Kalle Nils Björklund (born 31 May 1999) is a

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 plays as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

for

Vasalunds IF Vasalunds IF is a Swedish football club based in Solna, Stockholm. The club is affiliated with Stockholms Fotbollförbund. History Vasalund was formed in 1934 and play in the Swedish Third Division: Ettan Norra. In 2002 the club merged with Es ...

in Ettan. Born in Spain, he was a youth international for Sweden.

Early life

Björklund was born in

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. He also lived in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and

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 ...

before the age of six, due to his father

Joachim Björklund Joachim Björklund (; born 15 March 1971) is a Swedish former professional Association football, footballer who played as a centre back. He is currently assistant coach for Allsvenskan club IFK Göteborg. Beginning his playing career with Öste ...

being a professional footballer.

Club career

Torre Levante

He started to play football with

Valencia CF Valencia Club de Fútbol, S. A. D. (; ), commonly referred to as Valencia CF or simply Valencia, is a Spanish professional Association football, football club based in Valencia, Spain, that currently plays in La Liga, the top tier of the Spani ...

and was part of their youth academy up until 2017, when he moved to Torre Levante to start his professional career. Björklund made 36 appearances for the club in the 2017–18 campaign of

Tercera División Tercera División () was the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system. Until 1977, it was the third tier of the Spanish football league system. Founded in 1929, it was below the ''Primera División'' (also known as La Liga), the ''Segund ...

, Spain's fourth tier.

Hammarby IF

On 16 August 2018, Björklund signed a two and half-year deal with

Hammarby IF Hammarby Idrottsförening ("Hammarby Sports Club"), commonly known as Hammarby IF or simply Hammarby ( or, especially locally, ), is a Swedish sports club located in Stockholm, with a number of member organizations active in a variety of differ ...

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; ), also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan (, ) is a professional association football league in Sweden and the highest level of the Swedish football league system. Founded in 1924, it operates on a system of promotion and relegatio ...

, Sweden's top tier. He spent the vast majority of the 2018 and 2019 seasons nursing a serious knee injury. In 2020, Björklund made his debut in Allsvenskan, playing 14 league games for Hammarby, as the club disappointingly finished 8th in the table. He also made one appearance in the second qualifying round of the

2020–21 UEFA Europa League The 2020–21 UEFA Europa League was the 50th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 12th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. Villarreal defeated Manchester United i ...

, where Hammarby lost 0–3 to Polish side

Lech Poznań Kolejowy Klub Sportowy Lech Poznań S.A., commonly referred to as KKS Lech Poznań or simply Lech Poznań (), is a Polish professional football club based in Poznań and currently competing in the Ekstraklasa, the nation's highest division. ...

. On 21 January 2021, Björklund was sent on loan to

Falkenbergs FF Falkenbergs Fotbollsförening, also known simply as Falkenbergs FF, Falkenberg or (especially locally) FFF, is a Swedish football club based in Falkenberg. Formed on 3 January 1928, the club plays in the second highest Swedish league, Superetta ...

Superettan Superettan (; ) is an association football league and the second highest league in the Swedish football league system, league system of Swedish football, Swedish men's football. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and rel ...

, the Swedish second tier. On 12 July 2021, he was recalled by Hammarby, only to be immediately sent on loan to fellow Superettan club Västerås SK for the remainder of the year. In 2022, Björklund made some appearances for Hammarby's affiliated club

Hammarby TFF Hammarby Talang FF, more commonly known as Hammarby TFF or HTFF for short, is a Swedish football club from Stockholm. Originally founded in 2003, the club was dissolved in 2011 before being re-incorporated in 2016 and again in 2021. Competing ...

in Ettan, Sweden's third tier, but subsequently left the club at the of the year.

IFK Stocksund

In early 2023, he signed with IFK Stocksund in Ettan.

International career

Björklund was called up to the Sweden under-19 national team in March 2018, and featured in two qualification games to the

2018 UEFA European Under-19 Championship The 2018 UEFA European Under-19 Championship (also known as UEFA Under-19 Euro 2018) was the 17th edition of the UEFA European Under-19 Championship (67th edition if the Under-18 and Junior eras are included), the annual international youth foot ...

against

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

and

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

Personal life

Björklund also holds a Spanish citizenship. He is the son of former Swedish international footballer

, and the grandson of football coach

Karl-Gunnar Björklund Karl-Gunnar "Kalle" Björklund (born 2 December 1953) is a Swedish former football player and coach. He has served as coach in several clubs in Scandinavia. As a player, Björklund earned 14 caps for Sweden, and the midfielder won Allsvenskan wi ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Björklund, Kalle 1999 births Living people Footballers from Valencia Swedish men's footballers Sweden men's youth international footballers Spanish men's footballers Spanish people of Swedish descent Men's association football defenders Hammarby Fotboll players Hammarby Talang FF players IK Frej players CF Torre Levante players Falkenbergs FF players Västerås SK Fotboll players IFK Stocksund players Valencia CF players Ettan Fotboll players Superettan players Allsvenskan players 21st-century Swedish sportsmen 21st-century Spanish sportsmen Björklund–Svensson family