Johan Erik Calvin Elmander (; born 27 May 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, rugb ...

who played as a striker. Beginning his career with Holmalunds IF in the late 1990s, he went on to play professionally in the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, France, England, and Turkey before retiring at

Örgryte IS Örgryte Idrottssällskap, commonly referred to as Örgryte IS, Örgryte () or (especially locally) ÖIS or Öis, is a Swedish sports club based in Gothenburg. It consists of four departments, namely bowling, football, athletics and wrestling. H ...

in 2017. A full international between 2002 and 2015, he scored 20 goals in 85 games for the Sweden national team, and represented his country at 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 th ...

UEFA 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 Europea ...

and

UEFA 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 2011, his goal for

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 Pik ...

, away to

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club' ...

during the

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

season, was voted the greatest Premier League goal ever in a poll by ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

''.

Club career

Early career

Elmander was born in

Alingsås Alingsås () is a locality and the seat of Alingsås Municipality in Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 24,482 inhabitants in 2010. Geography Geographically the city is situated by the outlet of the small rivulet Säveån into lake Mjö ...

, Alingsås Municipality. He started his career as a striker for Swedish clubs but changed to a centre midfielder Holmalunds IF and Örgryte, before making the move to Dutch club

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the club changed to various names before settling on being called after i ...

at the age of 18, where he continued to be used as a midfielder. Although never a first team regular, he came on as a substitute in the

2002 UEFA Cup Final The 2002 UEFA Cup Final was an association football match played on 8 May 2002, between Feyenoord of the Netherlands and Borussia Dortmund of Germany at the Feijenoord Stadion in Rotterdam, Feyenoord's home ground. It was the 31st UEFA Cup final ...

3–2 win against

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, commonly known as Borussia Dortmund (), BVB (), or simply Dortmund (), is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its men's professional fo ...

. Elmander was subsequently put on loan back in Sweden with

Djurgården Djurgården ( or ) or, more officially, ''Kungliga Djurgården'' (), is an island in central Stockholm, Sweden. Djurgården is home to historical buildings and monuments, museums, galleries, the amusement park Gröna Lund, the open-air museum ...

, where he won the double of both

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 ...

championship and Swedish Cup title in 2002 and Allsvenskan in 2003, however he wasn't awarded a medal as he had played too few matches. He debuted for the Swedish national team, in a February 2002

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

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 wi ...

. In 2003, he was loaned out to Feyenoord's Dutch league rivals

NAC Breda NAC Breda (), often simply known as NAC, is a Dutch professional football club, based in Breda, Netherlands. NAC Breda play in the Rat Verlegh Stadium, named after their most important player, Antoon 'Rat' Verlegh. They play in the Eerste Div ...

Brøndby IF

Before the 2004–05 season, he was bought by

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 yea ...

outfit Brøndby. Despite not scoring as many goals for the club as was expected, he was the playmaker and creative spark of the Brøndby team in the 2004–05 Superliga season, playing mainly as the free-roaming forward behind the sole striker in manager

Michael Laudrup Michael Laudrup (, born 15 June 1964) is a Danish professional football coach and former player. He is considered to be one of the greatest players of all time. He is the older brother of fellow retired footballer Brian Laudrup. During his p ...

's 4–3–3 formation. The team won the double of both the Danish Superliga and 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 ...

title, and Elmander was voted Brøndby's Player of the Year. In his two seasons at Brøndby, Elmander scored 22 goals in 58 Danish Superliga games, attracting the attention of several clubs throughout Europe. He was called up to represent Sweden at the 2006 World Cup, where he played two games. Elmander signed a four-year contract with French side

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and fr ...

for an undisclosed fee of around €4,500,000 on 7 July 2006.

Toulouse

Elmander scored 11 goals in his first season with Toulouse and was nominated as player of the year by his fellow players; the award ultimately went to

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of ...

winger Florent Malouda. The season was very successful, with Elmander helping lead Toulouse to a third-place finish and a berth in the qualifying rounds of

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 competi ...

. The second season, much like that of his team, was much more irregular, and though he scored the same number of goals as he did the previous season, he was less decisive.

