Johnny Douglas Ekström (born 5 March 1965) 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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

and a winger. He played professionally in Italy, Germany, France, and Spain but is best remembered for his time in Sweden with

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 ...

with which he was the 1986 Allsvenskan top scorer and won three Swedish Championships. A full international between 1986 and 1995, he won 47

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 ...

for the Sweden national team and represented his country at the

1990 FIFA World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second time (the first being Me ...

and

UEFA Euro 1992 The 1992 UEFA European Football Championship was hosted by Sweden between 10 and 26 June 1992. It was the ninth UEFA European Championship, which is held every four years and supported by UEFA. Denmark won the 1992 championship, having qualifi ...

Club career

IFK Göteborg

A product of the

youth academy, Ekström was promoted to the first team in 1983 before making his

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 ...

debut during the 1984 season. He quickly earned the nicknames "Kallebäcks-Expressen" (the express train from

Kallebäck Kallebäck is one of 8 districts in Örgryte, Örgryte borough, Gothenburg, Sweden. The name Kallebäck means "The brook with the cauldron" and the name dates back to 1496. The buildings in Kallebäck mostly consists of apartment buildings built b ...

) and "Johnny Bråttom" (Johnny-in-a-hurry) due to his speed on the football pitch. His most successful season with Göteborg came in 1986, when he was the 1986 Allsvenskan top scorer and helped the club reach the semi-finals of the

1985–86 European Cup The 1985–86 European Cup was the 31st season of UEFA's premier club football tournament, the European Cup. The European Champion Clubs' Cup was won by Steaua București on penalties in the final against Barcelona. Steaua București became the ...

before being eliminated by

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Founded ...

. He also played in the first half of the

1986–87 UEFA Cup The 1986–87 UEFA Cup was the 16th season of the UEFA Cup, a football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for clubs affiliated to its member associations. The competition was won by IFK Göteborg of Sweden, ...

which IFK Göteborg ended up winning after Ekström's departure.

Empoli

Ekström was the most expensive Swedish transfer of all time when he signed for

Empoli Empoli () is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Florence, Tuscany, Italy, about southwest of Florence, to the south of the Arno in a plain formed by the river. The plain has been usable for agriculture since Roman times. The comm ...

during the 1986–87 Serie A season. At Empoli, he became a popular and respected player and acquired the nickname 'Il Ciclone' (the cyclone) due to the exceptional speed he displayed when charging ahead with the ball in his possession, which was his most notable quality.

Bayern Munich

In 1988 Ekström signed for 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 ...

club

FC Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which play ...

, and helped them win the

1988–89 Bundesliga The 1988–89 Bundesliga was the 26th season of the Bundesliga, the premier football league in West Germany. It began on 22 July 1988 and ended on 17 June 1989. SV Werder Bremen were the defending champions. Competition modus Every team played t ...

title and reach the semi-finals of the 1988–89 UEFA Cup before being eliminated by

Napoli Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

Cannes

He signed with

AS Cannes Association Sportive de Cannes Football (; commonly referred to as AS Cannes or simply Cannes) is a French association football club based in Cannes. The club was formed 1902 as a sports club and currently plays in the Championnat National 3, ...

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

in 1989 and played alongside a young

Zinedine Zidane Zinedine Yazid Zidane (; born 23 June 1972), popularly known as Zizou, is a French professional football manager and former player who played as an attacking midfielder. He most recently coached Spanish club Real Madrid and is one of the most ...

before leaving the club in 1991.

Return to IFK Göteborg

Ekström returned to Swedish football and IFK Göteborg in 1991, winning the

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

and

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

Swedish Championships, as well as the 1991 Svenska Cupen. He also played in the 1992–93 UEFA Champions League where Göteborg finished joint-third behind

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

and

A.C. Milan Associazione Calcio Milan (), commonly referred to as AC Milan or simply Milan, is a professional Association football, football club in Milan, Italy, founded in 1899. The club has spent its entire history, with the exception of the 1980–81 ...

Reggiana

Ekström returned to Serie A and Italian football in 1993, signing for Reggiana. Ekström played in 9 Serie A games for Reggiana during the 1993–94 Serie A season before spending the rest of the season on loan in Spain.

Loan to Real Betis

Ekström spent the spring of 1994 with

Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () or just Betis, is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1907, it plays in La Liga. It holds home games at the Estadio Benito Vill ...

on loan from Reggiana, becoming the second Swedish player to represent the

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...

-based club after Torbjörn Jonsson. He played in seven

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commercially known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spanish football league system. Administrated by the Lig ...

games during the 1993–94 season and scored two goals.

Dynamo Dresden

During the summer of 1994, Ekström returned to German football and the Bundesliga after signing a two-year-contract with

Dynamo Dresden Sportgemeinschaft Dynamo Dresden e.V., commonly known as SG Dynamo Dresden or Dynamo Dresden, are a German association football club based in Dresden, Saxony.Grüne, Hardy (2001). Enzyklopädie des deutschen Ligafußballs 7. Vereinslexikon. Kasse ...

. He ended up playing one season for the club, scoring seven goals in 30 Bundesliga games.

