Jesper Mattsson (soccer player)

Jesper Mattsson (born April 18, 1968 ) is a Swedish former football player . The defender made his career in his home country and in England . In addition to his assignment as a selection player for the Swedish national team , his successes include winning the Swedish championship title and the national cup .

Career

Mattsson came as a junior player at Visby IF Gute to his first appearances in the adult area. He later moved to the Gothenburg club BK Häcken , for which he came to his first appearances in the Allsvenskan . When the club was relegated from the top Swedish league at the end of the season in 1994 , he moved to Halmstads BK within the championship . There he formed together with Tommy Anderson the central defender duo that led the team coached by Mats Jingblad around Niklas Gudmundsson , Robert Andersson and Torbjörn Arvidsson to third place in the championship and into the cup final against AIK . There he was one of the goalscorers alongside Niclas Alexandersson and Peter Vougt , and with his goal to make it 3-1 he sealed the title win. In the fall, he was involved in another highlight in the club's history, as the first leg at home Örjans vall of AC Parma in the second round of the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1995/96 with a 3: 0 win was defeated. After a 4-0 defeat in the second leg, however, the team missed progress against the highly-favored Italians, who ultimately failed in the quarter-finals at eventual European Cup winners Paris Saint-Germain . Due to his good performances he had made his way into the national team, but his appearance against Iceland in 1995 was his only international appearance .

After a change of coach - Tom Prahl inherited Jingblad, who had been hired by IFK Göteborg as the successor to the serial master coach Roger Gustafsson - Mattsson initially missed a confirmation of the successes with the team as seventh in the table, but in the 1997 season the changes to the now offensive game system took hold and the team won - despite eight defeats in 26 games - the Swedish championship again for the first time since 1979. He then stayed for one season at the club, which ended in fourth place.

In January 1999 Mattsson moved to England to Nottingham Forest in the Premier League . However, his stay was overshadowed by several injuries, so that he had to end his active career early after a serious knee injury.

After his active career, Mattsson worked as an expert and commentator for Canal Plus , among other things .

Web links

• Jesper Mattsson in portrait at Halmstads BK