Jonas Olsson (footballer, born 1983)

Jonas Olsson (born 10 March 1983) is a Swedish former footballer who played as a defender. He has won 25 caps for the Swedish national team and represented his country at Euro 2012.

Jonas Olsson

Olsson playing for Djurgården in 2018
Personal information
Full name	Jonas Olsson[1]
Date of birth	(1983-03-10) 10 March 1983
Place of birth	Landskrona, Sweden
Height	1.95 m (6 ft 5 in)[2]
Playing position(s)	Centre back
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2003–2005	Landskrona BoIS	56	(1)
2005–2008	NEC	93	(5)
2008–2017	West Bromwich Albion	244	(12)
2017–2018	Djurgårdens IF	41	(3)
2019	Wigan Athletic	6	(0)
Total		440	(21)
National team
2003–2005	Sweden U21	19	(1)
2010–2015	Sweden	25	(1)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Club career

Early career

Olsson was born in Landskrona and made his debut in professional football in 2003 as part of the Landskrona BoIS squad. Olsson is considered to be a very tough defender, playing as a centreback or leftback. He considers fellow Swedish defender Olof Mellberg to be an inspiration.[3]

Two years later he was sold for €750,000 to Dutch side N.E.C. Nijmegen.[4] While playing in Sweden Olsson was known for his physical play and in 2004 he was the player who picked up the most cautions that year. Playing for NEC Nijmegen evolved his game and the cautions became a thing of the past. Olsson himself says that the Dutch man–man marking approach to defense has improved his game.[5][6]

He was linked with a move to the Premiership several times with Bolton Wanderers, Middlesbrough, Newcastle United and Everton.[7][8][9][10][11][12] Olsson scored three goals in the Eredivisie in 2007–08.

West Bromwich Albion

On 22 August 2008, Olsson was linked with a move to West Bromwich Albion.[13] On 29 August 2008 West Bromwich Albion confirmed his signing subject to a medical for an initial fee of £800,000 with a possible £360,000 of performance related add ons.[14]

Olsson made his first appearance, starting against West Ham United on 13 September 2008. He scored his first goal for West Bromwich, in a 1–0 win away to Middlesbrough.[15] Olsson went on to score two more goals in the 2008–09 season. The first coming in the FA Cup against Peterborough,[16] and the second was the first goal in West Brom's 3–0 win over Sunderland on 25 April 2009.[17]

In a match against Doncaster Rovers on 15 September 2009, Olsson headed two goals. Thirteen days later, he signed a new four-year deal which is set to keep him at the club until 2013. On 23 October 2010, Olsson picked up an Achilles tendon injury during the win over Fulham and was ruled out for up to six weeks. He then made his return to the starting line-up against Blackburn Rovers on 23 January 2011, completing the full 90 minutes, partnering Gabriel Tamas in defence in a 2–0 defeat at Ewood Park. At the end of the 2011–12 season, he made 34 appearances in all competitions, all of which were starting berths.

The following season Gareth McAuley joined West Bromwich on a free transfer. Olsson and McAuley formed a strong partnership throughout the season playing a major part in the club's highest finish for 30 years in tenth place.

On 6 October 2012, it was announced that Olsson had signed a new four-year contract with West Bromwich, ensuring he would remain with the team until 2016.

Djurgårdens IF

In March 2017, Olsson and West Bromwich agreed to a mutual termination of the remainder of Olsson's contract, and he departed Albion after nine years with the club to join Djurgårdens IF, signing a two-year contract.[18][19] He decided to return to Sweden after facing stiff competition for playing time at West Bromwich, with only 7 club appearances in his final season.[20] His move to Djurgården was part of a string of high-profile acquisitions by the club, which included the return to Djurgården of two of Olsson's former Sweden national team teammates: Kim Källström earlier in the offseason, and Andreas Isaksson the season before. On 10 May 2018 he played as Djurgarden beat Malmo FF 3-0 in the Swedish Cup Final.[21]

Wigan Athletic

On 1 February 2019 Olsson signed a deal with Wigan Athletic that stretches until the end of the season.[22] "I am delighted to be back. I have been missing the UK a lot and I always feel more British than Swedish in a sense," Olsson told the club website.[23]He was released by the club in July 2019.[24]

International career

Olsson was a regular for the Sweden under 21-squad. He was capped 19 times, scoring one goal.

Olsson was included in new coach Erik Hamrén's squad for the friendlies against Bosnia and Herzegovina and Belarus in 2010. He never came off the bench in the match against Bosnia and Herzegovina.[25][26] The next match against Belarus saw Olsson play from start.[27] On 15 May 2012, 29-year-old Olsson was named in the 23-man squad and handed the number 13 shirt for Euro 2012 held in Poland and the Ukraine, along with two other Premier League stars, Blackburn's Martin Olsson and Sunderland's set-piece specialist Sebastian Larsson.

