Daniel Andersson (footballer, born 1977)

Daniel Andersson

Daniel Andersson during his playing career
Personal information
Full name	Daniel Jerry Andersson
Date of birth	(1977-08-28) 28 August 1977
Place of birth	Lund, Sweden
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Playing position	Midfielder / Defender
Club information
Current team	Malmö FF (Director of sports)
Youth career
0000–1994	Bjärreds IF
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1995–1998	Malmö FF	85	(11)
1998–2001	Bari	97	(16)
2001–2002	Venezia	29	(0)
2002–2003	→ Chievo (loan)	12	(0)
2003–2004	→ Ancona (loan)	25	(1)
2004–2013[upper-alpha 1]	Malmö FF	207	(19)
Total		455	(47)
National team
1996–1998	Sweden U21	17	(2)
1997–2009	Sweden	74	(0)
Teams managed
2012–2013	Malmö FF (assistant manager)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (goals)

Daniel Jerry Andersson (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈdaːnijɛl ˈɑndɛ(r)ʃɔn]; born 28 August 1977 in Lund) is a Swedish football coach and former professional player who is currently the director of sports at Malmö FF. Andersson played the majority of his career for Malmö FF in two different periods where he also served as team captain between 2006 and 2011, he also had a successful period playing for Serie A club Bari. He also had a long international playing career, playing 74 matches for Sweden. Daniel is part of a prosperous football family as both his father Roy Andersson and brother Patrik Andersson had successful football careers.

Club career

Early career

Andersson played for Bjärreds IF as a youngster, but joined Malmö FF in 1994. He gradually became a star in the Swedish league, and was bought by Italian Serie A outfit Bari.^[3]

Bari

Andersson enjoyed big personal success at Bari, being named captain as a foreigner at only 23 years, in his third year. This attracted the interest of Juventus and Fiorentina amongst other clubs, with both clubs putting bids on the table. Andersson was also on his way to Fiorentina, but due to their financial problems the transfer was cancelled in the last minute.^[4][5]

Venezia, Chievo and Ancona

Instead he transferred to Venezia for a fee of 6 million euro, where he had an average season.^[4] After that he had short stints with Chievo and Ancona. In 2004 he returned to Malmö FF together with former teammate Yksel Osmanovski.

Second period at Malmö FF

Daniel Andersson returned to Malmö FF the same year as his brother, Patrik Andersson, who was captain of the team at the time. The return of both Andersson brothers was a contributing factor to the club winning the league the same year. When Patrik retired due to injury problems in 2005 Daniel took over the captaincy and has held it since.

After having played as centre midfielder for the majority of his career he took the position as centre back from the start of the 2010 season, where he enjoyed great success consistently being one of the best players in Malmö FF that year. By this change he became the third Andersson family member after his father Roy and brother Patrik to captain Malmö FF from the centre back position. He succeeded so well with the position change that he was nominated for Swedish defender of the year and Allsvenskan player of the year after he led Malmö FF to their 16th Swedish Championship.

On 29 October 2011 Andersson announced that he would focus on his forthcoming coaching career as one of the three assistant managers for Malmö FF but emphasized that he would continue to play for the club when he was needed. On 15 December 2011 Andersson played his last match for Malmö FF as player only in the away match against Austria Vienna in the final fixture of the group stage of the 2011–12 UEFA Europa League. Due to injury problems with the clubs younger defenders Andersson played 16 of 30 matches in the 2012 season, most of these matches were played before the summer break. His last match as a professional player was an away fixture against IF Elfsborg on 12 August 2012. On 16 November Andersson announced the end of his professional playing career to be able to fully focus on his coaching duties.^[6]

International career

Andersson was capped 74 times for Sweden between 1997 and 2009. He was a squad member for Euro 2000, Euro 2008, and the 2002 and 2006 World Cup finals.

At Euro 2000, he was a regular starter in Sweden's line-up. As a result of Tobias Linderoth getting injured, he was once again a regular starter at Euro 2008, although the team did not make it into the knockout stages of the competition.

Andersson retired from the national team after the unsuccessful campaign to qualify for the 2010 World Cup, in order to devote his energies to Malmö FF.

Coaching career

Andersson was appointed as one of three new assistant managers at Malmö FF along with Jörgen Pettersson and Simon Hollyhead on 29 October 2011. His focus was primarily on the defensive side of training at first and helping former manager Rikard Norling with picking the starting eleven. On 9 January 2014 Andersson assumed the role of director of sports at the club, taking over the position from Per Ågren who was stepping down.^[7]

Personal life

Daniel Andersson is the son of Roy Andersson and the younger brother of Patrik Andersson, all three of them being some of the most successful players in Malmö FF. A notable fact is also that all three have played centre back and have been team captain of Malmö FF.

Career statistics

Honours

Club

Malmö FF

• Allsvenskan: 2004, 2010

Individual

• Swedish Midfielder of the Year: 1997
• Swedish Goal of the Year: 1997

Footnotes

References

External links

• (Swedish) Malmö FF profile

Sweden squads Sweden squad – UEFA Euro 2000 1 Hedman 2 Nilsson 3 P. Andersson (c) 4 Björklund 5 Lučić 6 Sundgren 7 Mild 8 Gustafsson 9 Ljungberg 10 Pettersson 11 Alexandersson 12 Kihlstedt 13 Svensson 14 Mellberg 15 D. Andersson 16 A. Andersson 17 Mjällby 18 Osmanovski 19 K. Andersson 20 Larsson 21 Allbäck 22 Asper Coach: Lagerbäck & Söderberg Sweden squad – 2002 FIFA World Cup 1 Hedman 2 Mellberg 3 P. Andersson (c) 4 Mjällby 5 Michael Svensson 6 Linderoth 7 Alexandersson 8 A. Svensson 9 Ljungberg 10 Allbäck 11 Larsson 12 Kihlstedt 13 Antonelius 14 Edman 15 Jakobsson 16 Lučić 17 Magnus Svensson 18 Jonson 19 Farnerud 20 D. Andersson 21 Ibrahimović 22 A. Andersson 23 Isaksson Coach: Lagerbäck & Söderberg Sweden squad – 2006 FIFA World Cup 1 Isaksson 2 Nilsson 3 Mellberg (c) 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 Sweden squad – UEFA Euro 2008 1 Isaksson 2 Nilsson 3 Mellberg 4 Hansson 5 Stoor 6 Linderoth 7 Alexandersson 8 Svensson 9 Ljungberg (c) 10 Ibrahimović 11 Elmander 12 Shaaban 13 Wiland 14 Majstorović 15 Granqvist 16 Källström 17 H. Larsson 18 S. Larsson 19 Andersson 20 Allbäck 21 Wilhelmsson 22 Rosenberg 23 Dorsin Coach: Lagerbäck