Patrik Andersson

Patrik Jonas Andersson (; born 18 August 1971) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a defender.

Starting off his career with Malmö FF in the late 1980s, he went on to play professionally in England, Germany, and Spain, and won the 2000–01 UEFA Champions League with Bayern Munich. He returned to Malmö in 2004, before retiring the following season.

A full international between 1992 and 2002, he won 96 caps for the Sweden national team and was a part of the Sweden team that finished third at the 1994 FIFA World Cup. He also played at the 1992 Summer Olympics, UEFA Euro 1992, UEFA Euro 2000, and was a squad player at the 2002 FIFA World Cup.

He was awarded Guldbollen as the Sweden's best footballer of the year in 1995 and 2001.

Club career

Early career Born in Bjärred, Andersson began his career with the local club, Bjärreds IF. In 1988, he moved on to Allsvenskan club Malmö FF.

Blackburn Rovers In December 1992, Andersson went professional as he moved to Blackburn Rovers for a fee of £800,000, where he stayed for one year, making just 12 Premier League appearances. However, he is notable for being one of the first foreign signings by Blackburn Rovers, and one of the relatively small group of foreigners who appeared in the first season of the new Premier League in England.

Borussia Mönchengladbach His next step was to go to Germany in October 1993 and play for Borussia Mönchengladbach. There, he won the DFB-Pokal with the team in 1995, but left the team, as its performance deteriorated, in 1999.

Bayern Munich In June 1999, Andersson signed for Bayern Munich for approximately DM 6 million. He made his debut on 22 August 1999 in a 2–0 away defeat to Bayer Leverkusen. His time with Bayern resulted in two Bundesliga championships (in the 2000–01 championship season he scored the final and decisive goal against Hamburger SV in the last minute – his only goal for the club) as well as a DFB-Pokal and victory in the 2000–01 UEFA Champions League, despite missing his penalty in the final shootout.

Barcelona

Andersson moved to La Liga giants Barcelona in 2001 and spent three injury-plagued seasons there. Therefore, he played only 19 league matches for the Blaugrana.

Return to Malmö For the 2004 season, Andersson came back to Malmö to play in the Swedish league again after ten years. That year, he captained Malmö, who won their first Swedish league (Allsvenskan) title in 15 years. He has twice been awarded Guldbollen as the Swedish footballer of the year, in 1995 and 2001. After suffering yet another knee injury during a Champions League qualifier against Swiss team Thun on 10 August 2005, Andersson announced his retirement from professional football on 12 August 2005.

International career Andersson earned a total of 96 caps for the Sweden national team, scoring three goals. He won a bronze medal in the 1994 FIFA World Cup. Andersson also played in the team that reached the semi-finals at UEFA Euro 1992. He was on the Sweden national squad in Euro 2000, the 2002 FIFA World Cup and was a member of the Sweden squad at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. At Euro 2000, he received a red card for a hard foul on Belgium's Bart Goor. At the 2002 World Cup, in Sweden's last training session before their opening match against England, Andersson was injured and was not able to play in the tournament. He was replaced by Andreas Jakobsson.

Post-playing career He was appointed as Manchester United's scout in Scandinavia in August 2010. He left the club after one year.

Personal life Andersson is the son of Roy Andersson, who played more than 300 games for Malmö and won 20 caps for the Sweden national team, representing them at the 1978 FIFA World Cup.

Career statistics Club

International

Scores and results list Sweden's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Andersson goal.

Honours Borussia Mönchengladbach DFB-Pokal: 1994–95

Bayern Munich Bundesliga: 1999–2000, 2000–01 DFB-Pokal: 1999–2000 DFB-Ligapokal: 1999, 2000 UEFA Champions League: 2000–01

Malmö FF Allsvenskan: 2004

Sweden FIFA World Cup third place: 1994

Individual kicker Bundesliga Team of the Season: 1994–95, 1996–97 UEFA Team of the Year: 2001 Swedish Defender of the Year: 2001 Guldbollen: 1995, 2001