Bolton Wanderers

On 27 June 2008, Elmander completed a move to

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 Fo ...

club

for an £8.2 million fee, the club's record signing, with the deal including Daniel Braaten moving to Toulouse. Elmander signed a three-year deal, wearing the number 9 shirt by manager

Gary Megson Gary John Megson (born 2 May 1959) is an English former football player and manager. He has previously managed Norwich City, Blackpool, Stockport County, Stoke City, West Bromwich Albion, Nottingham Forest, Leicester City, Bolton Wanderers an ...

. Elmander's first Premier League goal, a header, came on his competitive debut, against

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

on 16 August 2008 in a 3–1 win. Elmander played 30 games in the 2008–09 season, scoring five goals and creating two assists. From December 2008 to September 2009, Elmander went on a nine-month goal drought, which ended during 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 ...

fixture against

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

as he scored in extra-time. His first league goal in 11 months came in a 5–1 defeat to

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park, ...

. Elmander finally found his goalscoring form in the 2010–11 season, scoring six goals in the opening 13 games, all away from the

Reebok Stadium The University of Bolton Stadium is the home ground of Bolton Wanderers F.C. in Horwich, Greater Manchester, England. Opening in 1997, it was named the Reebok Stadium, after club sponsors Reebok. In 2014, Bolton Wanderers signed a naming ri ...

. His first home goals of the season came against

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East En ...

, giving him a joint lead as top scorer in the Premier League. However, his goalscoring form dipped and he scored just three goals between December and a goal on 12 March against

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

in an

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football compet ...

Sixth round tie. This brought his goal tally for all competitions to eleven for the season. Bolton manager

Owen Coyle Owen Columba Coyle (born 14 July 1966) is a professional football manager and former player who is currently the manager of Scottish Championship club Queen's Park. He played as a striker for several clubs in England and Scotland, and made one ...

said in an interview on 20 May that he expected Elmander to join Galatasaray, and Elmander confirmed later in the month that he would be leaving the club. In total, Elmander made 92 appearances in the Premier League, scoring 18 goals; 11 appearances in the

, scoring three goals; and five appearances in the

, scoring once.

Galatasaray

On 27 May 2011, Elmander arrived in Turkey on his birthday, and on 30 May 2011, Elmander joined Galatasaray in a three-year deal on a free transfer after his contract expired at Bolton in the same month. He debuted on the second week of the

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), officially known as Spor Toto Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional league for association football clubs. It is the top-flight of the Turkish football league system and is run by the ...

season, coming on in the 61st minute and scored his first goal in a 3–1 home win over Samsunspor on 18 September. Due to his great performance, Galatasaray coach Fatih Terim changed the team's formation to a 4–4–2, allowing Elmander to play together with fellow striker

Milan Baroš Milan Baroš (; born 28 October 1981) is a Czech footballer who plays as a striker. He currently plays for FK Vigantice at amateur level. In 2005, he was part of the Liverpool team which won the UEFA Champions League. He went on to win Ligue ...

simultaneously. On 26 February 2012, he scored the opening and the winning goal of the game against

Beşiktaş Beşiktaş () is a district and municipality of Istanbul, Turkey, located on the European shore of the Bosphorus strait. It is bordered on the north by Sarıyer and Şişli, on the west by Kağıthane and Şişli, on the south by Beyoğlu, ...

in a 3–2 win, and also scored goals in all derby matches, including against Fenerbahçe and

Trabzonspor Trabzonspor Kulübü is a Turkish sports club located in the city of Trabzon. Formed in 1967 through a merger of several local clubs, the men's football team has won seven Süper Lig championships. Trabzonspor also have a women's football team, ...

. He scored 12 goals in 36 league matches in a season which saw Galatasaray crowned league champions. Elmander began the 2012–13 season in a match against Kasımpaşa and scored his first goal of the season in a 3–3 draw with Beşiktaş the following week. In the league's fourth week, he scored the opener against

Antalyaspor Antalyaspor Kulübü is a Turkish professional football club located in the city of Antalya. The club's colours are red and white. They play their home matches at the Antalya Stadium. In Turkey, the club won the First League twice in 1982 and ...

in a 4–0 away win for Galatasaray. and on 19 October 2012, he scored an amazing goal against Gençlerbirliği in a 3–3 away draw and maintained the lead of the Süper Lig. He left in August 2013 to join Premier League side Norwich City on a season-long loan.

