Bernt Åke Ljung (born 8 May 1958) 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 le ...

who played as a goalkeeper. He represented

IK Brage Idrottsklubben Brage, also known as IK Brage or simply Brage, is a Swedish football club located in Borlänge. The club is affiliated with Dalarnas Fotbollförbund and play their home games at Domnarvsvallen. The club colours, reflected in their ...

, AIK, and Vasalunds IF during a career that spanned between 1976 and 1993. A full international between 1982 and 1984, he won seven caps for the Sweden national team.

Club career

IK Brage

Ljung started his career as a 17-year-old in 1976 at

under manager Rolf Zetterlund, and helped the club advance from

Division 3 In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football * Belgian Th ...

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; en, the All-Swedish, also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan, en, the Football All-Swedish) is a Swedish professional league for men's association football clubs. It was founded in 1924 and is the top tier of the Swedish football lea ...

in only four seasons in the late 1970s. During the

1980 Allsvenskan Statistics of Allsvenskan in season 1980. Overview The league was contested by 14 teams, with Östers IF Östers Idrottsförening, commonly known as Östers IF or simply Öster, is a Swedish sports club located in Växjö, specializing in f ...

season, the team only conceded 18 goals as it finished fourth in the table as newcomers.

AIK

Ahead of the

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

season, Ljung and Zetterlund both signed with fellow Allsvenskan club AIK. In early 1982, Ljung suffered a serious knee that would keep him out of the entire 1982 season. In

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...

, Ljung played in 21 league games as AIK finished first in Allsvenskan, before being eliminated in the semifinals of the 1983 Allsvenskan play-offs by the eventual Swedish Champions IFK Göteborg. Ljung saved three penalty kicks in the

penalty kick shootout A penalty shoot-out (officially kicks from the penalty mark) is a tie-breaking method in association football to determine which team is awarded victory in a match that cannot end in a draw, when the score is tied after the normal time as well ...

in the 1985 Svenska Cupen final against Östers IF as AIK won the 1984–85 Svenska Cupen title.

Vasalunds IF, return to AIK

Ljung had a short stint at Vasalunds IF before returning to AIK again in 1991. In

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

, Ljung helped the team become Swedish Champions for the first time in 55 years.

Return to IK Brage and retirement

Ljung returned to his boyhood club IK Brage ahead of the

1993 Allsvenskan Allsvenskan 1993, part of the 1993 Swedish football season, was the 69th Allsvenskan season played. IFK Göteborg won the league ahead of runners-up IFK Norrköping, while Örgryte IS and IK Brage Idrottsklubben Brage, also known as IK Brage ...

season and played for one year before announcing his retirement from professional football.

International career

Ljung represented the Sweden U21 team a total of seven times between 1978 and 1981. He made his full international debut for the Sweden national team on 21 February 1982 in a

friendly Friendly may refer to: Places * Friendly, West Yorkshire, a settlement in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England * Friendly, Maryland, an unincorporated community in the United States * Friendly, Eugene, Oregon, a neighborhood in the United States * ...

1–2 loss against Finland. He played his first and only competitive game for Sweden on 12 September 1984 in a 1986 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Portugal, which Sweden lost 0–1. He won his seventh and last cap on 26 September 1984 in a friendly 0–1 loss to Italy.

Career statistics

International

Honours

AIK * Swedish Champion:

* Svenska Cupen: 1984–85

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ljung, Bernt 1958 births Living people Swedish footballers Allsvenskan players Men's association football goalkeepers AIK Fotboll players IK Brage players Vasalunds IF players Sweden men's international footballers People from Borlänge Municipality Sportspeople from Dalarna County