Nils-Eric Claes Johansson (; born 13 January 1980) 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. Born in Stockholm, Johansson signed with

FC Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), commonly known as Bayern Munich (), FC Bayern () or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. They are most known for their men's professional association foo ...

in 1997. He then went on to represent 1. FC Nürnberg,

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

, and

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

before returning to his native Sweden and the club AIK in 2007. He made 371 appearances for AIK until his retirement from football in 2018 due to a heart condition. 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 national team in 2002.

Club career

Early career

Initially on the books at

IFK Viksjö IFK Viksjö is a Swedish Association football, football club located in Järfälla outside Stockholm in Sweden. Background IFK Viksjö currently plays in Swedish football Division 3, Division 3 Stockholm Norra which is the sixth tier of Swedish f ...

IF Brommapojkarna Idrottsföreningen Brommapojkarna, more commonly known as Brommapojkarna (meaning ''the Bromma boys'') or simply BP, is a Swedish association football, football club based in the borough of Bromma, in the western parts of Stockholm municipality ...

, AIK, and

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), commonly known as Bayern Munich (), FC Bayern () or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. They are most known for their men's professional football team, ...

, he moved to 1. FC Nürnberg in August 2000, before several clubs across Europe, including

, claimed special interest in the player.

Blackburn Rovers

He moved to Blackburn in October 2001 for a fee of £2,700,000, signing a four-year contract. He made his debut in a 4–1 loss against

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

. His next match was a 7–1 victory against

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...

. He made his 75th appearance for Blackburn during the 2003–04 season. However, following

Mark Hughes Leslie Mark Hughes (born 1 November 1963) is a Welsh association football, football coach and former player who is the head coach of club Carlisle United F.C., Carlisle United. During his playing career he usually operated as a Forward (asso ...

' arrival as Blackburn manager, he found first team chances few and far between. In his time at Blackburn he started in the 2002 Football League Cup Final in which they beat

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

2–1. He scored twice during his spell at Blackburn: once against

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

in the League Cup and once against Barnsley in the FA Cup.

Leicester City

He was released by Blackburn at the end of the 2004–05 season and joined Leicester City on a free transfer at the start of the 2005–06 season. His first goal for Leicester came in a 1–0 win against

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

in the League Cup. Johansson's only league goal was a last minute winner against Preston in the 2006–07 season, which all but guaranteed Leicester's survival in the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

AIK

He was released by Leicester in May 2007 and shortly afterwards he signed for Swedish outfit AIK, where he was eligible from 1 July. In 2009, he helped the team win

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 ...

for the first time in 11 years. On 18 February 2018, it was announced that he would retire, effective immediately, due to a heart condition. He played a total of 371 competitive games for the club.

International career

After having appeared for more than 70 times for the Sweden U17, U19, and U21 teams, Johansson 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 ...

on 21 August 2002 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

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 ...

in which he replaced

Johan Mjällby Karl Johan Siward Mjällby (; born 9 February 1971) is a Swedish football manager and former professional player who played as a centre-back. He represented AIK, Celtic, and Levante during a career that spanned between 1989 and 2006. A full i ...

in the 66th minute. Later that year, he made two more appearances in friendly games against

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

and the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

, coming on from the bench for

Olof Mellberg Erik Olof Mellberg (; born 3 September 1977) is a Swedish football manager and former professional player who was last the manager of St. Louis City in Major League Soccer. During his career, Mellberg played as a defender, with his longest ...

and Erik Edman respectively. After more than a ten-year absence from the national team, he was called up as a replacement for Oscar Wendt for the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers 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 ...

and the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ) (alt. the Faroes) are an archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean and an autonomous territory of the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. Located between Iceland, Norway, and the United Kingdom, the islands have a populat ...

, but did not play. In total, Johansson won three

for the Sweden.

Post-playing career

In July 2024, Johansson was hired by

Täby FK Täby FK is a Swedish football club based in Täby, Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic count ...

as assistant coach to Dalibor Savic.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Bayern Munich *

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

: 1998–99, 1999–2000 *

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal (), also known as the German Cup in English language, English, is a German knockout Association football, football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competiti ...

: 1999–2000 1. FC Nürnberg * 2. Bundesliga: 2000–01 Blackburn Rovers *

Football League Cup The English Football League Cup, often referred to as the League Cup and currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in men's domestic football in England. Orga ...

: 2001–02 AIK *

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 ...

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 ...

Svenska Supercupen Svenska Supercupen, ''Swedish Super Cup'', was a one-off fixture in Swedish football played between the Allsvenskan champions and the winners of Svenska Cupen. The fixture was played in November, after the Allsvenskan season. In the event of a ...

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

References

External links

*
Nils-Eric Johansson
at EliteFootball.com * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Johansson, Nils-Eric 1980 births Living people Footballers from Stockholm Men's association football defenders 1. FC Nürnberg players AIK Fotboll players FC Bayern Munich footballers FC Bayern Munich II players Blackburn Rovers F.C. players Swedish expatriate sportspeople in England Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Leicester City F.C. players Premier League players English Football League players Sweden men's international footballers Sweden men's under-21 international footballers Sweden men's youth international footballers Swedish expatriate men's footballers Swedish men's footballers Allsvenskan players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Regionalliga players 21st-century Swedish sportsmen