Loan to Norwich City

Elmander returned to England, joining Norwich on a season-long loan. He made his debut for Norwich against

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving from Boothferry Park in 2002. The club's t ...

and scored his first two goals for the club against Bury in the

on 27 August 2013. His first league start came against

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

on 31 August 2013. Elmander scored his first league goal against Southampton in a 4–2 away loss for the Canaries on 15 March 2014. Elmander failed to impress during his loan spell at Norwich, though he did win the hearts of many fans with his hard-working performances and eagerness to play.

Return to Brøndby

On 24 June 2014, Elmander returned to Brøndby in Denmark on a free transfer, signing a two-year contract after his contract with Galatasaray had expired. He was handed the number 11 shirt on his return to the club.

Return to Örgryte and retirement

Elmander spent his last season as a professional footballer at Örgryte, scoring 5 goals in 25 appearances in all competitions.

International career

Elmander represented

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 countries, Nordic c ...

at the

, and

. He retired from the national team in November 2015, having won 85

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 ...

and scored 20 goals.

Personal life

Elmander has two brothers Peter and Patrik who also are former professional footballers. Elmander was married on 27 December 2007 to highschool sweetheart Amanda Calvin in a lavish ceremony in her home town of Hemsjö, Sweden. The couple had over 200 guests including fellow former teammates Kim Källström and

Jon Jönsson Jon Martin Olof Jönsson (born 8 July 1983) is a Swedish former footballer who played as a defender. Career Jönsson made his first team debut in IFK Hässleholm aged 15, and his talent was recognised by Tottenham Hotspur who brought him to Lo ...

. At their wedding, Swedish-idol Christoffer Hiding performed. In August 2008, the couple announced the birth of their first child. On 18 November 2010, it was announced Elmander's wife had given birth to a baby girl named Lily.

Career statistics

Club

International

Appearances and goals per year International goals * Match abandoned, see

UEFA Euro 2008 qualifier fan attack A fan attack occurred at the Euro 2008 qualifying Group F match between the national football teams of Sweden and Denmark, at the Parken Stadium in Copenhagen on 2 June 2007. A Danish supporter ran onto the pitch and attacked referee Herbert Fa ...

Honours

Feyenoord *

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

: 2001–02 Djurgården *

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Brøndby *

: 2004–05 *

: 2004–05 Galatasaray *

: 2011–12, 2012–13 *

Turkish Super Cup The Turkish Super Cup ( Turkish: ''TFF Süper Kupa''), as it is currently known, is the annual super cup football match contested between the previous season's Süper Lig champions and the Turkish Cup winners in Turkey. It was originally known as ...

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 gat ...

Individual * Ligue 1 Team of the Year: 2006–07 * UNFP Player of the Month (February 2007) * Premier League Player of the Month: November 2010

References

External links

Johan Elmander
at elitefootball.com * * *
Profile
at Galatasaray.org

at the Bolton Wanderers website * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Elmander, Johan 1981 births Living people People from Alingsås Municipality Swedish footballers Örgryte IS players Feyenoord players Djurgårdens IF Fotboll players NAC Breda players Brøndby IF players Toulouse FC players Bolton Wanderers F.C. players Galatasaray S.K. footballers UEFA Cup winning players Allsvenskan players Eredivisie players Danish Superliga players Ligue 1 players Premier League players Süper Lig players Superettan players Sweden international footballers Sweden youth international footballers Sweden under-21 international footballers 2006 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2008 players UEFA Euro 2012 players Swedish expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate footballers in Denmark Expatriate footballers in France Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Turkey Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Swedish expatriate sportspeople in France Swedish expatriate sportspeople in England Norwich City F.C. players Association football forwards Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Sportspeople from Västra Götaland County