Björn Joakim Persson (born 3 April 1975) is a Swedish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

and former player. As a player, he represented

Malmö FF Malmö Fotbollförening, commonly known as Malmö FF, Malmö, or MFF, is a professional football club and the most successful football club in Sweden in terms of trophies won. Formed in 1910 and affiliated with the Scania Football Association, ...

Atalanta Atalanta (; grc-gre, Ἀταλάντη, Atalantē) meaning "equal in weight", is a heroine in Greek mythology. There are two versions of the huntress Atalanta: one from Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene and who is primarily known ...

IFK Göteborg Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna Göteborg (officially IFK Göteborg Fotboll), commonly known as IFK Göteborg, IFK (especially locally) or simply Göteborg, is a Swedish professional football club based in Gothenburg. Founded in 1904, it is the ...

Esbjerg fB Esbjerg forenede Boldklubber (; commonly known as Esbjerg fB or EfB in short) is a Danish professional football club based in Esbjerg, West Jutland, that plays in the 2nd division, the third-tier of the Danish football league system. Foun ...

Hansa Rostock FC Hansa Rostock () is a German association football club based in the city of Rostock, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The club is also called as "the cog" because of its club crest. They have emerged as one of the most successful clubs from the forme ...

, Stabæk, and

Landskrona BoIS Landskrona Boll och Idrottsällskap ( en, Landskrona Ball and Sports Society, locally referred to as BoIS) is a Swedish professional football club located in Landskrona, Scania, which currently plays in Superettan, the second league tier of fo ...

during a career that spanned between 1992 and 2010. He also represented the Sweden national team, winning three

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 ...

and scoring one goal in 1997.

Club career

Born in

Helsingborg Helsingborg (, , , ) is a city and the seat of Helsingborg Municipality, Scania (Skåne), Sweden. It is the second-largest city in Scania (after Malmö) and ninth-largest in Sweden, with a population of 113,816 (2020). Helsingborg is the cent ...

, Persson began his career as a youth-team player with

Högaborgs BK Högaborgs BK is a Swedish football club from Helsingborg that was founded in 1927. They currently play in the Swedish fourth division ( Division 2). Background The club was founded in the spring 1927 by Sven Damberg and Lars Flodin and a group ...

before moving to

in 1992. He made his professional debut in a Swedish Cup game against Landskrona in 1994. Persson moved to the Italian

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

club

in 1996. He returned to Sweden after less than two seasons in Italy, having very rarely played for Atalanta's first-team, joining

in January 1998. Things went little better for him in Sweden. He was often singled out by the media as the main cause of his team's poor performances throughout his two seasons with Göteborg. After the 1998 season he was voted as the "most overrated player" in the

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 ...

by his fellow players. At the end of the 1999 season, Persson left IFK Göteborg in order to escape the intense scrutiny he had been subjected to. He joined

, of the Danish Superliga, midway through the league season, at the end of which they were relegated to 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 ...

. Persson stayed with the club and helped them to win the first division championship, and promotion, at the first attempt. In the summer of 2002, after one further season with Esbjerg, Persson moved to

of the German

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

. Along with

Andreas Jakobsson Bo Janne Andreas Jakobsson (born 6 October 1972) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a defender and defensive midfielder. Starting off his professional career with Landskrona BoIS in 1990, he went on to also represent Hel ...

Marcus Lantz Marcus Lantz (born 23 October 1975) is a Swedish football manager and former professional footballer who played as a holding midfielder. A full international between 1998 and 2010, he played six matches for the Sweden national team. Career ...

, Peter Wibrån, Magnus Arvidsson and

Rade Prica Rade Stanislav Prica (born 30 June 1980) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a striker. He is the only player who has won league championships in the three Scandinavian countries – Sweden, Denmark and Norway. He also play ...

