Jesper Håkansson (born 14 August 1981) is a Danish 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 ...

. He mostly appeared as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

or a forward.

Club career

Håkansson can play as attacking midfield, winger or striker and has extensive experience having played in the Danish, Dutch and Swedish leagues. In 1997 Håkansson won the Danish Under-17 Player of the Year award. He made his first-team debut in the

Danish 1st Division The 1st Division (''1. Division'') is the second-highest football league in Denmark, also known as NordicBet Liga for sponsorship reasons. From 1945 to 1991 the 1. Division was the name of the highest level of football in Denmark. With the forma ...

at age 16, making him the second youngest

BK Frem Boldklubben Frem (also known as Frem, BK Frem or BK Frem Copenhagen) is a Danish sports club based in the Valby-Sydhavnen area of Copenhagen. It is best known for its semi-professional football team. Since its foundation in 1886, Frem has w ...

player ever after

Sophus Nielsen Sophus Erhard "Krølben" Nielsen (15 March 1888 – 6 August 1963) was a Danish amateur football player and manager, and the first player in history to score ten goals in a full national team match. Nielsen scored a total 16 goals in 20 games f ...

. After leaving BK Frem in 1999, Håkansson went on trial with

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

; however, he chose to join Dutch

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is ...

club

Heerenveen Heerenveen (, fry, It Hearrenfean ) is a town and municipality in the province of Friesland (Fryslân), in the Northern Netherlands. In 2021, the town had a population of 29,790 (1 January) while the municipality had a population 50,859 (1 July). ...

, where he believed he would get more game time. He scored a goal on his debut against Dutch giants

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * ''Ajax'' (play), by the ancient Gree ...

. After a short loan spell back in Denmark with Viborg in 2003, he returned to Heerenveen before spending the entire 2004–05 season on loan to

RBC Roosendaal RBC, commonly known under its previous official name RBC Roosendaal, is a football club based in Roosendaal, Netherlands. RBC currently plays in the seventh-tier Tweede Klasse after a bankruptcy in 2011, restarting the club in tenth tier Vijfde ...

. He then joined

Djurgården Djurgården ( or ) or, more officially, ''Kungliga Djurgården'' (), is an island in central Stockholm, Sweden. Djurgården is home to historical buildings and monuments, museums, galleries, the amusement park Gröna Lund, the open-air museu ...

in Sweden, for whom he only made one appearance. After a year in Sweden, Håkansson returned to the Netherlands to play for

ADO Den Haag Alles Door Oefening Den Haag (), commonly known by the abbreviated name ADO Den Haag (), is a Dutch association football club from the city of The Hague. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, following relegation ...

, but he did not make his debut until 19 January 2007, coming on for the last 10 minutes of a 3–1 loss at home to

AZ Alkmaar Alkmaar Zaanstreek (), better known as AZ Alkmaar or simply AZ (), is a Dutch professional football club from Alkmaar and the Zaan district. The club plays in the Eredivisie, the highest professional football league in the Netherlands, and hos ...

. Early in the 2007–08 season, he then moved back to Denmark to play with

Lyngby BK Lyngby Boldklub () is a Danish professional football club founded in 1921. It is based at Lyngby Stadion in Kongens Lyngby, Lyngby-Taarbæk Municipality, a northern suburb of Copenhagen. From 1994 to 2001 the club was known as Lyngby FC. The club ...

. He scored three goals for Lyngby, including one in his last game for the club on 24 May 2007 against

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

. Håkansson signed a two-year contract with the Newcastle United Jets on 30 July 2008 after a week-long trial. He made his debut for the

Newcastle Jets Newcastle United Jets Football Club, commonly known as Newcastle Jets, is an Australian professional soccer club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier competition, the A-League, under licence from The Australia ...

on 29 August 2008, in a 5–0 defeat at the hands of

Melbourne Victory Melbourne Victory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Melbourne, Victoria. Competing in the country's premier men's competition, the A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL), Victo ...

. His time in Australia was marked by frequent injuries, and he played just 10 times for Newcastle before being released on 30 January 2009, so that he could return to Europe. Six weeks later, he signed with

FC Amager FC Amager (or FCA) was a Danish football club, formed on 1 July 2008, which declared itself bankrupt on 30 March 2009.AB. Håkansson made 16 appearances for AB, scoring one goal, but when AB missed out on promotion, Håkansson was released. He later signed for

FC Roskilde Football Club Roskilde is a Danish professional association football club based in Roskilde Roskilde ( , ) is a city west of Copenhagen on the Danish island of Zealand. With a population of 51,916 (), the city is a business and educational c ...

, where he stayed for five years before retiring in 2015.

International career

He has represented Denmark at under-16, under-17, under-19, under-20 and under-21 levels. He is the third youngest player to have represented Denmark at the under-21 level. In April 2007 he was called up for the Danish national team, but has not yet featured in a competitive game.

Honours

Club

;Djurgården *

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 le ...

:http://www.difarkivet.se/dif_sm_guld_seniorer.pdf 2005 *

Svenska Cupen Svenska Cupen (, ''The Swedish Cup'') 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 held. Each year 96 teams co ...

: 2005

Individual

* DFA U-17 Player of the Year: 1997

References

External links

Danish national team profile

FC Roskilde
profile
Jesper Håkansson Interview with Bold

Jesper Håkansson Interview with FTBL

Djurgårdens IF interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hakansson, Jesper 1981 births ADO Den Haag players A-League Men players Allsvenskan players Boldklubben Frem players Danish expatriate footballers Danish footballers Danish Superliga players Denmark under-21 international footballers Denmark youth international footballers Djurgårdens IF Fotboll players Eredivisie players Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate footballers in Sweden Expatriate soccer players in Australia FC Roskilde players Living people Newcastle Jets FC players People from Albertslund Municipality SC Heerenveen players Viborg FF players Association football forwards Association football midfielders Association football wingers Sportspeople from the Capital Region of Denmark