John Erik Gunnar Friberg (born 10 February 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. Beginning his career with

Västra Frölunda IF Västra Frölunda Idrottsförening () is a Swedish football club based in Gothenburg. Founded on 2 January 1930, the club has spent a total of ten seasons in Allsvenskan, the top tier of Swedish football. As of the 2025 season, Västra Frölund ...

in 2005, he went on to represent

Seattle Sounders FC Seattle Sounders FC is an American professional association football, soccer club based in Seattle. The Sounders compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The club was established on ...

Malmö FF Malmö Fotbollförening (), commonly known simply as Malmö FF or MFF, is a Swedish professional football club based in Malmö, Scania. They compete in the Allsvenskan, the top division of Swedish football, and play home matches at the Eleda S ...

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

, and

Esbjerg fB Esbjerg forenede Boldklubber (; commonly known as Esbjerg fB or EfB in short) is a Danish professional Association football, football club based in Esbjerg, West Jutland, Jylland, that plays in the Danish 1st Division, 1st division, the sec ...

before retiring at BK Häcken in 2022. He won two

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for the Sweden national team in 2012.

Club career

Early career

Friberg began his career with

before moving to

BK Häcken Bollklubben Häcken, more commonly known as BK Häcken or simply Häcken (), is a Swedish professional association football, football club based in Gothenburg (Hisingen). It currently plays in Allsvenskan, the top tier of Swedish football. Forme ...

in January 2007. He made his

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

debut on 2 August 2007 against KR Reykjavíkur. The game ended 0–1 for Häcken. He played 20 minutes in two games against Spartak Moscow during the

first round First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

of the UEFA Cup.

Seattle Sounders FC

On 16 December 2010, it was announced that Friberg had signed a deal with

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

. He made his debut for the Sounders in their opening game of the 2011 MLS season against

Los Angeles Galaxy The Los Angeles Galaxy are an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The Gal ...

Malmö FF

On 12 December 2011, Seattle Sounders confirmed that Friberg would move to

for the 2012 season. Malmö FF announced the day after that Friberg had signed a contract until the end of the 2014 season. He joined Malmö FF when the transfer window opened on 1 January 2012. Friberg was applauded by media for his play during the 2012 pre-season. Friberg later played 24 out of 30 matches during his first season at the club. For the club's league title winning 2013 season Friberg played 27 matches and scored 6 goals. He also played all six matches of the club's participation in the qualifying stages for the

2013–14 UEFA Europa League The 2013–14 UEFA Europa League was the 43rd season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the fifth season under its current title. The final was played between Sevilla and Benfica at the Juventus Stadium in Tu ...

. During the season Friberg earned the nickname Mr. 100% after scoring six goals in six shots on goal during the entire season. His most important goal of the season was when he scored the only goal of the game at home against

Mjällby AIF Mjällby Allmänna Idrottsförening, also known simply as Mjällby AIF, Mjällby or (especially locally) MAIF, is a Swedish professional football club based in Hällevik in Sölvesborg Municipality. The club is affiliated to Blekinge Fo ...

in the 26th round of the league with just a couple of minutes to go of the game.

Bologna

On 30 January 2014, Friberg signed with Italian

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

club

Return to Seattle Sounders

Friberg returned to

on 29 June 2015.

Return to BK Häcken

Friberg return to BK Häcken in 2017, and helped the club win the 2022 Allsvenskan title for the first time in the club's history before retiring at the end of the season.

International career

Friberg was selected for the annual training camp for the Sweden national team in January 2012 after Malmö teammates Mathias Ranégie and Ivo Pękalski had to withdraw from the squad. The squad selection for the camp traditionally feature the best Swedish players in domestic and other Scandinavian leagues. He made his debut for Sweden in the friendly against

Bahrain Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is an island country in West Asia. Situated on the Persian Gulf, it comprises a small archipelago of 50 natural islands and an additional 33 artificial islands, centered on Bahrain Island, which mak ...

on 18 January 2012, replacing Oscar Hiljemark in the 86th minute of a 2–0 win.

Personal life

He is the cousin of CS:GO player Adam Friberg.

Career statistics

Club

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year

Honours

Malmö FF *

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 ...

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 ...

* Svenska Supercupen:

Seattle Sounders FC *

MLS Cup MLS Cup is the annual championship game of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the culmination of the MLS Playoffs. The game is held in November or December and pits the winner of the Eastern Conference Final against the winner of the Western Confere ...

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 ...

* Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup:

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

BK Häcken * Allsvenskan:

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

Svenska Cupen Svenska cupen (, ), also known as the Swedish Cup in English, 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 ...

: 2018–19

References

External links

Malmö FF profile
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Friberg, Erik 1986 births Living people Men's association football midfielders Swedish men's footballers Swedish expatriate men's footballers Sweden men's international footballers Västra Frölunda IF players BK Häcken players Seattle Sounders FC players Malmö FF players Bologna FC 1909 players Esbjerg fB players Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark Superettan players Allsvenskan players Major League Soccer players Serie A players Serie B players Danish Superliga players People from Mölndal Municipality Footballers from Västra Götaland County 21st-century Swedish sportsmen