Pontus Anders Mikael Wernbloom (; born 25 June 1986) is a Swedish former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

. Beginning his professional career with

IFK Göteborg Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna Göteborg (officially IFK Göteborg Fotboll), commonly known as IFK Göteborg, IFK (especially locally) or Blåvitt, is a Swedish professional Football team, football club based in Gothenburg. Founded in 1904, it ...

in 2005, he went on to represent AZ,

CSKA Moscow CSKA Moscow () is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. It was created in 1911 in the Russian Empire on base of OLLS (Skiing Society, founded 1901). Later, during the Soviet Union, Soviet era, it was the central part of the Armed Forces (sports ...

, and

PAOK PAOK (, Πανθεσσαλονίκειος Αθλητικός Όμιλος Κωνσταντινοπολιτών, ''Panthessalonikeios Athlitikós Ómilos Constantinopoliton'', ''Pan-Thessalonian Athletic Club of Constantinopolitans''), commonly ...

before retiring at IFK Göteborg in 2021. A full international between 2007 and 2016, he won 51

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for the Sweden national team and was a squad player at

UEFA Euro 2012 The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2012 or simply Euro 2012, was the 14th UEFA European Championship, European Championship for List of men's national association football teams#UEFA (Europe), men's ...

and

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

Club career

IFK Göteborg

After playing for local club

IK Kongahälla IK Kongahälla is a Swedish football club located in Kungälv. Background IK Kongahälla currently plays in Division 4 Göteborg A which is the sixth tier of Swedish football. They play their home matches at the IP Kongevi in Kungälv. The club ...

, he joined the youth team of

in 2004, before being promoted to the senior team in 2005. He quickly made a name for himself with his hard tackles, fighting spirit and generally fearless playing style. When

Håkan Mild Stig Håkan Mild (born 14 June 1971) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a central midfielder. He is best remembered for his time with IFK Göteborg, with which he won four Swedish Championships. A full international betwe ...

retired after the 2005 season, Wernbloom secured a place in the starting line-up. However, during the following season he struggled to retain his place as the club changed its playing style under new management. When striker

Marcus Berg Bengt Erik Markus Berg (; born 17 August 1986) is a Swedish former professional association football, footballer who played as a striker (association football), striker. He is currently assistant coach for Allsvenskan club IFK Göteborg. Beginn ...

left to play for

FC Groningen Football Club Groningen () is a Dutch professional association football club based in Groningen, Groningen (province), Groningen province. Founded in 1971 as the successor of GVAV-Rapiditas, GVAV, Groningen compete in the Eredivisie, the first t ...

in the summer of 2007, Wernbloom switched to forward and was able to be a starter once again.

AZ

In April 2009, he signed a contract with Dutch club AZ. He made his

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; "Honour Division" or "Premier Division") is a professional association football league in the Netherlands and the highest level of the Dutch football league system. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start o ...

debut against

Heracles Almelo Heracles Almelo is a Dutch professional football club based in Almelo, founded in 1903. The club has won the Dutch national title twice, in 1927 and 1941. Heracles won the Eerste Divisie title during the 2004–05 season, gaining promotion to t ...

on 2 August 2009 and scored his first goal in a 3–3 draw away to VVV on 20 February 2010. Wernbloom scored a goal in both play-off round legs against Kazakh side

FC Aktobe Football Club Aktobe (), commonly referred to as FC Aktobe or simply Aktobe, is a professional association football, football club based in Aktobe. They last played in the Kazakhstan Premier League, the highest level of Football in Kazakhstan, Ka ...

, helping his team to qualify for the group stage of the

2010–11 UEFA Europa League The 2010–11 UEFA Europa League was the second season of the UEFA Europa League, Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 40th edition overall including its predecessor, the UEFA Cup. It began on 1 July 2010, with ...

CSKA Moscow

In January 2012, Wernbloom left AZ for signing a long-term contract with the Russian top club

. Plagued by injuries, Wernbloom was plunged into the deep end against a highly favored

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

side in the knockout stages of the Champions League. In the game against his alleged favorite club, he scored a dramatic half-volley in the dying minutes to equalize 1–1. After the final game of the 2017–18 season, CSKA Moscow announced that Wernbloom would be leaving the club at the end of his contract for family reasons. Wernbloom left CSKA Moscow after a six-year spell with the Russian team.

PAOK

On 16 August 2018, Wernbloom arrived in Thessaloniki to agree on personal terms with Greek club

PAOK FC PAOK FC (, ), short for "Pan-Thessalonian Sports club, Athletic Club of Constantinople, Constantinopolitans" (), and commonly known as PAOK Thessaloniki, PAOK Salonika or simply PAOK, is a Greek professional Association football, football cl ...

