Pär Johan Zetterberg (; born 14 October 1970) is a Swedish former 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 ...

who played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. He is best remembered for his time with

R.S.C. Anderlecht Royal Sporting Club Anderlecht, usually known as Anderlecht (, , ) or RSCA (, , ), is a Belgian professional football club based in Anderlecht, Brussels Capital-Region. Anderlecht plays in the Belgian First Division A and is the most successful B ...

, but also represented

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, Superett ...

Charleroi Charleroi ( , , ; wa, Tchålerwè ) is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. By 1 January 2008, the total population of Charleroi was 201,593.

, and

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós ( el, Ολυμπιακός Σύνδεσμος Φιλάθλων Πειραιώς, Olympic Club of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number ...

during a career that spanned between 1986 and 2006. A full international between 1993 and 1999, he won 30

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

for the Sweden national team and scored six goals. He was awarded

Guldbollen Guldbollen (''Golden Ball'') is a Swedish football award given by ''Aftonbladet'' and the Swedish Football Association to the best male Swedish footballer each year. History The award was created by Bengt Liljedahl and between 1946 to 1965 it wa ...

in 1997 as Sweden's best footballer of the year.

Club career

Zetterberg started off his footballing career with

in 1978, and made his senior debut for the team in

Division 3 In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football * Belgian Th ...

at the age of 15 in 1986. After having played seven games for Falkenberg, he joined

Anderlecht Anderlecht (, ) is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Forest, Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, and Saint-Gilles, as well as th ...

as a youth player later in the same year. He made his debut for Anderlecht in the

Belgian First Division The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 tea ...

in 1989 and had a loan spell at

Charleroi Charleroi ( , , ; wa, Tchålerwè ) is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. By 1 January 2008, the total population of Charleroi was 201,593.

between 1991 and 1993. He stayed with Anderlecht until the year 2000 and helped the team to four league titles during this time. In 2000, Zetterberg joined

in the

Greek Superleague The Super League Greece 1 ( el, Ελληνική Σούπερ Λιγκ 1), or Super League 1, is the highest professional association football league in Greece. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and replaced ''Alpha Ethniki'' at the top of ...

and helped the team to three straight league titles between 2000 and 2003. He returned to Anderlecht in 2003 and helped the team to another two league titles before retiring from professional football in 2006. He appeared in around 300 games for Anderlecht during his two spells with the team.

International career

Zetterberg represented the Sweden U17 and U21 teams a total of 12 times, scoring two goals. He made his full international debut for Sweden on 19 May 1993 in a 1994 FIFA World Cup qualifier against

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

, replacing Johnny Ekström in the 70th minute of a 1–0 win. He scored his first senior goal for Sweden two weeks later on 2 June 1993 in a 1994 FIFA World Cup qualifier against

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

, scoring the third goal in 5–0 win. Zetterberg helped Sweden qualify for the

1994 FIFA World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national association football, soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the countr ...

, but missed out on the tournament because of a serious knee injury. He played in the qualification campaigns for

UEFA Euro 1996 The 1996 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 96, was the 10th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament contested by European nations and organised by UEFA. It took place in ...

and the

1998 FIFA World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the football world championship for men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. The country was chosen as the host nation by FIFA for th ...

, but could not help Sweden qualify for the two tournaments despite scoring a total of three goals during the latter campaign. Zetterberg had a falling out with the national team manager

Tommy Söderberg Tommy Söderberg (born 19 August 1948) is a Swedish football manager and coach. Career As a manager, he won the Swedish league title with AIK in 1992. Later he went on to coach the Swedish U21 national team, and when Tommy Svensson left hi ...

in 1999, and declared that he would not return to the Sweden national team until Söderberg no longer managed the team. He would play his last ever international game for Sweden in a 1–0

UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying Qualifying for the UEFA Euro 2000 final tournament, took place throughout 1998 and 1999. Forty-nine teams were divided into nine groups. All teams played against each other, within their groups, on a home-and-away basis. The winner of each group ...

win against

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small land ...

at the age of 28. Zetterberg won a total of 30

during his career, scoring six goals.

Coaching career

On 21 March 2020, Zetterberg left

RSC Anderlecht ; french: Les Mauves et Blancs) , short name = R.S.C.A. , founded = , ground = Constant Vanden Stock Stadium , capacity = 22,500 , owntitle = Chairman , owner = Wouter Vandenhaute , manager = Brian Riemer , ...

as assistant manager after a two year stint.

Personal life

Zetterberg suffers from

diabetes Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level (hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ...

type 1. He is the father of professional footballer

Erik Zetterberg Erik Pär Zetterberg (born 16 February 1997) is a Swedish footballer who plays as a midfielder for Lunds BK in Ettan Södra. Club career Early career Zetterberg began his career in the youth setup of Belgian side Royal Stade Brainois, the same ...

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Sweden's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Zetterberg goal.''

Honours

Anderlecht *

: 1990–91, 1993–94, 1994–95, 1999–00, 2003–04, 2005–06 *

Belgian Cup The Belgian Cup (french: link=no, Coupe de Belgique; nl, Beker van België []; german: link=no, Belgischer Fußballpokal) is the main Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in Belgium, run by the Belgia ...

: 1993–94 Belgian Cup, 1993–94 *

Belgian League Cup The Belgian League Cup was a Belgian association football cup created in 1973. The competition was held from 1973 by eleven clubs wanting to increase professionalism in Belgian football but lasted only three seasons before being disbanded. The tourn ...

: 2000 * Belgian Sports Team of the Year: 2000 Olympiacos *

Super League Greece The Super League Greece 1 ( el, Ελληνική Σούπερ Λιγκ 1), or Super League 1, is the highest professional association football league in Greece. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and replaced ''Alpha Ethniki'' at the top of ...

: 2000–01, 2001–02, 2002–03 Individual *

Belgian Golden Shoe In association football, the Belgian Golden Shoe ( nl, Gouden Schoen, french: Soulier d'Or) is an award given in Belgium at the beginning of each civil year to the best footballer of the Belgian First Division A for the past year. The trophy is spon ...

: 1993, 1997 * Belgian Professional Footballer of the Year: 1993, 1997, 1998 * Man of the Season (Belgian First Division): 1996–97 * Swedish Golden Ball: 1997 * Belgian Fair Play Award: 1998, 1999, 2000, 2004, 2005, 2006 * Platina Eleven (Best Team in 50 Years of Golden Shoe Winners) (2003) * The Best Golden Shoe Team Ever (2011)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zetterberg, Par 1970 births Living people Swedish footballers Association football midfielders Sweden international footballers Belgian Pro League players Falkenbergs FF players R.S.C. Anderlecht players R. Charleroi S.C. players Olympiacos F.C. players People from Falkenberg Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate footballers in Belgium Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Greece Expatriate footballers in Greece People with type 1 diabetes Sportspeople from Halland County