Johan Claesson (born August 12, 1981, in

Uppsala Uppsala ( ; ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the capital of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inhabitants in 2019. Loc ...

) is a retired

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

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 last played for

IK Sirius Idrottsklubben Sirius, commonly known as IK Sirius or Sirius, is a Swedish Sport, sports club located in Uppsala. Today IK Sirius is active in bandy, floorball, and association football, football as an . History The sports club that became IK Sir ...

in the Swedish

Division 1 Norra Ettan Fotboll, or simply Ettan (), which also is its common name in everyday speech, is the third level in the Swedish football league system and consists of 32 Swedish football teams. It was formerly simply known as ''Division 1''. Division 1 ...

Career

Sweden

Claesson began his career as part of the youth team at Hagby IK, before moving to

, where he played until 2005. Claesson moved to

Gefle IF Gefle Idrottsförening, also known simply as Gefle IF, Gefle (, as if spelled ''Gävle''), or locally Gif (), also known as Gefle IF FF by the Swedish Football Association, are a Swedish professional association football, football club based in G ...

in 2005, and spent four years with the team. Initially used as a substitute, he eventually won a first team spot, and went on to make almost 100 appearances for the club in the

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 ...

, scoring three goals.

United States

In December 2008 Claesson signed a one-year contract with the

Portland Timbers The Portland Timbers are an American professional Association football, soccer club based in Portland, Oregon. The Timbers compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The Timbers have p ...

of the

USL First Division The USL First Division (USL-1) was a professional men's soccer league in the second tier of the United States league system. It was organized by the United Soccer League as its premier league for men from 1996 to 2010, above the USL Second ...

with the option of a second year.Swedish duo leads Timbers' seven new signings
He played 23 games and scored 1 goal in his debut season with the Timbers, and proved to be an important part of the team's midfield, helping them to the 2009 USL-1 regular season title.

Comeback in IK Sirius

In December 2010 Claesson signed for his old club

in the Swedish third tier.

Honors

Portland Timbers

Commissioner's Cup (1):

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 ...

References

External links

Portland Timbers bio
1981 births Living people Swedish men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Gefle IF players Portland Timbers (2001–2010) players USL First Division players USSF Division 2 Professional League players Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Swedish expatriate sportspeople in the United States Swedish expatriate men's footballers IK Sirius Fotboll players Footballers from Uppsala 21st-century Swedish sportsmen Allsvenskan players {{sweden-footy-midfielder-stub