Jakob Valdemar Olsson Johansson (born 21 June 1990) 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

defensive midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

. Becoming the first player born in the 1990s to play in

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 ...

while at

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 ...

, he went on to represent

AEK Athens A.E.K. (; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople'') is a major Greek multi-sport club based in Nea Filadelfeia, Attica. The club is more commonly known in European competitions as A.E.K. Athens. Establishe ...

and

Rennes Rennes (; ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in Northwestern France at the confluence of the rivers Ille and Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the Brittany (administrative region), Brittany Regions of F ...

before retiring at IFK Göteborg in 2021. A full international between 2013 and 2019, he won 18

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 is best remembered for scoring the winning goal in the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying playoffs against

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

when Sweden qualified for their first

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

in 12 years.

Club career

IFK Göteborg

Born in

Trollhättan Trollhättan () is the 23rd-largest city in Sweden, the seat of Trollhättan Municipality, Västra Götaland County. It is situated by Göta älv, near the lake Vänern, and has a population of approximately 50,000 in the city proper. It is loc ...

, Johansson's first club was Trollhättans BoIS. He was brought to

, together with manager Jonas Olsson, from

FC Trollhättan FC Trollhättan is a Swedish football club located in Trollhättan currently playing in Division 1. Background The club was founded in 2001, when the old rivals Trollhättans IF and Trollhättans FK decided to merge. In their first ever le ...

. On 27 June 2007, he became the first player born in the 1990s to have played in the top league of Sweden,

when he debuted for his IFK Göteborg.

AEK Athens

On 28 December 2014, Johansson signed a 3.5-year contract with

. On 22 August 2015, he made his debut in

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 ...

helping his team AEK win 3–0 against

Platanias Platanias (Greek: Πλατανιάς) is a village and municipality on the Greek island of Crete. It is located about west from the city of Chania and east of Kissamos, on Chania Bay. The seat of the municipality is the village Gerani. Platani ...

. On 22 November 2015, he scored his first season goal with a header in AEK Athens' away win against

Panthrakikos Panthrakikos Football Club () is a Greek football club based in Komotini, Thrace in North Eastern Greece founded in 1963. The club competed in Super League Greece during the 2008–09 season for the first time. History Early years (1963–2001) ...

. On 21 December 2015, the 15th matchday of the season, he again netted with a header giving his club the lead in 2–1 home defeat 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, ...

. He finished the 2015–16 season with seven goals, including a header against

Panathinaikos Panathinaikos Athlitikos Omilos (, literally in English: "Panathenaic Athletic Club" or Panathinaikos A.C.), also known simply as Panathinaikós , is a major Greek multi-sport club based in the City of Athens. Panathinaikos is one of the mos ...

in a 3–1 victory. Johansson started the 2016–17 season as a key player for the team in midfield. In the late days of July 2017 AEK made a last effort to extend Johansson's contract, which is set to expire on 30 June 2018. On 20 August 2017, he scored in the opening match of the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

against

Panetolikos Panetolikos Football Club (), or with its full name officially romanized as Panaitolikós Gymnastikós Filekpaideftikós Sýllogos (''; Pan- Aetolian Gymnastic and Educational Club''), is a Greek professional football club. It is based in Agrini ...

, which ended as a 2–0 home win. Johansson started the 2017–18 season as a key player for the team in midfield.

Rennes

He signed for the

Ligue 1 Ligue 1 (; ), officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald's France, McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de ...

club

in the summer of 2018.

Return to IFK Göteborg and retirement

In 2020, he return to IFK Göteborg after six years abroad. On 22 June 2021, after suffering many injuries in the latest years, he decided at the age of only 31 to retire from professional football, citing his injuries as the reason that obliged him to retire.

International career

Johansson made his international debut in a friendly against

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...

on 23 January 2013. He made his competitive debut in a 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifier against

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

on 11 November 2016. On 10 November 2017 the Swedes won against Italy 1–0 in the 2018 FIFA World Cup Second Round first leg at the

Friends Arena Nationalarenan, known as Strawberry Arena since 2024 for sponsorship reasons, is a retractable roof multi-purpose stadium in Stockholm, Sweden. Located next to the lake Råstasjön in Solna, just north of the City Centre, it is the largest stadi ...

, and the only goal coming when Jakob Johansson drilled home from 20 yards, via a

Daniele De Rossi Daniele De Rossi (; born 24 July 1983) is an Italian football manager and former professional player. As a football player, he is known for his long career with hometown club Roma, as well as winning the 2006 FIFA World Cup with Italy. De Ros ...

deflection. On 13 November 2017, in the game where Sweden held on to force a goalless draw in the second leg at the

San Siro San Siro is a football stadium in the San Siro district of Milan, Italy. It has a seating capacity of 75,817, making it the largest stadium in Italy and one of the largest stadiums in Europe. It is the home stadium of the city's principal ...

to defeat the Italians 1–0 on aggregate in their Russia 2018 World Cup play-off, Johansson faced an anterior cruciate ligament injury that kept him out for 11 months. Consequently, he also missed the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded t ...

Style of play

Johansson was a box-to-box midfielder, with his stand-out features being his physical strength, marking, accurate passing and overall significance in build-up play.

Personal life

His older brother Rickard Johansson is a former

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals :''Scores and results list Sweden's goal tally first.''

Honours

IFK Göteborg *

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

, 2019–20 AEK Athens *

: 2017–18 *

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 ...

: 2015–16 *

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

: 2014–15 (South Group) Rennes *

Coupe de France The Coupe de France (), also known in English language, English as the French Cup or less commonly as the France Cup, is the premier Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in French football organised by the French Football Fed ...

: 2018–19 Individual *Årets ärkeängel (IFK Göteborg player of the year as decided by the supporters):

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Johansson, Jakob 1990 births Living people Footballers from Trollhättan Men's association football midfielders Swedish men's footballers Swedish expatriate men's footballers Sweden men's youth international footballers Sweden men's under-21 international footballers Sweden men's international footballers IFK Göteborg players FC Trollhättan players AEK Athens F.C. players Stade Rennais FC players Allsvenskan players Super League Greece players Football League (Greece) players Ligue 1 players Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in France Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Greece Swedish expatriate sportspeople in France 21st-century Swedish sportsmen