbjerg fB
Esbjerg fB
Esbjerg forenede Boldklubber also referred to as Esbjerg fB or simply EfB is a professional Danish football club from the port city of Esbjerg in West Jutland. The club was formed in 1924, as a merger between Esbjerg Boldklub af 1898 and Esbjerg Amatørklub af 1911. The club has training facilities...
, of the Danish
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
Superliga
Danish Superliga
The Danish Superliga is the current Danish football championship tournament, and administered by the Danish Football Association. It is the highest association football league in Denmark and is currently contested by 12 teams each year, with 2 teams to be relegated, which proves to be one of the...
, midway through the league season, at the end of which they were relegated to the Danish 1st Division
Danish 1st Division
The 1st Division has been the name of the second highest football league in Denmark since 1991. From 1945 to 1991 the 1st Division was the name of the highest level of football in Denmark...
. Persson stayed with the club and helped them to win the first division championship, and promotion, at the first attempt.
In the summer of 2002, after one further season with Esbjerg, Persson moved to Hansa Rostock of the German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
Bundesliga
Fußball-Bundesliga
The Fußball-Bundesliga is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of Germany's football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. It is contested by 18 teams and operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the 2. Bundesliga...
. Along with Andreas Jakobsson
Andreas Jakobsson
Bo Janne Andreas Jakobsson is a Swedish professional football player in the defender position and the Defensive Midfielder...
, Marcus Lantz
Marcus Lantz
Marcus Lantz is a Swedish professional footballer, who playsas a holding midfielder for Landskrona BoIS in the Superettan championship. He has played six matches for the Sweden national football team....
, Peter Wibrån
Peter Wibrån
Peter Wibrån is a retired Swedish football midfielder.Wibrån grew up in Lammhult near Växjö and began his professional career at Öster. In 1996, he signed for Helsingborgs IF, a club where he spent three successful years before moving to German Bundesliga club FC Hansa Rostock. In 2003 Wibrån...
, Magnus Arvidsson and Rade Prica
Rade Prica
Rade Stanislav Prica is a Swedish footballer currently playing for Rosenborg BK of Norway.Prica is the only player who has won league championships in the three Scandinavian countries - Sweden, Denmark and Norway.- Club career :...
, Persson was one of six Swedes playing for the Mecklenburg
Mecklenburg
Mecklenburg is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Vorpommern...
club. Under manager Armin Veh
Armin Veh
Armin Veh is a German former footballer and current manager who works for Eintracht Frankfurt. He won the German championship with Bundesliga team VfB Stuttgart on 19 May 2007. Veh and his team also had the chance to win "the double" by winning the DFB-Cup on 26 May 2007 in Berlin, but lost 2–3 in...
he played as a holding midfielder, making 26 appearances in his first season with the club. The following season began with four successive defeats, after which Veh handed in his resignation and was replaced by Juri Schlünz
Juri Schlünz
Juri Schlünz is a German football coach and a former player. As of February 2009, he is the youth teams coordinator with F.C. Hansa Rostock.-Honours:* East Germany champion: 1991....
. Schlünz converted Persson from a midfielder into a defender and appointed him as the leader of the team's back four. After making just one substitute appearance in the first six games of the season, Persson went on to start 27 of the last 28 games. He scored his only league goal for Hansa in a 1-1 draw with Borussia Mönchengladbach
Borussia Mönchengladbach
Borussia Mönchengladbach is a German association football club based in Mönchengladbach, North Rhine-Westphalia. The team plays in the Bundesliga and is one of the country's most well-known, well-supported, and successful teams. Borussia Mönchengladbach has over 40,000 members and is the sixth...
on November 1, 2003. Hansa finished the season in ninth place. Persson made 30 league starts during the 2004/05 season but was unable to prevent Hansa from finishing second-bottom of the league and being relegated to the 2nd Bundesliga
2. Fußball-Bundesliga
- Changes in division set-up :* Number of clubs: currently 18. From 1974 to 1981 there were two conferences, each of 20 teams. In 1981–91 it had 20...
.
Following Hansa Rostock's relegation, Persson left the club to join Stabæk in Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
's Tippeligaen
Tippeligaen
Tippeligaen is a Norwegian professional league for association football clubs. At the top of the Norwegian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. The league is also unofficially known under its neutral name Eliteserien , although the name has never been official...
. Although he had been offered a longer contract, Persson decided to return to Sweden after 18 months in Norway. Persson signed with Landskrona prior to the 2007 Superettan season.
International career
Persson made 27 appearances for the Sweden U21sSweden national under-21 football team
The Swedish U-21 national football team is the football team representing Sweden in competitions for under-21 year old players. Sweden U21's current captain is Jiloan Hamad with Jakob Johansson as vice captain.-UEFA European U-21 Championship Record:...
, scoring 8 goals. He also made 5 appearances for Sweden at junior level, scoring one goal.
Persson also made three appearances for the Sweden national football team
Sweden national football team
The Swedish national football team represents Sweden in association football and is controlled by the Swedish Football Association, the governing body for Football in Sweden. Sweden's home ground is Råsunda Stadium in Stockholms län and their head coach is Erik Hamrén. Sweden made their first...
, all of which came in the 1997 King's Cup
King's Cup
The King's Cup is an international football competition held in Thailand. It has been played annually since 1968, with the exception of 1983, 1985 and 2008. In some years, the competition has featured club or invitational teams as well as international sides....
. He played in games against Romania
Romania national football team
The Romania national football team is the national football team of Romania and is controlled by the Romanian Football Federation.Romania is one of only four national teams, the other three being Brazil, France, and Belgium, that took part in the first three World Cups.However, after that...
and Japan
Japan national football team
The Japan national football team represents Japan in association football and is operated by the Japan Football Association, the governing body for association football in Japan...
before playing in the final against the hosts Thailand
Thailand national football team
The Thailand national football team represents Thailand in international football competition and is governed by the Football Association of Thailand. The team has a history of success in Southeast Asian competition, with three ASEAN Football Championship titles and nine senior-level Southeast...
. Persson scored a goal in the final, helping the Swedes to a 3-1 win.