Nils Mattias Joacim Asper (born 20 March 1974) 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 ...

. Starting off his career with

Mjällby AIF Mjällby Allmänna Idrottsförening, also known simply as Mjällby AIF, Mjällby or (especially locally) MAIF, is a Swedish professional football club based in Hällevik in Sölvesborg Municipality. The club is affiliated to Blekinge Fo ...

in the mid-1990s, he went on to play professionally in Spain, Turkey, and Norway before returning to Mjällby in 2008. A full international between 1999 and 2002, he won three

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 men's national football team The Sweden men's national football team () represents Sweden in men's international Association football, football and it is controlled by the Swedish Football Association, the governing body of football in Sweden. Sweden's home ground is Strawb ...

and was a squad member for them at

UEFA Euro 2000 The 2000 UEFA European Football Championship, also known as Euro 2000, was the 11th UEFA European Championship, a football tournament held every four years and organised by UEFA, the sport's governing body in Europe. The finals tournament was ...

Club career

Asper was the first choice goalkeeper for Mjällby AIF in four seasons before signing to 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 ...

side AIK in 1998. Lee Baxter began the 1998 season as the first choice. But after seven games AIK had only managed to collect seven points, including only one win. On the 8 of June, Asper made his debut against

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 ...

putting Lee Baxter on the bench, which would last for the rest of the season. With Asper in the net, AIK did not lose a single game in the 1998 season and they also won Allsvenskan the same year. In 1999, AIK qualified for Champions League making it all the way to the

group stage A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

. This year, Asper held a clean sheet for 797 minutes in

which was a new record. His performances in AIK attracted interest from

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

club

Real Sociedad Real Sociedad de Fútbol, more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad ( ; ''Royal Society'') in English, and Erreala or Reala in Basque language, Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Donostia / San Sebastián, ...

, who bought him just before the 2000-01 season. However, he did not have much of a success in Spain and eventually returned to Sweden and

Malmö FF Malmö Fotbollförening (), commonly known simply as Malmö FF or MFF, is a Swedish professional football club based in Malmö, Scania. They compete in the Allsvenskan, the top division of Swedish football, and play home matches at the Eleda S ...

in 2002, after being on loan to

Beşiktaş J.K. Beşiktaş Jimnastik Kulübü (, ), abbreviated as BJK, is a Turkish professional sports club founded in 1903 that is based in the Beşiktaş district of Istanbul. The club's football team is one of the Big Three in Turkey and one of the most ...

He won the Swedish championship with Malmö FF in 2004. He announced his retirement on 26 November 2014.

International career

Asper made his 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 ...

on 27 November 1999 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 ...

away against

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, replacing Magnus Kihlstedt at halftime. He made his second appearance for Sweden on 29 March 2000 in a friendly game away against

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

. He was selected for Sweden's

squad, and served as third-choice goalkeeper behind

Magnus Hedman Magnus Carl Hedman (; born 19 March 1973) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Beginning his career with AIK in 1990, he went on play in the English Premier League, Scottish Premier League, and Italian Serie A ...

and Magnus Kihlstedt as Sweden was eliminated after the

. He won his third and last international

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 ...

in a friendly game against

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

away on 21 August 2002.

Honours

AIK *

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

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 ...

: 1998–99 ;Malmö FF *

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

Individual * Swedish Goalkeeper of the Year: 1998, 1999

References

External links

Voetbal International profile

Mjällby AIF profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Asper, Mattias 1974 births Living people Men's association football goalkeepers People from Sölvesborg Municipality Swedish men's footballers Mjällby AIF players AIK Fotboll players Malmö FF players IF Brommapojkarna players Viking FK players Allsvenskan players Eliteserien players La Liga players Real Sociedad footballers Sweden men's international footballers UEFA Euro 2000 players Swedish expatriate men's footballers Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in Norway Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Norway Süper Lig players Beşiktaş J.K. footballers People named in the Panama Papers Footballers from Blekinge County