Pär Johan Zetterberg (; born 14 October 1970) 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

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

. He is best remembered for his time with

R.S.C. Anderlecht Royal Sporting Club Anderlecht, commonly abbreviated to RSC Anderlecht (, , ) or RSCA (, , ), is a Belgian professional football club based in Anderlecht, Brussels Capital-Region. Anderlecht plays in the Belgian First Division A and is the mos ...

, but also represented

Falkenbergs FF Falkenbergs Fotbollsförening, also known simply as Falkenbergs FF, Falkenberg or (especially locally) FFF, is a Swedish football club based in Falkenberg. Formed on 3 January 1928, the club plays in the second highest Swedish league, Superetta ...

Charleroi Charleroi (, , ; ) is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. It is the largest city in both Hainaut and Wallonia. The city is situated in the valley of the Sambre, in the south-west of Belgium, not ...

, and

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós (, Olympic Association of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number of different competitive departments which participate in football, ...

during a career that spanned between 1986 and 2006. A full international between 1993 and 1999, he won 30

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 scored six goals. He was awarded

Guldbollen Guldbollen (''Golden Ball'') is a Swedish Association football, football award given by ''Aftonbladet'' and the Swedish Football Association to the best male Swedish footballer each year. History The award was created by Bengt Liljedahl and betw ...

in 1997 as Sweden's best footballer of the year.

Club career

Zetterberg started off his footballing career with

in 1978, and made his senior debut for the team in Division 3 at the age of 15 in 1986. After having played seven games for Falkenberg, he joined

Anderlecht Anderlecht (; ) is one of the List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Forest, B ...

as a youth player later in the same year. He made his debut for Anderlecht in the

Belgian First Division The Belgian Pro League (; ; ), officially the Jupiler Pro League () for sponsor Jupiler, is a professional association football league in Belgium and the highest level of the Belgian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs from the 2023– ...

in 1989 and had a loan spell at

between 1991 and 1993. He stayed with Anderlecht until the year 2000 and helped the team to four league titles during this time. In 2000, Zetterberg joined

in the

Greek Superleague The Super League Greece 1 (), or Stoiximan Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Greece and the highest level of the Greek football league system. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and repla ...

and helped the team to three straight league titles between 2000 and 2003. He returned to Anderlecht in 2003 and helped the team to another two league titles before retiring from professional football in 2006. He appeared in around 300 games for Anderlecht during his two spells with the team.

International career

Zetterberg represented the Sweden U17 and U21 teams a total of 12 times, scoring two goals. 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 ...

on 19 May 1993 in a 1994 FIFA World Cup qualifier 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 ...

, replacing

Johnny Ekström Johnny Douglas Ekström (born 5 March 1965) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a forward and a winger. He played professionally in Italy, Germany, France, and Spain but is best remembered for his time in Sweden with ...

in the 70th minute of a 1–0 win. He scored his first senior goal for Sweden two weeks later on 2 June 1993 in a 1994 FIFA World Cup qualifier against

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

, scoring the third goal in 5–0 win. Zetterberg helped Sweden qualify for the

1994 FIFA World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States w ...

, but missed out on the tournament because of a serious knee injury. He played in the qualification campaigns for

UEFA Euro 1996 The 1996 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 96, was the 10th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament contested by European nations and organised by UEFA. It took place in ...

and the

1998 FIFA World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 1 ...

, but could not help Sweden qualify for the two tournaments despite scoring a total of three goals during the latter campaign. Zetterberg had a falling out with the national team manager

Tommy Söderberg Tommy Söderberg (born 19 August 1948) is a Swedish football manager and coach who is current an advisor for IFK Sunne. Career Söderberg had his active career in Stockholm clubs Ängby IF and IK Continental, before taking roles in various S ...

in 1999, and declared that he would not return to the Sweden national team until Söderberg no longer managed the team. He would play his last ever international game for Sweden in a 1–0

UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying Qualifying for the UEFA Euro 2000 final tournament, took place throughout 1998 and 1999. Forty-nine teams were divided into nine groups. All teams played against each other, within their groups, on a home-and-away basis. The winner of each group ...

win against

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

at the age of 28. Zetterberg won a total of 30

during his career, scoring six goals.

Coaching career

On 21 March 2020, Zetterberg left

RSC Anderlecht Royal Sporting Club Anderlecht, commonly abbreviated to RSC Anderlecht (, , ) or RSCA (, , ), is a Belgian professional association football, football club based in Anderlecht, Brussels Capital-Region. Anderlecht plays in the Belgian First Div ...

as assistant manager after a two year stint.

Personal life

Zetterberg has

type 1 diabetes Type 1 diabetes (T1D), formerly known as juvenile diabetes, is an autoimmune disease that occurs when the body's immune system destroys pancreatic cells (beta cells). In healthy persons, beta cells produce insulin. Insulin is a hormone require ...

. He is the father of professional footballer Erik Zetterberg.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Sweden's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Zetterberg goal.''

Honours

Anderlecht *

: 1990–91, 1993–94, 1994–95, 1999–00, 2003–04, 2005–06 *

Belgian Cup The Belgian Cup (; ; ) is the main knockout football competition in Belgium, run by the Royal Belgian FA. The competition started in 1908 with provincial selections as the "Belgian Provinces Cup". Starting from 1912 only actual clubs were allowed ...

: 1993–94 *

Belgian League Cup The Belgian League Cup was a Belgian association football cup created in 1973. The competition was held from 1973 by eleven clubs wanting to increase professionalism in Belgian football but lasted only three seasons before being disbanded. The tourn ...

: 2000 * Belgian Sports Team of the Year: 2000 Olympiacos *

Super League Greece The Super League Greece 1 (), or Stoiximan Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Greece and the highest level of the Greek football league system. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and repla ...

: 2000–01, 2001–02, 2002–03 Individual *

Belgian Golden Shoe In association football, the Belgian Golden Shoe (, , German: ''Goldener Schuh'') is an award given in Belgium at the beginning of each civil year to the best footballer of the Belgian Pro League for the past year. The trophy is sponsored by the B ...

: 1993, 1997 * Belgian Professional Footballer of the Year: 1993, 1997, 1998 * Man of the Season (Belgian First Division): 1996–97 * Swedish Golden Ball: 1997 * Belgian Fair Play Award: 1998, 1999, 2000, 2004, 2005, 2006 * Platina Eleven (Best Team in 50 Years of Golden Shoe Winners) (2003) *Honorary Citizen of

: 2006 * The Best Golden Shoe Team Ever (2011) * Pro League Hall of Fame: 2024

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zetterberg, Par 1970 births Living people Swedish men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Sweden men's international footballers Belgian Pro League players Falkenbergs FF players R.S.C. Anderlecht players Royal Charleroi S.C. players Olympiacos F.C. players Footballers from Falkenberg Swedish expatriate men's footballers Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in Greece People with type 1 diabetes