Simon Hjalmar Friedel Tibbling (born 7 September 1994) is a Swedish 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 plays 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 ...

for

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 ...

in the

Eliteserien 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 promotio ...

. He has made one appearance for the Sweden national team. Born in Stockholm, Tibbling joined

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 ...

in 2010 after having spent five years at the Brommapojkarna academy. He debuted in the Allsvenskan in 2012, and moved to

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 c ...

club FC Groningen in 2015. In 2017, he was signed by Brøndby IF in the

Danish Superliga The Danish Superliga ( da, Superligaen, ) is the current Danish football championship tournament, and administered by the Danish Football Association. It is the highest football league in Denmark and is currently contested by 12 teams each ye ...

, with whom he won the

Danish Cup The Danish Cup ( da, Landspokalturneringen; often referred to as Pokalen) is the official "knockout" cup competition in Danish football, run by the Danish Football Association. The cup has been contested annually since 1955. The winner will quali ...

in his first season. He moved back to the Netherlands in 2020 where he signed with FC Emmen. Tibbling has represented Sweden at different youth levels and made his under-21 debut in 2012. He won the

2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship Fifteen or 15 may refer to: *15 (number), the natural number following 14 and preceding 16 *one of the years 15 BC, AD 15, 1915, 2015 Music * Fifteen (band), a punk rock band Albums * ''15'' (Buckcherry album), 2005 * ''15'' (Ani Lorak alb ...

with Sweden. In 2019, Tibbling was called up to the senior team, making his debut in a 0–1 loss to

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 ...

Career

Early career

Tibbling started out playing football at age six when his mother brought him to play with the local lower league club Grödinge SK. At age nine Tibbling was invited by Stockholm based club

IF Brommapojkarna Idrottsföreningen Brommapojkarna, more commonly known as Brommapojkarna (meaning ''the Bromma boys'') or simply BP, is a Swedish football club located in the borough of Bromma, in the western parts of Stockholm municipality. Brommapojkarna is t ...

, known for its youth academy to come train with them and six months later he joined them permanently. During his years there Tibbling drew a lot of attention from some of the biggest clubs in the world. He went on trials with Manchester United, Bayern Munich and

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 ...

. In the summer of 2010 Ajax met and negotiated with Brommapojkarna, but Tibbling wanted to stay in Sweden. Before the 2011 season Tibbling instead chose to move to the bigger Stockholm club

Djurgården

Simon Tibbling made his senior debut in

coming on as a sub in the top Swedish division Allsvenskan against

Kalmar FF Kalmar Fotbollförening, more commonly known as Kalmar FF, is a Swedish professional football club based in Kalmar. The club is affiliated to Smålands Fotbollförbund and play their home games at Guldfågeln Arena. Formed on 15 June 1910, the cl ...

in the 91st minute. He then made his starting debut in the league against

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 ...

on 3 July 2012. Four days after his 18th birthday Tibbling signed a first team contract, extending his deal with Djurgården by another 4.5 years.

Groningen

On 28 November 2014, Tibbling was presented as a new FC Groningen player on 1 January 2015 before helping the Green-White Army win the KNVB Cup in the 2014–15 season against defending champions

PEC Zwolle PEC Zwolle is a Dutch football club based in Zwolle, Netherlands. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, following relegation from the Eredivisie in the 2021–22 season. They have played in the Eredivisie for a total ...

. It was their first major trophy and they qualified for the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...

. Tibbling was voted "Player of the Season" of the 2015–16 season by the fans of the club.

Brøndby

On 21 July 2017, Tibbling signed a five-year deal with Danish top tier side Brøndby. He scored his first goal for the club in his Superliga debut, a 1–0 victory against rivals

FC Copenhagen Football Club Copenhagen ( da, Football Club København, ), commonly known as FC København, FC Copenhagen, Copenhagen or simply FCK, is a professional Danish football club in Copenhagen, Denmark. FCK was founded in 1992 as a superstructure on ...

, after having come on as a substitute for Besar Halimi in the 88th minute. Tibbling quickly established himself in head coach

Alexander Zorniger Alexander Zorniger (born 8 October 1967) is a German football manager of Greuther Fürth and retired player who played as a midfielder. Coaching career Early career Zorniger started his coaching career with stints as head coach of Normannia Gm ...

's side, and was nominated for a goal he scored against

Silkeborg IF Silkeborg Idrætsforening, (; commonly known as Silkeborg IF or SIF in short) is a professional football club based in Silkeborg, Denmark. The club was founded in 1917, reached the highest level of Danish football in 1987, and afterwards became ...

in October 2017, which ended up being awarded ‘Goal of the Season’ by the

Danish Football Union The Danish Football Union ( da, Dansk Boldspil-Union; DBU) is the governing body of football in Denmark. It is the organization of the Danish football clubs and runs the professional Danish football leagues and the men's and women's national te ...

