Karl-Gunnar "Kalle" Björklund (born 2 December 1953) is a Swedish former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player and coach. He has served as coach in several clubs in

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

. As a player, Björklund earned 14 caps for

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

, and the

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 ...

won

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 ...

with

Östers IF Östers Idrottsförening, commonly known as Östers IF or simply Öster, is a Swedish sports club located in Växjö, specializing in Association football, football. For the 2025 Allsvenskan, 2025 season the club is back in the top tier, Allsve ...

three times. He is the father of

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 ...

Player career

Born in

Växjö Växjö () is a city and the seat of Växjö Municipality, Kronoberg County, Sweden. It had 71,282 inhabitants (2020) out of a Municipalities of Sweden, municipal population of 97,349 (2024). It is the administrative, cultural, and industrial ce ...

, Björklund started playing

in the local club Växjö Norra IF, before he moved to

as a youth-player. He won

with the club in

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd ...

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union, grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning Sys ...

and

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 6 – A funeral service is held in West Germany for Nazi Grand Admiral ...

. In total he played 215 matches and scored 24 goal for Östers IF. He later played for

IFK Värnamo IFK Värnamo is a Swedish professional Association football, football club located in Värnamo. The club plays in the Allsvenskan, the top tier of Swedish football. The most famous player from the club is Jonas Thern, who was captain of the Swede ...

, where he played 20 matches and scored two goals. Björklund was capped 14 times and scored one goal while playing for

Coaching career

He started his coaching career at the youth department of Östers IF in 1987, before he moved on to Norwegian club Brann, where he was head coach in 1991 and 1992. After spells in

Kalmar FF Kalmar Fotbollförening, more commonly known as Kalmar FF, is a Swedish professional football club based in Kalmar, Sweden. The club is affiliated to Smålands Fotbollförbund and play their home games at Guldfågeln Arena. Formed on 15 June 1 ...

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. ...

and

IF Elfsborg Idrottsföreningen Elfsborg, more commonly known as IF Elfsborg or simply Elfsborg (), is a professional association football, football club based in Borås, Sweden, and is affiliated to the Västergötlands Fotbollförbund. They play in the Alls ...

, he started to in the

Swedish Football Association The Swedish Football Association (, SvFF) is the governing and body of football in Sweden. It organises the football leagues – Allsvenskan for men and for women – and the men's and women's national teams. It is based in Solna and is a ...

as a youth developer. He moved to

Molde FK Molde Fotballklubb () is a association football, football club based in Molde Municipality, Molde, Norway, that competes in Eliteserien, the top flight of Norwegian football league system, Norwegian football. Founded on 19 June 1911, the club w ...

ahead of the 2001-season, where he became Gunder Bengtsson assistant coach. Molde FK finished second in

Tippeligaen Eliteserien () is a professional association football league in Norway and the highest level of the Norwegian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the Norwegian First Division ...

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

, but Bengtsson and Björklund got fired in May the next season, with the team positioned in 10th place with five points after six matches. Björklund then became head coach of Larvik Fotball ahead of the 2004-season, but he left Larvik after a half season with the

Norwegian Second Division The Norwegian Second Division, also called 2. divisjon and often referred to as PostNord-ligaen for sponsorship reasons, is the third-highest level of the Norwegian football league system. There are 28 teams divided into two groups, and at the ...

side. In November 2004 he was hired as Mats Jingblad's assistant coach of

Landskrona BoIS Landskrona Boll och Idrottsällskap (, locally referred to as BoIS) is a Swedish professional football club located in Landskrona, Scania, which currently plays in Superettan, the second league tier of football in Sweden. The club was formed ...

, before both Jingblad and Björklund quit their job at Landskrona BoIS one year later, and Björklund returned to his old club IFK Värnamo as sports director. Björklund later worked full-time as a sport teacher at the John Bauer school in

Östersund Östersund (; ) is an Urban areas in Sweden, urban area (Stad (Sweden), city) in Jämtland in northern Sweden. It is the seat of Östersund Municipality and the capital of Jämtland County. Östersund is located at the shores of Sweden's fifth-larg ...

and in the spring of 2008 he took over the coaching job at the third tier side

Östersunds FK Östersunds Fotbollsklubb, commonly known simply as Östersunds FK, Östersund () or (especially locally) ÖFK, is a Swedish professional Association football, football club located in Östersund, Sweden, that plays in the Swedish second tier, S ...

. After a losing streak at the start of the 2009 season he resigned from his post. For the 2010 season he was signed by local rivals IFK Östersund. In December 2010 he returned to his old club

as Roar Hansen's assistant coach. They left the position at the end of 2012 and Björklund followed Hansen to

Helsingborgs IF Helsingborgs Idrottsförening, commonly referred to as Helsingborgs IF, Helsingborg or (especially locally) HIF (), is a Swedish professional football club located in Helsingborg. They play in the Swedish second tier, Superettan, following releg ...

in the following season. He then returned to

as assistant coach to

Thomas Askebrand Thomas Askebrand, born ''Johansson'' 23 January 1969 in Åsa, is a Swedish football manager. He is the sporting director and formally manager of Varbergs BoIS. Management career Thomas started out his managing career for small local clubs in ...

for the 2015 season. The duo left the club at the end of 2016. On 1 February 2017, he took charge of

Ängelholms FF Ängelholms FF is a football (soccer), football club based in Ängelholm, Sweden. The club is affiliated to Skånes Fotbollförbund and play their home games at Ängelholms IP. The club was formed in 1976 as a merger between Ängelholms IF and Sk ...

. He left the position at the end of 2017. He was then working as an instructor at Osbecksgymnasiet in

Laholm Laholm () is a town and the seat of Laholm Municipality, Halland County, Sweden, with 6,527 inhabitants in 2015. Laholm is, despite its small population, for historical reasons often still referred to as a ''city''. In the 13th century, Laholm w ...

, a sports highs school (which he had worked for in 2006-2007 and then hired again since 2010) and as head coach of Laholms FK's U16 team. In September 2018, Kalle was reunited with

when he was hired as his assistant at

. He left the club at the end of 2018 to become head coach of Laholms FK He left the position in July 2019 and returned to

once again as assistant coach to newly appointed head coach Denis Velić.Kalle Björklund slutar som LFK:s huvudtränare – ersätter Järdler i Öster
29 July 2019

Personal life

Kalle Björklund is the father of the former Swedish international player

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bjorklund, Kalle 1953 births Living people Footballers from Växjö Swedish men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Allsvenskan players Östers IF players IFK Värnamo players Swedish football managers SK Brann managers Kalmar FF managers Örgryte IS managers IF Elfsborg managers Östersunds FK managers Swedish expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Norway Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Norway Molde FK non-playing staff Sweden men's international footballers 20th-century Swedish sportsmen Björklund–Svensson family Eliteserien managers