Jan Andreas Isaksson (; born 3 October 1981) 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

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

. Isaksson began his career at local

Trelleborgs FF Trelleborgs Fotbollsförening, more commonly known as Trelleborgs FF or simply Trelleborg, is a Swedish football club located in Trelleborg. Formed 6 December 1926, the club plays in Superettan, the second tier in the Swedish Football system. T ...

, before briefly representing

Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional Association football, football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football leagu ...

. He would later return to Sweden, where he won two

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 ...

titles with

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 named ...

. After two seasons with

Rennes Rennes (; br, Roazhon ; Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France at the confluence of the Ille and the Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine department ...

, he was signed for £2 million by

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

of the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

, where he was not a regular. After four seasons in the

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 ...

with PSV, he joined Kasımpaşa in Turkey on a free transfer in 2012. He returned to Djurgårdens IF in 2016 with which he won the 2017–18 Svenska Cupen before retiring in 2018. Isaksson earned 133 caps for the Sweden national team during his international career, which puts him joint-third in their list of most capped national players of all time together with

Sebastian Larsson Bengt Ulf Sebastian Larsson (; born 6 June 1985) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Beginning his career at hometown club IFK Eskilstuna, Larsson was signed by Arsenal. He made three Premier League appearanc ...

. He was included in the Swedish squads for the

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

and

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 ...

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

s as well as the

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

, and

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

UEFA European Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition is contes ...

Club career

Early career

Born in

Smygehamn Smygehamn is the southernmost locality situated in Trelleborg Municipality, Skåne County, Sweden (and thus Sweden's southernmost locality) with 1,278 inhabitants in 2010. Between 1887–1957 Smygehamn had Sweden's southernmost railway station (c ...

, Isaksson began his senior career with

, where he played two seasons 1998 and 1999. He became known as a great goalkeeping prospect and was thus bought by Italian club

in July 1999, but with the likes of Dutch international goalkeeper

Edwin van der Sar Edwin van der Sar (; born 29 October 1970) is a Dutch football executive and former professional player who is currently the chief executive of AFC Ajax, with whom he began his senior playing career in the early 1990s; he is considered to be a m ...

in the squad, Isaksson never played a first-team game for the

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

-based club. In January 2001, Isaksson signed with

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

-based

in order to play first-team football. In his first two full seasons, 2002 and 2003, Djurgården won two-straight Swedish titles as well as the

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 solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay, ...

in 2002. He was voted best Swedish goalkeeper for four consecutive years from 2002 to 2005. In July 2004, French club

signed him to replace

Petr Čech Petr Čech (; born 20 May 1982) is a Czech former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He also plays semi-professional ice hockey as a goaltender for Chelmsford Chieftains. Described by numerous players, pundits and managers as o ...

, and he became the starting goalkeeper.

Manchester City

After the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...

, Isaksson completed a £2 million move to

of the

on 15 August 2006. He was expected to replace

David James Dewi, Dai, Dafydd or David James may refer to: Performers *David James (actor, born 1839) (1839–1893), English stage comic and a founder of London's Vaudeville Theatre *David James (actor, born 1967) (born 1967), Australian presenter of ABC's ''P ...

as their first choice goalkeeper, but due to knee and ankle injuries and the form of

Nicky Weaver Nicholas James Weaver (born 2 March 1979) is an English football coach and former professional footballer who is head of academy goalkeeping at EFL League One side Sheffield Wednesday. As as a player he was a goalkeeper who began his career wi ...

, he did not achieve this. He made his debut on 9 December 2006, when he replaced the injured Weaver at half-time in a

Manchester derby The Manchester derby refers to football matches between Manchester City and Manchester United, first contested in 1881. City play at the City of Manchester Stadium in Bradford, east Manchester, while United play at Old Trafford in the borough o ...

match which City lost 3–1 to

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

. After his second start for City on 14 March 2007, he played all of the remaining ten games of 2006–07, keeping four

clean sheets In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which one team prevents the other from scoring any points. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usuall ...

