Lotta Linnea Ökvist (born 17 February 1997) is a Swedish 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, rugby lea ...

who plays as a defender for

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 ...

in the

Damallsvenskan The (; ), known as OBOS for sponsorship reasons, is the highest division of women's football in Sweden. It is one of the best women's leagues in the world, and was founded in 1988. The division consists of a league of 14 teams. From 2013, t ...

. She previously played for Swedish clubs

Piteå IF Piteå Idrottsförening (), commonly known as Piteå IF (), is a Swedish football club located in Piteå that currently competes in Sweden's top-division women's league, Damallsvenskan, which it won in 2018. History The sports club Piteå IF ...

Umeå IK Umeå IK () is a women's professional association football club based in the city of Umeå, in northern Sweden, and currently playing Damallsvenskan, the first tier of women's football in Sweden. They were one of the most successful football cl ...

BK Häcken Bollklubben Häcken, more commonly known as BK Häcken or simply Häcken (), is a Swedish professional association football, football club based in Gothenburg (Hisingen). It currently plays in Allsvenskan, the top tier of Swedish football. Forme ...

and Eskilstuna United, and

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

in the

FA WSL The Women's Super League (WSL), also known as the Barclays Women's Super League for sponsorship reasons, and formerly the FA WSL, is a professional association football league and the highest level of women's football in England. Currently oper ...

. In 2020, she won her first cap for the Sweden national team.

Club career

Move to the U.S.

After spending time with

and

in her native Sweden, Ökvist signed with

NWSL The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a women's professional Association football, soccer league and the highest level of the United States soccer league system#Women's leagues, United States soccer league system (alongside the USL Supe ...

team

Boston Breakers The Boston Breakers were an American professional women's soccer club based in the Boston neighborhood of Allston. The team competed in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). They replaced the original Breakers, who competed in the defu ...

in October 2017 ahead of the 2018 season. However, prior to the beginning of the season, the Boston Breakers folded and Ökvist was selected by the

Houston Dash The Houston Dash are an American professional soccer team based in Houston, Texas, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). The Dash began play in the 2014 season. The team plays its home games at Shell Energy Stadium. His ...

as the 13th pick in the resultant dispersal draft on 7 March 2018. Two weeks later, Ökvist was traded to the

Orlando Pride The Orlando Pride are an American professional Association football, soccer team based in Orlando, Florida, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). The Pride began play in the 2016 National Women's Soccer League season, 2016 ...

in exchange for Orlando's third-round pick in the

2019 NWSL College Draft The 2019 NWSL College Draft was the seventh annual meeting of National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) franchises to select newly eligible college players for the 2019 NWSL season. It was held on January 10, 2019, in conjunction with the United S ...

. On 3 July 2018, the

announced that they had released Ökvist, allowing her to pursue opportunities in Europe. Ökvist never appeared in a game for the Pride.

Return to Sweden

On 4 July 2018,

of the

in Sweden announced they had signed Ökvist for the remainder of the 2018 season. The team was relegated to the

Elitettan Elitettan (, ) is the second highest division of Swedish women's football. Contested by 14 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with Damallsvenskan The (; ), known as OBOS for sponsorship reasons, is the highest divisi ...

. Ökvist remained with Hammarby through 2019, starting every Elitettan match prior to her departure in August.

Manchester United

On 20 August 2019, Ökvist signed for

in the English

. Ökvist made her debut for Manchester United against

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

in the FA WSL on 7 September 2019, a 1–0 loss in the inaugural

Manchester derby The Manchester derby refers to association football, football matches between Manchester City F.C., Manchester City and Manchester United F.C., Manchester United, first contested in 1881. City play at the City of Manchester Stadium in Bradford, ...

BK Häcken

On 14 January 2021, reigning Swedish champions Kopparbergs/Göteborg FC (renamed BK Häcken ahead of the 2021 season) announced they had signed Ökvist from Manchester United on a two-year deal. She made her debut on 13 March starting in the first game of the season, a 1–0 win over

Växjö DFF Växjö DFF () is a football club from Växjö, in Kronoberg County, Sweden. The club was established in 2014 and was promoted into the women's premier division Damallsvenskan for the first time in 2017. The club play their home games at Visma ...

in the

Svenska Cupen Svenska cupen (, ), also known as the Swedish Cup in English, 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 ...

. In her first season with the club, Ökvist made 22 league appearances, helping her side reach a 2nd place in the Damallsvenskan table. In 2022, Ökvist lost her place as a starter at BK Häcken to Anna Sandberg, only making 14 appearances as the side finished 2nd in the table for a second consecutive season. On 1 September 2022, she was sent on loan to fellow Damallsvenskan club Eskilstuna United for the rest of the year.

Return to Hammarby

On 29 December 2022, Ökvist signed a three-year contract with her former club Hammarby. On 6 June 2023, Hammarby won the 2022–23 Svenska Cupen. Ökvist remained on the bench in the final, that ended in a 3–0 win at home against

. The club also won the 2023 Damallsvenskan, claiming its second Swedish championship after 38 years, with Ökvist making 14 appearances throughout the season.

International career

Ökvist has represented Sweden at under-17, under-19, and under-23 levels. In 2015, she helped Sweden win the

UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship The UEFA European Women's Under-19 Championship or simply UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship, is an annual competition in women's football for European national teams of players under 19 years of age. National under-19 teams whose countries belon ...

. In March 2020, Ökvist was called up to the senior Sweden national team for the first time to compete at the

2020 Algarve Cup The 2020 Algarve Cup was the 27th edition of the Algarve Cup, an invitational women's football tournament held annually in Portugal. It took place from 4-11 March 2020. The final was scratched and Germany was awarded the Algarve Cup as Italy had ...

. She made her senior international debut on 7 March, starting in the second game of the tournament against

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Club

Hammarby IF *

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

International

Sweden *

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

References

External links

*
Lotta Ökvist
at

Manchester United F.C. Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional football club based in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England. They compete in the Premier League, t ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Okvist, Lotta 1997 births Living people Orlando Pride players Swedish women's footballers Sweden women's international footballers Women's association football defenders Damallsvenskan players Hammarby Fotboll (women) players Piteå IF (women) players Umeå IK players Eskilstuna United DFF players Sportspeople from Piteå Footballers from Norrbotten County Manchester United W.F.C. players Women's Super League players Swedish expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate women's footballers in England Sweden women's youth international footballers 21st-century Swedish sportswomen