Melker Hallberg

Melker Hallberg (born 20 October 1995) is a Swedish footballer who currently plays for Scottish Premiership club Hibernian as a midfielder.[1] Hallberg began his senior career at Kalmar FF, then in 2014, he signed for Italian club Udinese, and during his time there went on loan to Vålerenga, Hammarby IF, Ascoli and Kalmar FF. He signed for Vejle BK in 2018, where he spent one season, then moved to Hibernian.

Melker Hallberg

Personal information
Full name	Charles Melker Otto Hallberg
Date of birth	(1995-10-20) 20 October 1995
Place of birth	Ljungbyholm, Sweden
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Playing position(s)	Midfielder
Club information
Current team	Hibernian
Number	20
Youth career
	Möre BK
2010–2011	Kalmar FF
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2012–2014	Kalmar FF	54	(6)
2014–2018	Udinese	4	(0)
2015	→ Vålerenga (loan)	10	(2)
2016	→ Hammarby IF (loan)	12	(1)
2016	→ Ascoli (loan)	7	(1)
2017–2018	→ Kalmar FF (loan)	40	(2)
2018–2019	Vejle BK	25	(1)
2019–	Hibernian	24	(1)
National team^‡
2010–2012	Sweden U17	19	(0)
2012–2014	Sweden U19	9	(1)
2013–2017	Sweden U21	23	(3)
2016–	Sweden	3	(1)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 21:50, 15 August 2020 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 11 January 2019

Career

Early career

Hallberg grew up in the small town of Ljungbyholm, shortly to the south of Kalmar. There he started with the local club Möre BK where he played for the first team in the seventh tier of Swedish football at age thirteen.[2]

In 2010 Hallberg was brought into the Kalmar FF youth section. Two years later he became the youngest-ever first-team player for the club when he made his Allsvenskan debut at the age of sixteen.[3] On July 15, 2012, Hallberg became the fourth-youngest Allsvenskan goalscorer of all time when he scored the game-winning 2–1 goal against IF Elfsborg.[4] In December 2012 he signed a new four-year contract extension.[3] After his second season in Allsvenskan as a seventeen-year-old, Hallberg was ranked as the 14th-best player in the league by newspaper Expressen.[5]

Udinese

In August 2014, Hallberg signed for Italian club Udinese. He made his debut in January 2015.

In 2015, he was loaned out to Norwegian club Vålerenga Fotball, and in 2016 he was loaned out to Hammarby Fotboll in his native Sweden.

Vejle BK

Hallberg joined Danish club Vejle Boldklub in the summer 2018. He left the club at the end of the 2018–19 season.[6]

Hibernian

Hallberg signed a three-year contract with Scottish Premiership club Hibernian in August 2019.[7]

International career

Hallberg has featured regularly at all age levels of Swedish youth national teams. In August 2013 he got selected for the first time ever to the Swedish U21 squad in a friendly against Norway.[8] He was selected for Sweden squads in January 2016[9] and January 2019.[10]

Career statistics

As of 15 August 2020[11][12]

Club	Season	League			National Cup		League Cup		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Kalmar FF	2012	Allsvenskan	11	1	1[lower-alpha 1]	0	—		3[lower-alpha 2]	0	15	1
	2013		29	4	2[lower-alpha 1]	0	—		—		31	4
	2014		14	1	0	0	—		—		14	1
	Total		54	6	3	0	0	0	3	0	60	6
Udinese	2014–15	Serie A	4	0	1	0	0	0	—		5	0
	2015–16		0	0	0	0	0	0	—		0	0
	2016–17		0	0	0	0	0	0	—		0	0
	2017–18		0	0	0	0	0	0	—		0	0
	Total		4	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	5	0
Vålerenga (loan)	2015	Tippeligaen	10	2	0	0	—		—		10	2
Hammarby IF (loan)	2016	Allsvenskan	12	1	4[lower-alpha 3]	1	—		—		16	2
Ascoli (loan)	2016–17	Serie B	7	1	1	0	—		—		8	1
Kalmar FF (loan)	2017	Allsvenskan	27	2	3[lower-alpha 4]	0	—		—		30	2
	2018		13	0	3[lower-alpha 5]	0	—		—		16	0
	Total		40	2	6	0	0	0	0	0	46	2
Vejle BK	2018–19	Danish Superliga	25	1	0	0	—		2[lower-alpha 6]	0	27	1
Hibernian	2019–20	Scottish Premiership	20	1	3	0	2	1	—		25	2
	2020–21		4	0	0	0	0	0	—		4	0
	Total		24	1	3	0	2	1	0	0	29	2
Career total			176	14	18	1	2	1	5	0	202	16

1. Appearances in the 2012–13 Svenska Cupen
2. Appearances in the UEFA Europa League
3. Appearances in the 2015–16 Svenska Cupen
4. Appearances in the 2016–17 Svenska Cupen
5. Appearances in the 2017–18 Svenska Cupen
6. Appearances in the Danish Superliga Relegation round

Honours

Individual

• Allsvenskan newcomer of the year: 2013

References

1. "Melker Hallberg" (in Swedish). Svenskfotboll. Archived from the original on 7 October 2013. Retrieved 14 April 2012.
2. "Stortalangens första mål sänkte Elfsborg" (in Swedish). Expressen. Archived from the original on 24 March 2014. Retrieved 13 August 2013.
3. "Fyraårskontrakt för Melker Hallberg" (in Swedish). Kalmar FF. Archived from the original on 24 September 2017. Retrieved 13 August 2013.
4. "Tuffare Hallberg ska slå sig in på mitten" (in Swedish). Östran. Archived from the original on 29 October 2013. Retrieved 13 August 2013.
5. "Här är allsvenskans 50 bästa spelare - år 2013" (in Swedish). Expressen. 6 November 2013. Archived from the original on 2 February 2014. Retrieved 28 January 2014.
6. Vejle siger farvel til svensk midt, bold.dk, 24 June 2019
7. "Melker Hallberg: Hibernian sign Swedish midfielder from Udinese". BBC Sport. 23 August 2019. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
8. "Hallberg tar nu plats i U21-landslagstruppen" (in Swedish). Expressen. Archived from the original on 9 August 2013. Retrieved 13 August 2013.
9. "Hallberg ersätter Olsson i Abu Dahbi". www.svenskfotboll.se (in Swedish). 15 December 2015. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
10. "Sweden vs. Iceland". ESPN. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
11. "Eliteprospects.com - Melker Hallberg". Eliteprospects. 20 August 2014. Archived from the original on 29 October 2013.
12. Melker Hallberg at Soccerway. Retrieved 16 September 2019.

External links

• Melker Hallberg at SvFF (in Swedish)
• Melker Hallberg national team profile at SvFF (in Swedish) (archive)
• National Football Teams