, and saved a

penalty kick A penalty shot or penalty kick is a play used in several sports whereby a goal is attempted during untimed play. Depending on the sport, when a player commits certain types of penalties, the opposition is awarded a penalty shot or kick attempt. ...

from

Jermain Defoe Jermain Colin Defoe (born 7 October 1982) is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker. He also played for the England national team. Defoe began his career with Charlton Athletic, joining their youth team aged 14, be ...

on the last day of the season, although City nonetheless lost 2–1 to

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

. Isaksson played the majority of City's next pre-season campaign in Sweden and Belgium, but after his thumb was fractured in a training session, he did not play for City in the first two months of 2007–08, picking up a knee injury right afterwards. Isaksson made his first appearance of the season for Manchester City by keeping a clean sheet in a 1–0 away win against

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

to put the team into the quarter-finals of the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

, on 31 October 2007. In November and December. he had a run of five league games in the first team, as part of a rotation used by manager

Sven-Göran Eriksson Sven-Göran Eriksson (; born 5 February 1948) is a Swedish football manager and former player. After an unassuming playing career as a right-back, Eriksson went on to experience major success in club management between 1977 and 2001, winning 18 ...

to decide upon his first-choice goalkeeper. His run, however, was ended by an injury. While he was out, England under-21 goalkeeper

Joe Hart Charles Joseph John Hart (born 19 April 1987) known professionally simply as Joe Hart is an English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Scottish Premiership club Celtic. He began his career at his hometown club Shrewsbury T ...

took over in goal and impressed. The youngster kept his place even after Isaksson returned to full fitness and the Swede was once again relegated to the bench. Manchester City confirmed that they would be willing to sell Isaksson at the end of the season, and his final appearance was in the humiliating 8–1 defeat by

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

which would have been even worse if not for several excellent saves by Isaksson.

PSV

Isaksson signed for Dutch champions PSV, thus enabling him to play in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

. He took over the number 1 shirt from

Heurelho Gomes Heurelho da Silva Gomes (born 15 February 1981) is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He played for Premier League clubs Tottenham Hotspur and Watford, having previously made a name for himself at Dutch club ...

, who had transferred to Tottenham. Isaksson tallied 124 league appearances for PSV before leaving the club in the summer of 2012 when his contract expired.

Kasımpaşa

On 9 July 2012, it was confirmed that Isaksson had left PSV after four seasons to join newly promoted Turkish side Kasımpaşa on a free transfer. On joining the club, Isaksson signed a three-year deal and became the Turkish side's sixth signing during the summer transfer window.

Return to Djurgårdens IF

On 11 August 2016, Isaksson signed a two-and-a-half-year contract with

, returning after 12 years away from Sweden and the club. On 24 August, he played his first game in his second spell for Djurgården in the Swedish Cup qualifier, a 5–1 win against

Smedby AIS Smedby AIS is a Swedish football club located in Norrköping. Background Smedby AIS (or SAIS for short) is a football club from southeast Norrköping based in the district of Smedby. The club was founded on 3 October 1929 and played in the thi ...

. He conceded one goal in the final minute from a penalty. On 7 August 2017, Isaksson made his 100th match in Allsvenskan for Djurgården. On 10 May 2018, he played as Djurgården beat

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, ...

3-0 in the Swedish Cup Final.

International career

While at Djurgården, Isaksson established himself as the second-choice goalkeeper after

Magnus Hedman Magnus Carl Hedman (; born 19 March 1973) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Beginning his career with AIK in 1990, he went on play in the English Premier League, Scottish Premier League, and Italian Serie A b ...

for the Sweden national team, making his international debut 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 ...

in March 2002. An injury to Hedman allowed Isaksson the opportunity to play for Sweden on a regular basis, playing in all but one of Sweden's qualifying matches for

UEFA Euro 2004 The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial association football, football competition contested by the List of men's national associatio ...

