Björn Sandro Runström (born 1 March 1984) 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 le ...

who played as a

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

Career

Early life

Runström grew up in the southern suburbs of Stockholm and went to Enskede school as a child. He started playing football for Enskede IK at the age of six years, Runström's time in Enskede went well and at the age of 12 years he was rewarded with a move to a bigger club;

Hammarby IF Hammarby Idrottsförening ("Hammarby Sports Club"), commonly known as Hammarby IF or simply Hammarby ( or, especially locally, ), is a Swedish sports club located in Stockholm, with a number of member organizations active in a variety of differe ...

. Runström developed at a fast speed and when he was 16 he left Hammarby for Italy and Bologna. He stayed in Italy for three years and led Bologna to their first Italian Youth Championship in 19 years in 2001.

Italy

At 17 he was part of Bologna's first team but only made the bench in Serie A and Coppa Italia. In 2002, he was transferred to

Chievo Verona Associazione Calcio ChievoVerona, commonly referred to as ChievoVerona or simply Chievo , is a former professional Football in Italy, Italian football club named after and based in Chievo, a suburb of 4,500 inhabitants in Verona, Veneto, and o ...

and after that to Florentia Viola. His stay in Florence was not what he had dreamed of and when rumours spread in late 2003 that Fiorentina wanted to trade him for the Swedish international

Kim Källström Kim Mikael Källström (; born 24 August 1982) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He was noted for his play-making ability and free-kick taking. He started his career at several clubs in Sweden, winning cons ...

Djurgårdens IF Djurgårdens Idrottsförening, commonly known simply as Djurgårdens IF, Djurgården (), and (especially locally) Djurgår'n (), Dif or DIF – is a Swedish sports association with several sections, located in Stockholm. Name The club is named ...

(one of former club Hammarby's biggest rivals) he was outraged and declared that it was a transfer he would never accept. "Me playing for Djurgården would be like Di Canio going back to Italy to play for A. S. Roma, it won't happen, if I go back to Sweden the only club that I could think of is my old club Hammarby".

Return to Hammarby IF

Runström did return to Hammarby soon after and played three more seasons scoring 18 goals in 57 matches. This record attracted the attention of Premier League club

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

(he had the chance to join the Cottagers in the January transfer window but declined saying "I didn't want to go on a free transfer in January even though I had an offer from Fulham already then, Hammarby have meant much to me and I wanted them to be well paid").

Fulham

In July 2006, Runström joined Fulham on a three-year contract, for a fee of £700,000.

Loans

After making just one Premier League appearance against Tottenham Hotspur, on 30 January 2007, Runström moved to Luton Town on loan for a month. He returned to Fulham on 1 April 2007, having scored twice for Luton, against Sheffield Wednesday and Norwich City. Later that year, in July, he was loaned out to German club 1. FC Kaiserslautern, for the 2007–08 season. On his return, in May 2008, Runström was released by Fulham.

OB

On 4 June 2008, Runström signed a three-and-a-half-year contract with Danish club OB.

Loan to Molde

On 23 February 2010, Molde FK signed the Swedish forward on loan from Danish club

Odense BK Odense Boldklub (; also known as Odense BK or the more commonly used OB) is a Danish professional football club based in the city Odense. The club has won three Danish championships and five Danish Cup trophies. OB play in the Danish Superliga ...

until the end of the season. He made his competitive debut on the opening day of the Norwegian Premier League on 14 March against the defending champions Rosenborg. He scored on his debut, a 35-yard cracker in a 2–1 loss. After this match Runström spent the rest of the season mainly on the bench, only making brief appearances not succeeding in making a mark on the matches. Runström was towards the end of the season considered redundant in Molde and the club terminated the contract with the player and sent him back to Denmark.

Departure

Runström and OB parted company in February 2011.

Second return to Hammarby IF

On 27 February, Runström signed for The superettan side Hammarby, On 3 July, Runström scored twice against Öster.

MLS and retirement

On 28 March 2012, Runström was signed to the New England Revolution of

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

. New England declined the option of his contract on 27 June 2012 and Runström became a free agent. He announced his retirement from professional football in early 2013.

References

External links

Official Danish Superliga player statistics
at danskfodbold.com * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Runstrom, Bjorn 1984 births Living people Swedish men's footballers Sweden men's youth international footballers Sweden men's under-21 international footballers Bologna FC 1909 players AC ChievoVerona players ACF Fiorentina players Hammarby Fotboll players Fulham F.C. players Luton Town F.C. players 1. FC Kaiserslautern players Odense Boldklub players Molde FK players New England Revolution players Allsvenskan players Serie C players Premier League players English Football League players Danish Superliga players 2. Bundesliga players Eliteserien players Major League Soccer players Swedish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Norway Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Men's association football forwards Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Swedish expatriate sportspeople in England Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Germany Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Italy Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Norway Swedish expatriate sportspeople in the United States Footballers from Stockholm