Career statistics

Club

As of 15 April 2019[28][29]

Club	Season	League			Cup		League Cup		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Landskrona BoIS	2003	Allsvenskan	22	0	0	0	—		—		22	0
	2004		22	1	2	0	—		—		24	1
	2005		12	0	2	0	—		—		14	0
	Total		56	1	4	0	0	0	0	0	60	1
N.E.C. Nijmegen	2005–06	Eredivisie	34	0	2	1	—		2	0	38	1
	2006–07		32	2	2	0	—		3	0	37	2
	2007–08		27	3	2	0	—		5	2	34	5
	Total		93	5	6	1	0	0	10	2	109	8
West Bromwich Albion	2008–09	Premier League	28	2	1	1	0	0	—		29	3
	2009–10	EFL Championship	43	4	3	1	2	0	—		48	5
	2010–11	Premier League	24	1	1	0	0	0	—		25	1
	2011–12		33	2	0	0	1	0	—		34	2
	2012–13		36	0	0	0	1	0	—		37	0
	2013–14		32	1	0	0	0	0	—		32	1
	2014–15		13	1	1	0	1	0	—		15	1
	2015–16		28	1	2	0	2	0	—		32	1
	2016–17		7	0	1	0	1	0	—		9	0
	Total		244	12	9	2	8	0	0	0	261	14
Djurgårdens IF	2017	Allsvenskan	22	3	0	0	—		—		22	3
	2018		19	0	6	0	—		2	0	27	0
	Total		41	3	6	0	0	0	2	0	49	3
Wigan	2018–19	EFL Championship	6	0	—		—		—		6	0
Career total			440	21	25	3	8	0	12	2	485	26

International

As of 1 August 2015.[30]

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Sweden	2010	1	0
	2011	4	0
	2012	11	0
	2013	8	1
	2015	1	0
Total		25	1

International goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	6 February 2013	Friends Arena, Solna, Sweden	Argentina	1–1	2–3	Friendly

Television work

When Swedish cable network Viasat acquired the broadcasting rights for the 2010–11 Premier League season, the network hired several new television presenters and journalists. Olsson has signed up with Viasat and will appear via satellite link and telephone to provide a players perspective on the matches and the Premier League. He added that this will give him a chance to promote West Bromwich Albion in Sweden.[31] On 15 April 2012, he appeared as a guest pundit on BBC's Match of the Day 2.

Personal life

When not playing football, Olsson enjoys playing the guitar. He lists Bob Dylan, Nirvana, The Rolling Stones, Oasis, Babyshambles, The Chardogs and The Who as some of his favourite artists.[32]

Olsson has stated that once he is done with his professional football career, he wants to qualify as a lawyer and work within the sphere of human rights. He has already taken introduction classes on the subject in Sweden.[33][34]

Honours

Club

Djurgårdens IF

• Svenska Cupen: 2017–18

References

1. Hugman, Barry J., ed. (2010). The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2010–11. Mainstream Publishing. p. 319. ISBN 978-1-84596-601-0.
2. "Premier League Player Profile Jonas Olsson". Premier League. Barclays Premier League. 2015. Retrieved 22 January 2015.
3. Lepkowski, Chris (3 September 2008). "Jonas Olsson inspired by Olof Mellburg".
4. "Olssons flytt ogillas av Bois-tränarna".
5. (in Swedish) hd.se – Jonas är redo att ta nästa steg Archived 25 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine
6. fotbollskanalen.se Archived 3 January 2008 at the Wayback Machine
7. Weekend Report – Sweden Archived 5 March 2008 at the Wayback Machine
8. "Sky Sports – Football – News – Olsson in Magpies link". Sky Sports.
9. Prem trio linked with Olsson move | TEAMtalk Archived 3 December 2007 at the Wayback Machine
10. "Jonas Olsson på väg till England".
11. "Succébacken kan köpas av Everton".
12. "Olsson open to Everton switch". Sky Sports.
13. Lepkowski, Chris (22 August 2008). "West Bromwich Albion track Swede defender Jonas Olsson".
14. "Baggies agree Olsson fee". West Bromwich Albion F.C. 29 September 2008. Archived from the original on 6 September 2008. Retrieved 29 September 2008.
15. Ashenden, Mark (27 September 2008). "Middlesbrough 0–1 West Brom". BBC. Retrieved 14 September 2009.
16. "West Brom 1–1 Peterborough". BBC Sport. 3 January 2009. Retrieved 15 September 2009.
17. "West Brom 3–0 Sunderland". BBC. 25 April 2009. Retrieved 14 September 2009.
18. "Jonas Olsson leaves West Brom after nine years". ITV News. 23 March 2017. Retrieved 23 March 2017.
19. "Jonas Olsson Klar För Djurgården". Archived from the original on 4 June 2017. Retrieved 23 March 2017.
20. "Jonas Olsson Klar För Djurgården".
21. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 11 May 2018. Retrieved 11 May 2018.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
22. https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11682/11624842/wigan-sign-former-west-brom-defender-jonas-olsson
23. https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/47090293
24. "Wigan Athletic FC". wiganathletic.com. Retrieved 26 July 2019.
25. "Här är Hamrens trupp mot Wales".
26. "Express & Star".
27. http://www.dn.se/sport/fotboll/ingen-zlatan-i-hamrens-landslag-1.1099966
28. "J. Olsson". Soccerway. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
29. "Jonas Olsson". eliteprospects.com (in Swedish). Elitefootball. Archived from the original on 19 October 2014. Retrieved 16 August 2014.
30. "Jonas Olsson – national football team player".
31. "Han kliver in i tv-rutan".
32. West Bromwich Albion new boy Jonas Olsson is a guitar hero/
33. "West Brom Defender Jonas Olsson Wants To Become A Lawyer - Goal.com". 3 May 2009.
34. "Här är stjärnornas okända utbildning".

External links

• Jonas Olsson player profile at wba.co.uk
• Jonas Olsson at Soccerbase
• Premier League profile of Jonas Olsson
• BBC Sport profile of Jonas Olsson

Sporting positions
Preceded by Romano Denneboom	N.E.C. Man of the Year 2006–2007	Succeeded by Youssef El-Akchaoui