Alexander Östlund

Alexander Östlund
Personal information
Full name Jan Alexander Östlund
Date of birth (1978-11-02) 2 November 1978
Place of birth Åkersberga, Sweden
Height 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Playing position Right back
Youth career
IFK Österåker
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1994–1996 AIK 21 (2)
1997 IF Brommapojkarna 13 (2)
1998 AIK 24 (1)
1998–1999 Vitória S.C. 0 (0)
1999–2002 IFK Norrköping 76 (3)
2003–2004 Hammarby IF 45 (0)
2004–2006 Feyenoord 33 (0)
2006–2008 Southampton 44 (0)
2008–2010 Esbjerg fB 6 (0)
Total 262 (8)
National team
2004–2006 Sweden 22 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.

Jan Alexander Östlund (born 2 November 1978 in Åkersberga) is a retired Swedish football player. He was released from Esbjerg fB on 25 January 2010 because of too many injuries and the same day Östlund announced that he would retire from football because of his bad knee.

Club career

Sweden

Östlund started his career in the club IFK Österåker in his hometown Åkersberga. At the age of 16 he was drafted for AIK Fotboll, where he played as a striker. He scored the club's last goal of the 1998 season, which meant AIK won Allsvenskan, the Swedish championship. He had a loan period at Birmingham City but was not offered a contract, and in January 1999 had a trial at English club Sheffield Wednesday who were then in the Premier League,[1] however this didn't lead to a transfer. He was subsequently transferred to IFK Norrköping and converted into a defender.

Hammarby IF

Alexander Östlund is one of the most beloved players in Hammarby IF in modern time, despite the fact that he made his break-through as an attacker in local rivals AIK. "Salle" immediately won the hearts of the Hammarby fans when he, in the very first minute of his very first appearance for Hammarby, dealt a hard tackle to his former team-mate AIK player and legend Krister Nordin, in the indoors tournament "Nackas minne" ("Lennart "Nacka" Skoglund Memorial) 2003.

Alexander Östlund returned to Hammarby after his career as a member of the board for Hammarby Football.

Feyenoord

In July 2004, Östlund signed with Eredivisie's Feyenoord Rotterdam, playing his first match against Vitesse Arnhem.

Southampton

His nickname is "Salle", although the fans of Southampton have been calling him "Jesus" due to his flowing locks and beard, and he emerged as a cult hero for his hard tackles and marauding runs. On the final day of the 2005–06 Championship season, replica number 2 shirts flew out of the club shop, as Saints fans could be heard in matches chanting "Jesus is our right-back".

For the early part of the 2006–07 season he was in and out of the side but towards the end cemented his right-back position. He has always given whole-hearted commitment to the team and provided a more than useful option which allowed Chris Baird to move into the centre of the defence.

Östlund started 2007–08 well, having to compete for the No. 2 position with on-loan players Phil Ifil and Christian Dailly, who both departed from the team in January 2008.

On 2 July 2008 he was released by the Saints as a free agent.

Esbjerg fB

On 25 August he was presented as a new player in Danish club Esbjerg fB. His time in Esbjerg has been blighted by injuries.[2]

On 25 January 2010 he was released from the club and he announced his retirement.

International career

Östlund played for Sweden at the 2004 European Championship after being called up as an injury replacement for Michael Svensson.[3] Despite being a regular fixture in the international side, he was controversially overlooked for the 2006 World Cup squad.

References

  1. ↑ "Football: This Week's Transfers". Independent. 9 January 1999. Retrieved 3 May 2017.
  2. ↑ "Esbjerg-svenskere til knaespecialist". www.bold.dk. 10 January 2008. Retrieved 11 March 2009.
  3. ↑ "Injury rules out Svensson". BBC Sport (British Broadcasting Corporation). 26 May 2004. Retrieved 23 May 2014.
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