Eintracht Frankfurt

Ekström signed for

Eintracht Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. () is a professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany. It is best known for its football club, which was founded on 8 March 1899. The team is currently playing in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the Germa ...

in 1995, and scored two goals in 16 games as the club was relegated to 2. Bundesliga in 1996. He stayed with the club in 2. Bundesliga, but could not help the team win promotion back to the top flight of German football.

Second return to IFK Göteborg and retirement

He returned to IFK Göteborg a second time in 1997, and spent the

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 ...

and

1998 Allsvenskan Allsvenskan 1998, part of the 1998 Swedish football season, was the 74th Allsvenskan season played. AIK won the league ahead of runners-up Helsingborgs IF, while BK Häcken and Östers IF Östers Idrottsförening, commonly known as Östers ...

seasons with the club before retiring from professional football in late 1998. In total, Ekström appeared in more than 200 games for IFK Göteborg during his three stints with the club.

International career

Youth

Ekström played 12 games for the Sweden U21 team and was a part of the Sweden U21 squad that reached the quarterfinals of the

1986 UEFA European Under-21 Championship The 1986 UEFA European Under-21 Championship was the 5th staging of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship. The qualifying stage spanned two years (1984–86), had 29 entrants. Spain U-21s won the competition after a penalty shootout, the first ...

before being eliminated by

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

Senior

Ekström made his full international debut in a

friendly game 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 * ...

against

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

on 1 May 1986, playing for 71 minutes alongside

Dan Corneliusson Mats Dan Erling Corneliusson (born 2 October 1961) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a striker. He represented IFK Göteborg, VfB Stuttgart, Como, FC Wettingen, Malmö FF, Qviding FF, and Karlstad BK during a career th ...

at forward before being replaced by Lasse Larsson in a 0–0 draw. He scored his first international goal in a 3–1 friendly win against

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

on 6 August 1986.

UEFA Euro 1988 qualifying

Ekström made his competitive international debut for Sweden on 24 September 1986 in a

UEFA Euro 1988 qualifying This page describes the qualifying procedure for UEFA Euro 1988. Qualified teams Seedings Summary Tiebreakers If two or more teams finished level on points after completion of the group matches, the following tie-breakers were used t ...

game against

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, which Sweden won 2–0 after two goals by Ekström. He went on to score another four goals in the same qualifying campaign, making him the joint-third best goalscorer in the UEFA Euro 1988 qualifiers at six goals together with Alessandra Altobelli but behind

John Bosman Johannes "John" Jacobus Bosman (born 1 February 1965) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a striker. A prolific goalscorer for both club and country, he played professionally for 19 years, most notably with Ajax (five seas ...

and

Nico Claesen Nicolaas "Nico" Pieter Claesen (born 1 October 1962) is a former Belgian football player who works as head coach of RFC Liège. Career Claesen was signed by Tottenham Hotspur in October 1986 by David Pleat who bought him from Standard Liège f ...

. Despite Ekström's goals, Sweden did not manage to qualify for

Euro 1988 The 1988 UEFA European Football Championship final tournament was held in West Germany from 10 to 25 June 1988. It was the eighth UEFA European Championship, which is held every four years and supported by UEFA. The tournament crowned the Nethe ...

1990 FIFA World Cup

Ekström scored two goals during the 1990 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign to help Sweden qualify for its first

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

since

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd go ...

. While at the

1990 World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second time (the first being M ...

, he appeared in the second group stage game against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, replacing Stefan Pettersson in the 63rd minute in a 1–2 loss. He started in the third group stage game against

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

, scoring the first goal in a third consecutive 1–2 loss which had Sweden eliminated from the tournament.

UEFA Euro 1992

Ekström was a part of the Sweden squad at

on home soil in Sweden and appeared as a substitute in all four games as Sweden reached the semi-finals of the tournament before being eliminated by

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Later years and retirement

Ekström played in four 1994 FIFA World Cup qualifying games before announcing his retirement from international football in October 1993. He made a brief comeback on 8 March 1995 in a friendly 3–3 draw with

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

in which Ekström scored one of the goals. He won a total of 47

for the Sweden national team, scoring 13 goals.

Career statistics

International

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

Honours

IFK Göteborg *

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...

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 compe ...

UEFA cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

: 1986–87 Bayern München *

: 1988–89 Individual *

Allsvenskan top scorer The following is a list of top scorers in Allsvenskan, the highest Swedish division of football. is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ... Association football player non-biographical articles ...

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...

* Stor Grabb: 1988

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ekstrom, Johnny 1965 births Living people Swedish footballers Association football midfielders Association football forwards Sweden international footballers Sweden under-21 international footballers IFK Göteborg players UEFA Cup winning players FC Bayern Munich footballers AS Cannes players Ligue 1 players Dynamo Dresden players Eintracht Frankfurt players Empoli F.C. players A.C. Reggiana 1919 players Serie A players Real Betis players Segunda División players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Allsvenskan players 1990 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 1992 players Swedish expatriate footballers Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate footballers in Germany Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate footballers in Italy Swedish expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate footballers in France Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate footballers in Spain