Kim Källström

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Kim Källström
Personal information
Full name	Kim Källström
Date of birth	August 24, 1982 (age 24)
Place of birth	Sandviken, Sweden
Height	6' 5" (184 cm)
Nickname	Kongo-Kim
Playing position	Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Olympique Lyonnais
Number	6
Youth clubs
1989–90 1990–96	Sandvikens IF Partille IF
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1997–2001 2002–03 2003–06 2006–present	BK Häcken Djurgårdens IF Stade Rennais Olympique Lyonnais	69 (14) 48 (26) 83 (20) 27 (3)
National team2
2001–present	Sweden	44 (6)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 23 March 2007 (CET). 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 05:30, 25 february 2007 (CET). * Appearances (Goals)

Kim Källström [kɪm 'ɕɛlstrœm] (born August 24, 1982 in Sandviken, Sweden) is a left-footed Swedish midfielder playing for the Swedish national team and Olympique Lyonnais. He has a powerful shot, which once knocked out his team-mate Andreas Isaksson during training prior to the 2006 World Cup. His nickname is Kongo-Kim. He is also known for sporting a rather unique quiff.

Källström's first professional club in Sweden was BK Häcken from Gothenburg but his big breakthrough in Sweden came when he moved to Djurgårdens IF in 2002, where he won the swedish Allsvenskan in 2002 and 2003. Being from Gothenburg, it was expected that he would sign for IFK Göteborg. In the spring of 2004 Källström moved to the French club Rennes, where he played together with fellow former Djurgården player Andreas Isaksson.

Källström made his international debut in 2001 against Finland. He played for his country at Euro 2004 and has been capped 31 times scoring 4 goals, as of December 2005.

Källström had an impressive showing in the 2006 World Cup for Sweden. Although he began the tournament on the bench as a substitue, he replaced Anders Svensson for a starting spot against Paraguay, England, and Germany. He had several superb shots as well as an overall impressive showing, both offensively and defensively helping Sweden to reach the second round. On May 26, 2006, he signed with French league champions Olympique Lyonnais.

[edit] Euro 2008

He scored off of a right-footed blast, just outside of the box in Sweden's 1-0 victory over Latvia on September 2, 2006. This was Sweden's first game of their 2008 European Championship qualifying campaign. On October 11, 2006, Kallstrom dazzled the crowd and stunned his Icelandic adversaries with an 8th minute 45 yard rocket that found the back of the net through a sea of bodies. The goal proved to be decisive, as Sweden soundly defeated Iceland 2-1, thus extending their qualification recorded to an immaculate 4-0 and placing them at the head of their group with an achieved maximum of 12 points. He will be vital if the Scandinavian nation hope to compete with the European giants in 2008.

[edit] Trivia

Källström is a player who has entered into Championship Manager folklore as one of the best buys in the game whilst still playing for Djurgårdens IF and Hacken. He became a very popular transfer target for players of Championship Manager 01/02 in particular.At this stage in his career he was still a little-known player at Hacken. This was because the stats and abiltities the he was given by the developers did not reflect the players very low valuation. This meant even the poorest clubs could afford a quality player. He became almost a "cheat" player, and this led to the developers giving him a much more realistic valuation in later editions of the game.

	Sweden squad - 2006 FIFA World Cup
1 Isaksson | 2 Nilsson | 3 Mellberg | 4 Lučić | 5 Edman | 6 Linderoth | 7 Alexandersson | 8 A. Svensson | 9 Ljungberg | 10 Ibrahimović | 11 Larsson | 12 Alvbåge | 13 Hansson | 14 Stenman | 15 K. Svensson | 16 Källström | 17 Elmander | 18 Jonson | 19 Andersson | 20 Allbäck | 21 Wilhelmsson | 22 Rosenberg | 23 Shaaban | Coach: Lagerbäck

Olympique Lyonnais - Current Squad
1 Coupet | 2 Clerc | 3 Cris | 4 Müller | 5 Caçapa | 6 Källström | 7 Baroš | 8 Juninho | 10 Malouda | 11 Fred | 12 Réveillère | 14 Govou | 15 Diarra | 18 Ben Arfa | 19 Benzema | 20 Abidal | 21 Tiago | 22 Wiltord | 23 Berthod | 25 Hartock | 28 Toulalan | 29 Squillaci | 30 Vercoutre | 31 Hima | 34 Rémy | 36 Idangar | 38 Benhamida | 39 Bettiol | Manager: Houllier