Joackim Jørgensen; (born 20 September 1988) is a Norwegian 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 plays for

IK Start Idrettsklubben Start (or simply IK Start, translates to The sports club Start ) is a Norwegian football club from the city of Kristiansand that currently plays in the 1. divisjon, the second tier of the Norwegian football league system. The clu ...

in the Norwegian

1. divisjon The Norwegian First Division, also called 1. divisjon and OBOS-ligaen (named sponsor is property developer OBOS), is the second-highest level of the Norwegian football league system. Each year, the top finishing teams in the 1. divisjon are p ...

. He is a defensive playmaker and is known for his passing and being a hard-working and energetic midfielder. He is a very defensive minded player, being able to pick up balls from the middle of the field and make something happen. Several Norwegian clubs have shown interest in him(

Rosenborg BK Rosenborg Ballklub, commonly referred to simply as Rosenborg () or RBK, is a Norwegian professional football club from Trondheim that plays in Eliteserien. The club has won a record 26 league titles, a shared record 12 Norwegian Football Cup ti ...

Molde Molde () is a town and municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Romsdal. It is located on the Romsdal Peninsula, surrounding the Fannefjord and Moldefjord. The administrative centre of the m ...

) but he shunned all of the team and chose to play in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

for

IF Elfsborg Idrottsföreningen Elfsborg, more commonly known as IF Elfsborg or simply Elfsborg (), is a professional football club based in Borås, Sweden, and is affiliated to the Västergötlands Fotbollförbund. They play in the Allsvenskan and have spent ...

Early years

He was born in

Yven Yven is a borough in the city of Sarpsborg in Østfold, Norway. It is located east of the city centre on the west side of the Glomma river between Sarpsborg and Fredrikstad. Yven was previously assigned to the former municipality of Tune. As of 1 ...

and grew up in

Bærum Bærum () is a municipality in the Greater Oslo Region in Norway that forms an affluent suburb of Oslo on the west coast of the city. Bærum is Norway's fifth largest municipality with a population of 128,760 (2021). It is part of the electoral ...

and already when he was a child he had a genuine interest in football. Jørgensen started in his home town club Yven IF and played there until he was 14 years old until he moved to Sarpsborg youth section which introduced a new focus on young players. Joackim stayed in the club and developed a lot as a player and the age of 18 he made his debut for Sarpsborg's first team.

Career

Sarpsborg 08

His senior career started out in FK Sparta Sarpsborg (now

Sarpsborg 08 Sarpsborg 08 Fotballforening, commonly known as Sarpsborg 08 or simply Sarpsborg (), is a Norwegian football club based in Sarpsborg, playing in Eliteserien. Sarpsborg 08 and its predecessors played in 1. divisjon from 2005 to 2010. In 2010, the ...

), where he in his debut season played a whole season in the Adeccoligaen, 2007. He played 26 matches and scored one goal, but during the season he played on various positions. Season 2008 he was on a loan to Lørenskog IF for one year where he got at more offensive role. He did a great season at Lørenskog and now formerly Sarpsborg 08 wanted him back. Season 2009 and 2010 Jørgen played as a defensive midfielder. He became quickly a very important player for Sarpsborg 08 in the Adecceligaen. He was one of the key players when Sarpsborg 08 advanced to Tippeligaen 2011, first division in Norway. In the following season in Tippeligaen, Sarpsborg got relegated back to Adeccoligaen, but Jørgensen's performance on the field made other clubs in Norway and Scandinavia interested in the player. Clubs like

Molde FK Molde Fotballklubb () is a professional football club based in Molde, Norway, that competes in Eliteserien, the top flight of Norwegian football. Founded on 19 June 1911, the club was originally known as International and changed its name to ...

, Stabæk Fotball wanted to sign contract with him. Joackim also declared that he wanted to move to a better club, he felt that he wanted to develop even more. His goal against

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

on 30 June 2011; an amazing long shoot from 31 metres was nominated as goal of the year in the Tippeliga.

IF Elfsborg

Jørgensen was sold to

on 20 November 2011 for about £300,000-£600,000 making this the biggest deal in the history of Sarpsborg 08. The club president later on confirmed the deal and Jørgensen said that he had never worked with such a professional club as Elfsborg. He stated that the reasoning behind choosing Elfsborg ahead of other Norwegian clubs was Jörgen Lennartssons qualities as a manager and the way Elfsborg play football. Joackim's comments on the transfer were: "Elfsborg are probably the team that will bring me the most and I think I can perform well at this club. They have a good staff of coaches and a lot of good players. I like the way Elfsborg want to play, they like to play the ball. I like the passing mentality. I hope I can contribute in the penalty area, both offensively and defensively." The new head coach of Elfsborg, Jörgen Lennartsson was the one who scouted Joackim already during his time at Stabæk. He commented on Joackim: "He is a type of player I think we are missing a little. He is a Jari Illola-type, slow but still skilled. I followed him during my time at Stabæk and he has done an incredibly good job at Sarpsborg. He is a typical two-way player and he's really fit. 28 starts in Tippeligaen this season. I think he has a very good shot and is good in his main game. He is a good team player and a great guy, I'm very happy that we could bring him to Elfsborg."

IK Start

On 6 August 2018, Jørgensen announced, that he would join

after the season.

Personal life

The night before 25 April 2010, the same day as Sarpsborg 08 was meeting Follo in Adeccoligaen, Jørgensen was caught for

driving under the influence Driving under the influence (DUI)—also called driving while impaired, impaired driving, driving while intoxicated (DWI), drunk driving, operating while intoxicated (OWI), operating under the influence (OUI), operating vehicle under the infl ...

. He did not serve time in prison, instead he was sentenced to pay a fine of .

Career statistics

Honours

Elfsborg *

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 ...

: 2012

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jorgensen, Joackim 1988 births Living people People from Sarpsborg Association football central defenders Association football midfielders Norwegian footballers Eliteserien players Norwegian First Division players Norwegian Second Division players Allsvenskan players IK Start players Sarpsborg 08 FF players IF Elfsborg players Viking FK players Norwegian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Sweden Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Sportspeople from Viken (county)