. Eventually he signed a three–year contract worth €1.1 million per year. On 17 December 2018, Wernbloom was unlucky in the away game against

Levadiakos Levadiakos Football Club (officially romanized: ''Levadeiakos'' ) is a Greek professional football club that plays in the Super League Greece. Based in Livadeia, Greece, the club was promoted to the Alpha Ethniki, forerunner of the Super League, ...

, as he suffered a ruptured achilles tendon and would stay out of the action for several months, meaning PAOK would be without a key player as they look to win their first league title since 1985. On 20 August 2020, his contract with PAOK was terminated.

Return to IFK Göteborg and retirement

On 21 August 2020, Wernbloom signed a contract with IFK Göteborg until the end of the

2021 Allsvenskan The 2021 Allsvenskan was the 97th season since its establishment in 1924 of Sweden's top-level football league, Allsvenskan. A total of 16 teams participated. Malmö FF were the defending champions after winning the title in the previous season, ...

season. He announced his immediate retirement from professional football on 14 July 2021, citing injury problems.

International career

He debuted for the Sweden under-21 side in 2006, scoring a goal in the 12th minute of the match. He was picked for the Swedish national team's January tour in South America, and he made his debut on 18 January against

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

. He won his 50th cap for Sweden on 29 March 2016, a 1–1 draw with the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

. Pontus Wernbloom retired from international duty following

UEFA Euro 2016 The 2016 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2016 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2016) or simply Euro 2016, was the 15th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's association football, football ch ...

. Wernbloom won 51 caps for Sweden, representing his country at

and 2016.

Personal life

Wernbloom married girlfriend Nina in 2010 who gave birth to their son Mille the following year. He openly took a stance against

Sweden Democrats The Sweden Democrats ( , SD ) is a Nationalism, nationalist and Right-wing populism, right-wing populist political party in Sweden founded in 1988. As of 2024, it is the largest member of Sweden's Right-wing politics, right-wing bloc and the sec ...

prior to the

2010 Swedish general election General elections were held in Sweden on 19 September 2010 to elect the 349 members of the Riksdag. The main contenders of the election were the governing centre-right coalition the Alliance, consisting of the Moderate Party, the Centre Party, ...

, and stated his support for social democracy in

Aftonbladet (, lit. "The evening paper") is a Swedish language, Swedish daily tabloid newspaper published in Stockholm, Sweden. It is one of the largest daily newspapers in the Nordic countries. History and profile The newspaper was founded by Lar ...

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Sweden's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Wernbloom goal.''

Honours

;IFK Göteborg *

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; ), also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan (, ) is a professional association football league in Sweden and the highest level of the Swedish football league system. Founded in 1924, it operates on a system of promotion and relegatio ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

* Swedish Cup:

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

* Swedish Super Cup:

;AZ Alkmaar *

Dutch Super Cup The Johan Cruyff Shield (, ) is a football trophy in the Netherlands named after Dutch footballer Johan Cruyff, also often referred to as the Dutch Super Cup. The winner is decided in one match only, played by the winner of the national football ...

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

;CSKA Moscow *

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; , ''Rossiyskaya premyer-liga''; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is a professional association football league in Russia and the highest level of the Russian football league system. It was establis ...

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

, 2013–14, 2015–16 * Russian Cup:

Russian Super Cup The Russian Super Cup () is a one-match football (soccer), football annual competition. Its official sponsored name is ''OLIMPBET Russian Supercup'' (). The two participating clubs are the Russian Premier League champions and the Rambler Russian ...

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

;PAOK Salonika *

Super League Greece The Super League Greece 1 (), or Stoiximan Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Greece and the highest level of the Greek football league system. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and repla ...

: 2018–19 *

Greek Cup The Greek Football Cup (), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Betsson Greek Cup for sponsorship reasons is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second-most important domestic men's footba ...

: 2018–19 Sweden U21 *

UEFA European Under-21 Championship The UEFA European Under-21 Championship, the UEFA Under-21 Championship or simply the Euro Under-21, is a biennial football competition contested by the European men's under-21 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Since 1992, the comp ...

bronze:

Individual * Swedish Midfielder of the Year: 2010 *

Stor Grabb STOR may refer to: * ''Short Term Operating Reserve'', see National Grid Reserve Service * STØR, American furniture chain * STOR2RRD, an open-source software tool See also *JSTOR, digital library *Stor (born 1987), Swedish rapper *Stör, a rive ...

: 2012

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wernbloom, Pontus 1986 births Living people Swedish men's footballers IFK Göteborg players AZ Alkmaar players Allsvenskan players Eredivisie players Sweden men's international footballers Sweden men's under-21 international footballers Sportspeople from Kungälv Swedish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Swedish expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Swedish socialists Expatriate men's footballers in Russia Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Russia Russian Premier League players PFC CSKA Moscow players PAOK FC players Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Greece UEFA Euro 2012 players UEFA Euro 2016 players Men's association football midfielders Super League Greece players Footballers from Västra Götaland County 21st-century Swedish sportsmen