- Joachim Björklund
Football player infobox2
playername= Joachim Björklund
fullname = Joachim Björklund
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1971|3|15|df=y
cityofbirth =Växjö
countryofbirth =Sweden
height = height|ft=5|in=11
position = Centre back
youthyears =
youthclubs =Östers IF
years = 1989–1990
1990–1992
1993–1995
1995–1996
1996–1998
1998–2001
2001–2002
2001–2004
2004–2005
clubs =Östers IF
BrannIFK Göteborg Vicenza Calcio
Rangers
Valencia
Venezia
Sunderland
Wolves Total
caps(goals) = 006 (0)
056 (0)
046 (0)
033 (0)
059 (0)
057 (1)
018 (0)
057 (0)
003 (0) 335 (1)
nationalyears = 1992–2000
nationalteam = Sweden
nationalcaps(goals) = 079 (0)Joachim Björklund (born
March 15 ,1971 inVäxjö ) is a Swedish former professional footballer. For many years he formed a central defensive partnership withPatrik Andersson for the Swedish national team. Björklund was selected for the Euro 1992,1994 FIFA World Cup andEuro 2000 . He was also a member of the Swedish squad that competed at the1992 Summer Olympics inBarcelona .Taking the leap from junior team obscurity to becoming a star in
S.K. Brann , he was later sold toIFK Gothenburg . There, his side achieved a surprise 3-1 victory overManchester United in the group stage of the 1994-95 Champions League. At the end of the following season, he was transferred toVicenza Calcio and the following year to Rangers, where he won a Scottish league championship medal before moving toValencia CF inSpain . He spent three years at Valencia before moving toS.S.C. Venezia in Italy, where he was employed for just one season.Björklund joined Sunderland at the start of the 2002-03 season, but was unable to prevent them from being relegated. 2003-04 was better, as he helped Sunderland finish third in Division One and reach the
FA Cup semi final. But his services were no longer required by managerMick McCarthy and he joined Wolverhampton Wanderers, who had just been relegated from the Premiership. He left the club after just one season having failed to get them promoted.Having finished his playing career, he now works as a scout for Valencia CF. He is mainly scouting the Nordic countries for players.
Tommy Svensson , theSweden national football team manager from 1991 to 1997, is his maternal uncle.
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
