John Rune Alvbåge (; born 10 August 1982) 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

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 ...

. Beginning his career with Torslanda IK in 1999, he went on to play professionally in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, the United States, and Cyprus before announcing his retirement in 2022. A full international between 2006 and 2009, he won four

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 member at the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to FIFA World Cup hosts ...

Club career

Early career

After playing for local club Torslanda IK, he joined

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 ...

and debuted in the Swedish

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 ...

, only 18 years old. He then moved to

Örebro SK Örebro Sportklubb, more commonly known as Örebro SK, Örebro or (especially locally) ÖSK, is a Swedish professional football club based in Örebro. The club are affiliated to Örebro Läns Fotbollförbund and play their home games at Behrn ...

in 2003, before joining

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 only stayed half a season at IFK Göteborg, where he was a backup for former Swedish international goalkeeper Bengt Andersson.

Viborg FF

He moved abroad later that same year, being bought by Danish club

Viborg FF Viborg Fodsports Forening (), also known as Viborg FF or VFF for short, is a Danish professional association football, football club based in the Central Denmark Region, Central Jutland city of Viborg, Denmark, Viborg. They compete in the Danish ...

in July 2005. Bought as a replacement for Danish international goalkeeper Jesper Christiansen, Alvbåge quickly established himself in the Viborg team, and debuted for the Sweden national team in January 2006.

Return to Örebro SK

He returned to

during the summer of 2008.

Return to IFK Göteborg

Before the start of the 2012 season, he returned to IFK Göteborg where he was the first-choice goalkeeper. He helped the club win two

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 ...

titles ( 2012–13 and 2014–15) during his time there.

Loan to Minnesota United

In January 2017 it was announced that Alvbåge had been loaned to

Minnesota United FC Minnesota United Football Club, often shortened to MNUFC, is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the W ...

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 ...

until July 2017 with the option for an additional 18 months.

Retirement

Alvbåge announced his retirement from professional football on 27 July 2022.

International career

Alvbåge represented Sweden at all youth levels, including U17, U19, and U21 level. He represented the Sweden U21 team at the

2004 UEFA European Under-21 Championship The 2004 UEFA European Under-21 Championship was the 14th staging of UEFA's European Under-21 Championship. The final tournament was hosted by Germany between 27 May and 8 June 2004. Italy won the competition for the fifth time. Italy's Alberto ...

where Sweden finished fourth. He made his full international debut for

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

in a

friendly game An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sport, sporting event whose prize money and impact on th ...

against

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

on 23 January 2006. Later that year, he was selected for the

squad as the third-choice goalkeeper behind Andreas Isaksson and Rami Shaaban. In total, he made four appearances for Sweden between 2006 and 2009.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

IFK Göteborg *

: 2012–13, 2014–15 Individual *

goalkeeper of the year:

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

*Archangel of the Year: 2015

References

External links

John Alvbåge
at

* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Alvbage, John 1982 births Living people Swedish men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Sweden men's international footballers Sweden men's youth international footballers Sweden men's under-21 international footballers 2006 FIFA World Cup players Allsvenskan players Superettan players Division 2 (Swedish football) players Danish Superliga players Cypriot First Division players Major League Soccer players IFK Göteborg players Viborg FF players Örebro SK players Torslanda IK players AC Omonia players IK Sirius Fotboll players Lindome GIF players Akropolis IF players Minnesota United FC players Swedish expatriate men's footballers Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark Swedish expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Footballers from Gothenburg 21st-century Swedish sportsmen