, Persson was one of six Swedes playing for the

Mecklenburg Mecklenburg (; nds, label=Low German, Mękel(n)borg ) is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The largest cities of the region are Rostock, Schwerin ...

club. Under manager

Armin Veh Armin Veh (; born 1 February 1961) is a German football manager and former player who last managed Eintracht Frankfurt. He won the German championship with Bundesliga team VfB Stuttgart in 2007. Veh and his team also had the chance to win "the d ...

he played as a holding midfielder, making 26 appearances in his first season with the club. The following season began with four successive defeats, after which Veh handed in his resignation and was replaced by Juri Schlünz. Schlünz converted Persson from a midfielder into a defender and appointed him as the leader of the team's back four. After making just one substitute appearance in the first six games of the season, Persson went on to start 27 of the last 28 games. He scored his only league goal for Hansa in a 1–1 draw with

Borussia Mönchengladbach Borussia Verein für Leibesübungen 1900 e. V. Mönchengladbach, commonly known as Borussia Mönchengladbach (), Mönchengladbach () or Gladbach (; abbreviated as Borussia MG, BMG), is a professional Association football, football club based in ...

on 1 November 2003. Hansa finished the season in ninth place. Persson made 30 league starts during the 2004–05 season but was unable to prevent Hansa from finishing second-bottom of the league and being relegated to the

2. Bundesliga The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...

. Following Hansa Rostock's relegation, Persson left the club to join Stabæk in Norway's

Tippeligaen Eliteserien () is a Norwegian professional league for association football clubs. At the top of the Norwegian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion ...

. Although he had been offered a longer contract, Persson decided to return to Sweden after 18 months in Norway. Persson signed with Landskrona prior to the 2007 Superettan season.

International career

Persson made 25 appearances for the Sweden U21s, scoring eight goals. He also made five appearances for Sweden at junior level, scoring one goal. Persson also made three appearances for the

Sweden national football team The Sweden national football team ( sv, svenska fotbollslandslaget) represents Sweden in men's international football and it is controlled by the Swedish Football Association, the governing body of football in Sweden. Sweden's home ground is F ...

, all of which came in the 1997

King's Cup __NOTOC__ King's Cup (incl. translations), may refer to: Sports Football * Copa del Rey, Spanish for "King's Cup," the main national knockout tournament in men's football * King Cup (sometimes named King's Cup), Saudi Arabian men's football nati ...

. He played in games against

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

and

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

before playing in the final against the hosts

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

. Persson scored a goal in the final, helping the Swedes to a 3–1 win.

Managerial career

After having managed

Ängelholms FF Ängelholms FF is a football club based in Ängelholm, Sweden. The club is affiliated to Skånes Fotbollförbund and play their home games at Ängelholms IP. The club was formed in 1976 as a merger between Ängelholms IF and Skörpinge GIF. The c ...

and

Kristianstad FC Kristianstad FC is a Swedish football club located in Kristianstad. The club was formed in 2015 through a merger between Kristianstads FF and Kristianstad BoIS. The club is currently playing in Division 2, the fourth tier of Swedish football. Hi ...

, Persson became manager of

Varbergs BoIS Varbergs BoIS FC is a Swedish football club located in Varberg, the main town of Varberg Municipality in Halland County. Background The club was formed at a meeting in the Varbergs Folkets Hus on 25 March 1925. The backbone of the new club was ...

in 2018. In June 2023 Persson left Varberg to becamoe new manager of the Danish club AC Horsens. On March 13, 2024, Horsens confirmed that Persson had been fired. The sacking came in the wake of a prolonged period of strong dissatisfaction from the club's fans over the team's performance over a long period of time.

Personal life

Persson is the father of three children.

Career statistics

International

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

Honours

Sweden *

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Persson, Joakim Living people 1975 births Footballers from Helsingborg Men's association football defenders Men's association football midfielders Swedish men's footballers Sweden men's international footballers Sweden men's under-21 international footballers Swedish expatriate men's footballers Högaborgs BK players Malmö FF players Atalanta BC players IFK Göteborg players Esbjerg fB players FC Hansa Rostock players Stabæk Fotball players Landskrona BoIS players Allsvenskan players Serie A players Danish Superliga players Bundesliga players Eliteserien players Superettan players Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Norway Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Italy Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Germany Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Norway