, beating out fellow nominees including

Christian Eriksen Christian Dannemann Eriksen (born 14 February 1992) is a Danish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Premier League club Manchester United and the Denmark national team. He is renowned for his vision, technique, passing, and fre ...

and

Peter Ankersen Peter Ankersen (born 22 September 1990) is a Danish professional footballer who plays as a right-back for Danish Superliga club FC Copenhagen. Club career Getting his football education in the youth ranks of local team Esbjerg fB, he saw limited ...

. His first season in Brøndby was highly successful, making 35 appearances across all competitions and scoring three goals, as Brøndby made a failed push for the league championship, ending in second place behind

FC Midtjylland FC Midtjylland (, "Central Jutland") is a Danish professional football club based in Herning and Ikast in the western part of Jutland. The club is the result of a merger between Ikast FS and Herning Fremad. Midtjylland competes in the Danish Supe ...

. However, Tibbling appeared as a starter as Brøndby beat

3–1 in the

2017–18 Danish Cup The 2017–18 Danish Cup was the 64th season of the Danish Cup competition. Brøndby won the tournament, earning qualification into the third qualifying round of the 2018–19 UEFA Europa League. Structure In the first round, there will be 87 ...

final. In his second season at Brøndby, controversy arose in September 2018, as tabloid '' B.T.'' revealed a confrontation between Tibbling and head coach Zorniger after a match in October the previous year. This had led to Tibbling contacting

director of football A sporting director, or director of sport, is an executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many types of sports. The sport ...

Troels Bech Truls or Troels is a Nordic masculine given name. Truls is mainly used in Norway, and to a lesser extent in Sweden. Troels is predominantly used in Denmark. It is a short form of ''Torgils'', derived from Old Norse ''Þórgísl'' (Old Danish ''Th ...

the following day. The case came a month after league rivals Midtjylland had offered DKK 7.5 million (€1 million) in an effort to sign him, efforts which were not immediately dismissed by Tibbling and his agent, fuelling doubts about his commitment to his club. Tibbling would personally experience a strong 2018–19 season, making 43 appearances in which he scored five goals, as Brøndby, however, went through a tumultuous period. The club had dropped off to fourth place and lost the cup final to Midtjylland, while head coach Zorniger had been dismissed halfway through the season. In the following season, Tibbling slowly saw his playing time diminished under new head coach

Niels Frederiksen Niels Frederiksen (; born 5 November 1970) is a Danish professional football manager. He last worked as the head coach of Danish Superliga club Brøndby IF. Frederiksen began his career as a head coach at Lyngby Boldklub in 2009 after having ...

, as a foot injury suffered in August 2019 kept him out for three months.

Emmen

On 27 July 2020, Tibbling agreed to sign for Dutch

club FC Emmen, joining the club on a two-year contract with an option of another year.

Randers

In May 2021, Tibbling returned to the Danish Superliga, signing a four-year contract with

Randers FC Randers FC () is a professional football club based in Randers, East Jutland, Denmark, that plays in the Danish Superliga, the top flight of the Danish football league system. Founded on 1 January 2003, the club builds upon the license of Rande ...

Sarpsborg 08

On 29 July 2022,

announced that Tibbling had been sold to the Norwegian club

International career

Youth

Tibbling represented Sweden at the U17, U19 and U21 levels. In the final group match against Portugal in the

, Tibbling scored an equalizer in 89th minute which put Sweden through to the semi-final. He again scored in a 4–1 victory in the semi-final against Scandinavian rival

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

, which saw Sweden advance to the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: * Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

for the first time since 1992. He also started the final against

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

. The game ended 0–0 and eventually went to penalties, where Sweden won 4–3, securing their first under-21 title.

Senior

On 8 January 2019, Tibbling made his senior international debut for the Sweden in a 0–1 loss against

Personal life

Tibbling credited his mother bribing him with Pokémon cards as the reason he kept his motivation to attend football training sessions when he was a child.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Groningen * KNVB Cup: 2014–15 Brøndby *

: 2017–18 Sweden U21 *

UEFA European Under-21 Championship The UEFA European Under-21 Championship, the UEFA Under-21 Championship or simply the Euro Under-21, is a biennial football competition contested by the European men's under-21 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Since 1992, the comp ...

: 2015

References

External links

*
Elitefootball profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tibbling, Simon 1994 births Living people Footballers from Stockholm Association football midfielders Swedish footballers Swedish expatriate footballers Footballers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers of Sweden Sweden under-21 international footballers Sweden youth international footballers Sweden international footballers Allsvenskan players Eredivisie players Danish Superliga players IF Brommapojkarna players Djurgårdens IF Fotboll players FC Groningen players Brøndby IF players FC Emmen players Randers FC players Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark Swedish expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Denmark