Jesper Urban Jansson (born 8 January 1971) 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 defender or

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 ...

. He is the head of football of

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 ...

club

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 ...

since April 2025. As a player, he represented

Östers IF Östers Idrottsförening, commonly known as Östers IF or simply Öster, is a Swedish sports club located in Växjö, specializing in Association football, football. For the 2025 Allsvenskan, 2025 season the club is back in the top tier, Allsve ...

, AIK,

Djurgårdens IF Djurgårdens Idrottsförening, commonly known simply as Djurgårdens IF, Djurgården (), and (especially locally) Djurgår'n (), Dif or DIF – is a Swedish sports association with several sections, located in Stockholm. Djurgårdens IF is an s ...

, Stabæk,

KRC Genk Koninklijke Racing Club Genk (), commonly known as KRC Genk or Racing Genk, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Genk in Belgian Limburg. Racing Genk plays in the Belgian Pro League and have won four championship title ...

Helsingborgs IF Helsingborgs Idrottsförening, commonly referred to as Helsingborgs IF, Helsingborg or (especially locally) HIF (), is a Swedish professional football club located in Helsingborg. They play in the Swedish second tier, Superettan, following releg ...

, and Högabergs BK during a club career that spanned between 1988 and 2007. He won one

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

for the Sweden national team in 1994 and represented the Sweden Olympic team at the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics (, ), officially the Games of the XXV Olympiad (, ) and officially branded as Barcelona '92, were an international multi-sport event held from 25 July to 9 August 1992 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Beginning in 1994 ...

. He has worked as

sporting director A sporting director, or director of sport, is an executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many types of sports. The ...

for

Hammarby IF Hammarby Idrottsförening ("Hammarby Sports Club"), commonly known as Hammarby IF or simply Hammarby ( or, especially locally, ), is a Swedish sports club located in Stockholm, with a number of member organizations active in a variety of differ ...

, and

AC Omonia Athletic Club Omonia Nicosia (; ''Athlitikós Sýllogos Omónoia Lefkosías''), commonly known as Omonia Nicosia, or simply Omonia (also Romanization of Greek, transliterated as Omonoia), is a Cyprus, Cypriot professional multi-sport club, esta ...

Club career

Jansson was the captain of AIK during the season 1994-1995. His move to rival club

in 1996 was not a popular one amongst fans especially for a hooligan firm associated with AIK called Firman Boys. After leaving the club Jansson received death threats and had his door painted orange (the color of Firman Boys) with the text Judas. One of the reasons for him subsequently leaving

in 1997 for Norwegian club

Stabæk Fotball Stabæk Fotball is a Norway, Norwegian professional association football, football club based in Bærum, a suburb of Oslo. It is part of the multi-sport organization Stabæk IF. Founded in 1912, the club's name is an archaic spelling of the sub ...

was because of this intimidation. Even after moving to another country and securing a protected identity he would still go on to receive threats. He was a part of the

team that eliminated

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football ...

to qualify for the

2000–01 UEFA Champions League The 2000–01 UEFA Champions League was the 46th season of the UEFA Champions League, UEFA's premier European club football tournament, and the ninth since it was rebranded from the "European Champion Clubs' Cup" or "European Cup". The competiti ...

International career

Jansson was a member of the Sweden Olympic football team at the

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

. Jansson earned one

for the Sweden national team, making his only appearance in 1994 in a Joe Robbie Cup match against the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Post-playing career

After retiring, Jansson was the general manager at

between 2008 and 2014. In 2015, he was appointed head scout at F.C. Copenhagen, but left a year later. On 28 April 2017, Jansson was appointed director of football of

, before stepping down in 2023. On 14 June 2023, he was appointed sporting director of

. He was dismissed from his role after only 7 months in charge, along with the managing staff he appointed, after accusations from the club president that Jansson was not doing his job and was treating the appointment on Cyprus as a vacation. Jansson denied wrongdoing, pointing to his years of experience and the fact that he has sold players for 50-60 million euros as evidence that he takes his jobs seriously.

Personal life

Jansson is the brother of former professional footballer Ulrik Jansson and the father of the professional footballer Kevin Höög Jansson.

Career statistics

References

External links

* 1971 births Living people Footballers from Växjö Swedish men's footballers Sweden men's international footballers Sweden men's youth international footballers Men's association football defenders Men's association football midfielders Olympic footballers for Sweden Footballers at the 1992 Summer Olympics Östers IF players AIK Fotboll players Djurgårdens IF Fotboll players Helsingborgs IF players Stabæk Fotball players K.R.C. Genk players Högaborgs BK players Allsvenskan players Eliteserien players Belgian Pro League players Hammarby Fotboll directors and chairmen IFK Göteborg directors and chairmen Swedish expatriate men's footballers Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Norway Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Norway Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium {{Sweden-footy-midfielder-stub