Linnea Viktoria Liljegärd (born 8 December 1988) is a Swedish former

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 for the

Sweden women's national football team The Sweden women's national football team (), nicknamed ''Blågult'' ("The Blue-Yellow"), represents Sweden at international women's association football competitions. It was established in 1973 and is governed by the Swedish Football Associatio ...

as well as

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who work (human activity), works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the partic ...

clubs in Sweden, Norway and Russia.

Club career

Liljegärd was raised in

Vårgårda Vårgårda is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and the seat of Vårgårda Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden with 5,825 inhabitants in 2020. Gallery Marknadsplatsen i Vårgårda, den 16 juni 2006, bild 3.JPG, Fåglum brothers in V� ...

and began her career with Skogsbygdens IF. After three years with Falköpings KIK, she joined Kopparbergs/Göteborg FC in 2008. In 2009 Liljegärd was the top scorer in the

Damallsvenskan The (; ), known as OBOS for sponsorship reasons, is the highest division of women's football in Sweden. It is one of the best women's leagues in the world, and was founded in 1988. The division consists of a league of 14 teams. From 2013, t ...

with 22 goals. She turned down approaches from WPS club

Sky Blue FC Gotham Football Club is an American professional soccer team based in the New York metropolitan area that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). Founded in 2006 as Jersey Sky Blue, the team was known as Sky Blue FC from 2008 un ...

and Swedish champions

Linköpings FC Linköpings may refer to: *Linköpings ASS, Linköpings Allmänna Simsällskap is a Swedish swim team *Linköpings FC, an association football club *Linköpings FF, premier men's football team *Linköpings HC, Linköpings Hockey Club See also< ...

in order to stay with Göteborg. In September 2012 Göteborg accepted an offer for Liljegärd from

WFC Rossiyanka WFC Rossiyanka was a Russian women's football club from Khimki. History The team was founded in 1990 as Nadezhda Krasnoarmeysk, being initially a futsal club. Futsal was played until 1998, when the club left it to concentrate in association foo ...

and she transferred to the Russian club. In January 2013 she opted out of her contract and returned to Sweden for surgery on a foot injury. After recovering she signed for Norwegian

Toppserien The Toppserien is the top level of women's association football in Norway. It was founded in 1984. History Women's league football was introduced on a county basis in 1977. These leagues acted as qualification for the regional (South) league in ...

club

Avaldsnes IL Avaldsnes Idrettslag is a Norwegian sports club from Avaldsnes, Karmøy, Rogaland. It was founded on 16 June 1937. The club has sections for football and handball. Women's football The women's team began play in 1989, winning the 1st Division o ...

. She returned to Sweden with Damallsvenskan club

Kristianstads DFF Kristianstads DFF () is a women's association football club from Kristianstad, Sweden. The club is affiliated to the Scania Football Association. History Wä IF was founded in 1935 and their women team played from 1990 to 1994 and again in 199 ...

in August 2013. Liljegärd announced her retirement from playing in November 2014, aged 25, to focus on

coaching Coaching is a form of development in which an experienced person, called a ''coach'', supports a learner or client in achieving a specific personal or professional goal by providing training and guidance. The learner is sometimes called a ''coa ...

Division 2 team Bergdalens IK. She had lost her motivation but did not rule out a comeback.

International career

Liljegärd represented

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 ...

at all youth levels, then won her first senior cap in a 5–1 friendly win over

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

in January 2009. She was subsequently named in the Sweden squad for Euro 2009. Despite good form at domestic level, in June 2011 Liljegärd was left out of Sweden's squad for the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

in Germany.

References

External links

*
archive
*
National team profile 2008
* Living people 1988 births Footballers from Uppsala Swedish women's footballers Sweden women's international footballers BK Häcken FF players Damallsvenskan players Expatriate women's footballers in Norway Expatriate women's footballers in Russia WFC Rossiyanka players Avaldsnes IL players Toppserien players Kristianstads DFF players Swedish expatriate women's footballers Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Norway Women's association football forwards 21st-century Swedish sportswomen {{Sweden-footy-forward-stub