Sven Olof Fredrik Söderström (born 30 January 1973) is a Swedish retired

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 lea ...

who played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

Club career

Born in

Ludvika Ludvika () is a bimunicipal Urban areas in Sweden, city and the seat of Ludvika Municipality, Dalarna County within the country of Sweden, with 14,498 inhabitants in 2010. Overview The conurbation of Ludvika extends over the border of Smedjebacke ...

, Söderström started his professional career with lowly

IK Brage Idrottsklubben Brage, also known as IK Brage or simply Brage, is a Swedish Association football, football club located in Borlänge. The club is affiliated with Dalarnas Fotbollförbund and play their home games at Domnarvsvallen. The club colou ...

. In January 1997 he moved to

Vitória de Guimarães Vitoria or Vitória may refer to: People * Francisco de Vitoria (c. 1483–1546), a Spanish Renaissance theologian * Alberto Vitoria (1956–2010), Spanish footballer * Rui Vitória (born 1970), Portuguese retired footballer * Sofia Vitória (bor ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

, where his stellar performances attracted the attention of fellow

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (), also known as Liga Portugal Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Portugal and the highest level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga ...

club

FC Porto Futebol Clube do Porto, Order of Prince Henry, MHIH, Order of Merit (Portugal), OM (), commonly known as FC Porto or simply Porto, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Porto. It is best known for the professional association footbal ...

. Söderström played 24 matches in his first season, but went on to serve consecutive loans for the remainder of his contract, mainly in that nation, as the northerners achieved consecutive European competition accolades. In January 2005, at 32 and having appeared in more than 200 overall games in Portugal, he left for Spain where he represented

Córdoba CF Córdoba Club de Fútbol (), is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club based in Córdoba, Andalusia, Córdoba, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1954 after the dissolution of RCD Córdoba. Currently it plays ...

and

UD Lanzarote Unión Deportiva Lanzarote is a Spanish football team based in Arrecife, Lanzarote, in the autonomous community of Canary Islands. Founded in 1970 it plays in , holding home games at the '' Ciudad Deportiva de Lanzarote'' (sports city), a 6,000-se ...

, in the

second The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of U ...

and third levels respectively. He returned to his country in 2008 after 11 years, signing with Hammarby. Söderström announced his retirement from football on 20 February 2011 at the age of nearly 38, after being released by Hammarby on a free transfer.

International career

Söderström played five games for the Sweden national team over a period of four years, but never appeared in any major international tournament. He earned his first

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. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

on 2 June 1998, starting and featuring 62 minutes in a 1–0 friendly win against

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Soderstrom, Fredrik 1973 births Living people Swedish men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Allsvenskan players IK Brage players Hammarby Fotboll players Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Vitória S.C. players FC Porto players S.C. Braga players C.F. Estrela da Amadora players Belgian Pro League players Standard Liège players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Córdoba CF players Sweden men's international footballers Swedish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Spain Sportspeople from Ludvika Footballers from Dalarna County