Jesper Blomqvist
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Jesper Blomqvist
Personal information
Date of birth	February 5, 1974 (1974-02-05) (age 34)
Place of birth	Tavelsjö, Sweden
Playing position	Left midfield
Club information
Current club	Enköping
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1992–1993 1993–1996 1996–1997 1997–1998 1998–2001 2001–2002 2002–2003 2003–2005 2008	Umeå IFK Göteborg Milan Parma Manchester United Everton Charlton Athletic Djurgården Enköping	38 0(8) 73 (18) 20 0(1) 28 0(1) 25 0(1) 15 0(1) 03 0(0) 09 0(1) 03 0(0)
National team2
1994–2002	Sweden	30 0(0)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 23:10, 14 August 2008 (UTC). 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 23:10, 14 August 2008 (UTC). * Appearances (Goals)

Jesper Blomqvist (born 5 February 1974 in Tavelsjö, Västerbotten) is a Swedish football player, currently a player-coach for Enköping in the Superettan. A talented but injury prone winger, he is most notable for spells at IFK Göteborg, where he won four straight Allsvenskan titles between 1993-96, and Manchester United, where he was part of the team that won The Treble in 1999, playing in the 1999 UEFA Champions League Final. He retured to Swedish football in 2003 with Djurgården, where he won his final Allsvenskan title, before initially retiring in 2005. An injury crisis prompted a brief playing return for Enköping in 2008. Blomqvist has made 30 international appearances for Sweden, and helped them to third place at the 1994 FIFA World Cup in the United States.

Club career

Swedish football

After an early spell at Tavelsjö IK, Blomqvist signed for recently formed Umeå FC in 1992. In the spring portion of his first season for the club, he helped them to the Division 2 Norra Norrland title, promoting the club to Division 1 Norra for the autumn.^[1] At the time this was the second tier of Swedish football.^[2] Following this success, he signed for IFK Göteborg on 11th September 1993. Blomqvist played a part in the club's Allsvenskan win that year, with his most successful year in Swedish football to follow. He scored 8 goals in 24 league appearances en route to the league title in 1994.^[3] Furthermore, he played a part in Sweden's advance to the semi finals of the World Cup, and scored in the club's 3-1 win over Manchester United in the Champions League, knocking them out of the competition.^[4] This performance caught the eye of United manager Alex Ferguson, and helped the team qualify for the quarter finals of the tournament. Another title followed in 1995. In his last season for Göteborg, he played against former club Umeå, who had reached the Allsvenskan for the first time in their history. In 1996 Blomqvist was voted Fan's Player of the Year and Midfielder of the Year.^[5] At the end of the 1996 season he signed for newly crowned Serie A champions A.C. Milan.

Serie A

Blomqvist's first season in Italian football was difficult, with Milan failing to win a trophy and Blomqvist often on the bench. Indeed, he nearly decided against going to Old Trafford because he didn't want a repeat of this season.^[6] The defending champions had an equally disappointing season, finishing 11th and failing to qualify for Europe. He was subsequently sold to Serie A runners up Parma F.C. in the summer of 1997. Blomqvist enjoyed more regular football, although the club finished 6th in the league and missed out on the knockout stages of the Champions League. The Swede's sole league goal for the club was scored in a 4-0 win over Napoli at Stadio San Paolo.^[7]

Premier League

See also: Manchester United F.C. season 1998-99

United purchased Blomqvist as a backup to Ryan Giggs in 1998, for a fee of £4.4 million.^[8] He featured in enough games to win a Premier League winner's medal in 1999, scoring his only goal for the club in a game against Everton.^[9] He received an FA Cup winners medal despite being an unused substitute in the final. However, he started against Bayern Munich in the Champions League final. He came close to scoring before eventually being replaced by Teddy Sheringham, who later scored the equaliser. United went on to win the match 2-1.^[10]

Due to a serious knee injury Blomqvist played no football in the next two seasons. This led to Manchester United deciding not to renew his contract. Nonetheless, Ferguson persuaded Everton manager Walter Smith to offer the Swedish international a short term contract at Goodison Park, from November 2001 until the end of the season.^[11] Blomqvist played on the wings alongside compatriot Niclas Alexandersson. Injury problems persisted however, and new manager David Moyes allowed him to leave the club in June 2002. He had a trial at Middlesbrough, but was unhappy with the club's handling of the situation, labelling their handling of the situation "a bit unprofessional".^[12] Instead he signed for Alan Curbishley's Charlton Athletic on a free transfer.

Return to Sweden

Again struggling with injury, Blomqvist returned to his native Sweden after only four games with Charlton. He signed on a short term deal with Djurgårdens IF.^[13] Blomqvist played a part as the side became Swedish champions that year. However, injury problems restricted him to only 9 league appearances. As during the stint with Manchester United, he remained at the club for another two seasons, before finally deciding to retire due to injury in 2005.^[9]

Blomqvist joined Enköpings SK as a coach in 2008, and has since made a playing return in the Superettan, the second tier of Swedish football. Ironically, this was due to an injury crisis. Blomqvist was sent off in his second game for the club, and as a result the team only had fifteen players available for the following match.^[14] It is unclear whether Blomqvist intends to carry on playing.

International career

Blomqvist was part of the bronze medal-winning Swedish national team at the 1994 FIFA World Cup. He made his debut was against Columbia in 1994.^[15] His only World Cup start came against Cameroon, although he also replaced Henrik Larsson in the second half of a draw against eventual champions Brazil.^[16] Each member of the squad was awarded a Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal in recognition of their third place in the tournament. Blomqvist was also considered for the 2002 World Cup squad.^[17] In total, Blomqvist has been capped 30 times by his country, without scoring.

Career statistics

^{[3] [18] [19]}

Honours

• Allsvenskan (5): 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2003
• FA Premier League (1): 1998-99*
• Division 2 Norra Norrland (1): 1992
• FA Cup (1): 1999**
• UEFA Champions League (1): 1999

_{(*) Manchester United won titles in 1999-2000 and 2000-01, but Blomqvist did not play and did not receive a medal.}

_{(**) Unused substitute.}

References

v • d • e Sweden squad - 1994 FIFA World Cup Third Place 1 Ravelli • 2 R. Nilsson • 3 P. Andersson • 4 Björklund • 5 Ljung • 6 Schwarz • 7 Larsson • 8 Ingesson • 9 Thern • 10 Dahlin • 11 Brolin • 12 Eriksson • 13 M. Nilsson • 14 Kåmark • 15 Lučić • 16 Limpar • 17 Rehn • 18 Mild • 19 K. Andersson • 20 Erlingmark • 21 Blomqvist • 22 Hedman • Coach: Svensson