Joachim Stenbäcken (; born 26 May 1963) is a Swedish former

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of thr ...

player who played as a

pivot Pivot may refer to: *Pivot, the point of rotation in a lever system *More generally, the center point of any rotational system *Pivot joint, a kind of joint between bones in the body *Pivot turn, a dance move Companies *Incitec Pivot, an Austra ...

. He was born and raised in

Vårgårda Vårgårda is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and the seat of Vårgårda Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden with 5,825 inhabitants in 2020. Gallery Marknadsplatsen i Vårgårda, den 16 juni 2006, bild 3.JPG, Fåglum brothers in V� ...

and made his senior debut for Vårgårda IK in the 1978–79 season. He later moved to

Alingsås HK Alingsås HK is a handball club from Alingsås, Sweden. They currently compete in Handbollsligan. They have won two Swedish championships, in 2009 and 2014. Kits Achievements *Handbollsligan: **''Winners (2)'': 2009, 2014 **''Runners-u ...

before signing for top division club IFK Karlskrona in 1982. In his first season with the club they reached the final of the IHF Cup, where they were defeated by Soviet club

ZTR Zaporizhia ZTR Zaporizhzhia is a team handball club from Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine. Currently, ZTR Zaporizhzhia competes in the Ukrainian Men's Handball Super League. The club was before called ZYY and ZeMtY. The club is renamed ZTR Zaporizhzhia in 1992. ...

. He scored more than 400 goals in his five seasons for Karlskrona. In 1987 he left the club and joined second division club

SoIK Hellas SoIK Hellas is a sports club in Stockholm, Sweden, established on 14 May 1899 as Pastorns gossar ("The Preacher's Guys") by Katarina Parish Confirmation (Lutheran Church), confirmation priest Ernst Klefbeck, before changing name to SoIK Hellas in ...

, where he played for two seasons. In 1989 he signed for

IFK Kristianstad Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna Kristianstad (), or IFK Kristianstad, is a Swedish professional handball club based in Kristianstad. They play in Handbollsligan, the top level of Swedish men's handball. The club was founded in 1899 as a multi-spo ...

and helped them to promotion back to the top division in his first season. They were relegated after one season but were promoted again a year later. He left the club in 1995 and signed for league rivals Stavstens IF. He later returned to Hellas before rejoining Kristianstad, who were now playing in lower divisions, in 1998. He continued to play for the club until he retired in 2004. He played 340 matches for Kristianstad and scored 1350 goals for the club, the second most behind Bo Ahlberg. In total he scored 2400 goals in his career. He played 55 matches for the Swedish national team between 1983 and 1987. He was a member of the team that finished fourth in the 1986 World Championship. After his handball career he became a journalist for

Kvällsposten (''The Express'') is one of two nationwide evening List of Swedish newspapers, newspapers in Sweden. Describing itself as independent liberal, was founded in 1944; its symbol is a wasp and its slogans are "it stings" or " to your rescue". The ...

writing about

harness racing Harness racing is a form of horse racing in which the horses race at a specific gait (a trot or a pace). They usually pull a two-wheeled cart called a sulky, spider, or chariot occupied by a driver. In Europe, and less frequently in Australia ...

, having long been a follower of the sport. He later studied psychology, having been interested in the psychological factors of handball during his playing career. In 2014–15 he was mental coach for

HIF Karlskrona HF Karlskrona is a Swedish handball club based in Karlskrona, founded in 1938 under the name ''Hästö IF''. In 2014 they changed their name to ''HIF Karlskrona''. In 2022 they merged with the club Karlskrona Handboll, under the new name HF Ka ...

, helping the team to reach promotion to the top division. In 2017 he joined Kristianstad HK in the same position, reuniting with former HIF Karlskrona coach Ulf Schefvert. His nephew is handball player

Jonathan Stenbäcken Jonathan Stenbäcken (born 7 January 1988) is a Swedish former handball player, who last played for IK Sävehof and the Swedish national team. Since 2022 he is Sports Manager for IK Sävehof. He participated on the Sweden men's national handbal ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stenbäcken, Joachim IFK Kristianstad players 1963 births Living people Swedish male handball players SoIK Hellas Handboll players People from Vårgårda Municipality Handball players from Västra Götaland County 20th-century Swedish sportsmen Alingsås HK players