Sharbel Touma (; born 25 March 1979) 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 ...

who played as a winger. Beginning his career with Syrianska in the mid-1990s, he went on to represent

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 name ...

AIK AIK Fotboll (), more commonly known simply as AIK (), an abbreviation for Allmänna Idrottsklubben (meaning ''the public'' or ''general sports club''), is a Swedish football club competing in Allsvenskan, the top flight of Swedish football. The ...

, Halmstad,

Twente Twente ( nl, Twente , Tweants dialect: ''Tweante'') is a region in the eastern Netherlands. It encompasses the most urbanised and easternmost part of the province of Overijssel. Twente is most likely named after the Tuihanti or Tvihanti, a Ge ...

, Borussia Mönchengladbach, and Iraklis before returning to Syranska in 2011 to wrap up his career. A full international between 2001 and 2004, he won two

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 Ja ...

for the Sweden national team.

Early life

Touma was born in

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

, Lebanon, into a Syriac Orthodox family with roots in the

Tur Abdin Tur Abdin ( syr, ܛܽܘܪ ܥܰܒ݂ܕܺܝܢ or ܛܘܼܪ ܥܲܒ݂ܕܝܼܢ, Ṭūr ʿAḇdīn) is a hilly region situated in southeast Turkey, including the eastern half of the Mardin Province, and Şırnak Province west of the Tigris, on the borde ...

region of southern Turkey, he moved to Sweden at a young age and was granted

Swedish citizenship Swedish nationality law determines entitlement to Swedish citizenship. Citizenship of Sweden is based primarily on the principle of ''jus sanguinis''. In other words, citizenship is conferred primarily by birth to a Swedish parent, irrespective ...

Club career

Touma made his senior debut for Syrianska FC in the 1994 Division 2. He joined

, where he won the PSM för klubblag with the under-16 squad. He debuted in the senior team in the 1997 season. He later played for

Halmstads BK Halmstads Bollklubb, also known simply as Halmstad () or (especially locally) HBK or Bollklubben, is a Swedish football club located in Halmstad in the county of Halland. The club, formed 7 February 1914 and approved membership in the Swedish ...

and F.C. Twente. He won "the Big Silver" (Stora Silvret in Swedish, second place in the Swedish top league,

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 ...

) with Halmstads BK 2004 and left them for FC Twente. On 4 November 2008 was suspended and called up for the second team from Borussia Mönchengladbach between December 2008, he also release the club in July 2009 to sign with Iraklis. Touma was on a trial with the Norwegian football club

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 ...

and on 22 March 2010 Touma returned from

Iraklis Thessaloniki F.C. Gymnastic Club Iraklis Thessaloniki Football Club ( el, Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος Ηρακλής Θεσσαλονίκης) is a Greek professional football club based in the city of Thessaloniki, Macedonia, Greece. As of 2022, t ...

to his mother club

of the Allsvenskan. He played from 1997–99 in Stockholm and scored 10 goals in 48 matches. In 2017, Touma re-joined Syrianska, playing one league match.

International career

A youth international for the Sweden U16, U18, and U21 teams, Touma made his full international debut for

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 ...

on 1 February 2001 in a friendly 0–1 loss 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 ...

when he played for 77 minutes before being replaced by Christian Hemberg. He won his second and final

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

on 17 October 2004 in a friendly 4–1 win 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 ...

, coming on as a substitute for

Christian Wilhelmsson Christian Ulf "Chippen" Wilhelmsson (; born 8 December 1979) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a winger. Beginning his career with Mjällby AIF in 1997, he went on to represent clubs in Norway, Belgium, France, Italy, Sp ...

in the 76th minute.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Djurgårdens IF *

Division 1 Norra Ettan Fotboll, or simply Ettan ( en, the one), which also is its common name in everyday speech, is the third level in the Swedish football league system and consists of 32 Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden ...

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

FC Twente *

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from la, Inter, 'between' + german: toto, 'betting pool'),Most precisely, from (football pool); cf. often abbreviated and more known in the German-speaking world as UI Cup and originally called the International Foot ...

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

Borussia Mönchengladbach * 2. Bundesliga: 2007–08

References

;General * ;Specific

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Touma, Sharbel 1979 births Living people Swedish people of Assyrian/Syriac descent Swedish people of Lebanese descent Sportspeople of Lebanese descent Footballers from Beirut Assyrian footballers Swedish footballers Association football wingers Sweden international footballers Syrianska FC players Djurgårdens IF Fotboll players AIK Fotboll players Halmstads BK players FC Twente players Borussia Mönchengladbach players Iraklis Thessaloniki F.C. players Syrianska FC managers Allsvenskan players Superettan players Eredivisie players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Swedish expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Swedish expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate footballers in Germany Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate footballers in Greece Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Greece Swedish football managers Swedish Christians Syriac Orthodox Christians