, and all of Sweden's matches during the tournament. Andreas Isaksson 20120611

Isaksson remained the first-choice goalkeeper for his national team since Euro 2004, making three appearances in the

in Germany. An injury prevented him from playing in more games. By July 2006, he had amassed 42 caps for his country. Isaksson was selected for Sweden's

Euro 2008 The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA (the Union of European ...

squad, and appeared in all three of Sweden's group games. He kept a clean sheet in Sweden's first match 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 ...

, which ended 2–0, but Sweden were unable to reach the quarter-finals. Isaksson was also the first-choice goalkeeper through Sweden's disappointing qualification campaign for the

2010 World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

in South Africa as well as the qualifying rounds for

Euro 2012 The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2012 or simply Euro 2012, was the 14th European Championship for men's national football teams organised by UEFA. The final tournament, held between 8 June and 1 ...

in Poland and Ukraine. On 29 May 2012, national team manager

Erik Hamrén Erik Anders Hamrén (born 27 June 1957) is a Swedish manager and former football player, who is the manager of Danish Superliga club AaB. He also previously coached the Sweden national football team between 2009 and 2016 and the Iceland natio ...

announced his final 23-man squad for the Euros, including the vastly experienced Isaksson. Isaksson again appeared in all three group games as Sweden failed to make it out of the group, although he did keep a clean sheet in their 2–0 victory over

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

in the final match. On 12 October 2012, in a World Cup qualifier in

Tórshavn Tórshavn (; lit. "Thor's harbour"), usually locally referred to as simply ''Havn'', is the capital and largest city of the Faroe Islands. It is located in the southern part on the east coast of Streymoy. To the northwest of the city lies the ...

, Isaksson earned his 100th international cap while Sweden defeated the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway bet ...

2–1. After Sweden's disappointing

Euro 2016 The 2016 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2016 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2016) or simply Euro 2016, was the 15th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe ...

performance, in which Sweden once again failed to progress from the group, Isaksson announced his intention to retire from international football. He amassed 133 caps for his country, effectively making him their third most capped player.

Career statistics

Club

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year

Honours

Djurgårdens IF *

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

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 ...

, 2017–18 PSV *

KNVB Cup The KNVB Beker (; en, KNVB Cup), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organized by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. Ou ...

: 2011–12 *

Johan Cruijff Shield The Johan Cruyff Shield (, ) is a football trophy in the Netherlands named after Dutch footballer Johan Cruyff, also often referred to as the Dutch Super Cup. The winner is decided in one match only, played by the winner of the national footbal ...

Individual * Årets komet: 1999 * Swedish Goalkeeper of the Year: 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 *

Årets Järnkamin Årets Järnkamin ''(literally Iron Stove of the Year)'' is an award given to a Djurgårdens IF player, or coach, voted by the members of the official supporter club Järnkaminerna (The Iron Stoves). A person whom they felt represented the core val ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

References

External links

Andreas Isaksson's profile, stats & pics
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Isaksson, Andreas 1981 births Living people People from Trelleborg Municipality Swedish footballers Footballers from Skåne County Association football goalkeepers Trelleborgs FF players Juventus F.C. players Djurgårdens IF Fotboll players Stade Rennais F.C. players Manchester City F.C. players PSV Eindhoven players Allsvenskan players Ligue 1 players Premier League players Eredivisie players Sweden international footballers Sweden youth international footballers Sweden under-21 international footballers 2002 FIFA World Cup players 2006 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2004 players UEFA Euro 2008 players UEFA Euro 2012 players Swedish expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Italy Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate footballers in France Swedish expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate footballers in England Swedish expatriate sportspeople in the United Kingdom Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Swedish expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate footballers in Turkey Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Kasımpaşa S.K. footballers FIFA Century Club UEFA Euro 2016 players Süper Lig players