To date, the Swedish national football team, in fact, like all Swedish football, is associated with Zlatan Ibrahimovic. This football player during his career has created around himself such a powerful aura of certain attractiveness that everyone talks about him, always and everywhere. Fortunately, he is not only charismatic, but also a brilliant athlete. But there were times when Swedish football was much stronger - the national team of this country could even qualify for awards in major tournaments.
Ibrahimovic, in principle, is part of that fearsome team, but most of the players of that time have already completed their careers. And one of the most prominent among them was Fredrik Jungberg. This player was a real king of creative midfield, one of the best playmakers in Europe, so he will be remembered for a very long time. Of course, he did not create for himself such a PR campaign as Ibrahimovic, but in football skills he was not inferior to Zlatan. So, what career path did Fredrik Jungberg follow, who is now 39 years old?
Carier start
Fredrik Jungberg was born in the Swedish city of Witsche in 1977 and at the age of five he started playing football at the Halmstad club academy. The boy’s talent was obvious, so he began his appearances for an adult team at the age of 17. Naturally, he did not immediately become the “iron” player of the base, but Freddy’s performances were simply incredible, so no one had any doubt that the guy would go far and would not stay long in his native club. And this happened - already in 1998, when Jungberg was only 21 years old, the leading clubs in Europe became interested in him, but he gave his preference to the London Arsenal, with which he subsequently connected almost his entire career. Fredrik Jungberg, in fact, was one of the symbols of the Arsenal of the first half of the zero.
The game for Arsenal
Arsenal laid out good money for the young Swedish talent at that time - four and a half million euros. Jungberg did not immediately gain a place at the base - in his first season he came on as a substitute, but from the second season he became not only a regular player in the starting lineup, but also one of the leaders. Jungberg’s favorite position was the position of “ten,” that is, a playmaker, and he coped with his duties just fine.
For almost ten years, Jungberg has been the creative center of the London club. As a result, he spent 317 games for Arsenal in all tournaments and even scored nearly fifty goals (although this was not his direct duty), but he distributed more passes and created dangerous moments at the opponent's goal for his partners. When Jungberg was thirty years old, he began to lose his place at the base. Julio Baptista was “rented” from Real Madrid, in addition, the star of the young Belarusian playmaker Alexander Gleb began to rise . As a result, in 2007 Jungberg was sold to another English club, West Ham, and Arsenal earned as much for the player as he paid ten years ago - four and a half million euros.
Going to West Ham
Naturally, in the new club for the setting star there was a guaranteed place at the base, but no one expected that Jungberg would stay in the club for a long time. Toward the end of the season, Fredrik was seriously injured and was eliminated for six months, which is why the club's management, for which Jungberg was not a legend, broke the agreement with the player. West Ham was not a top club and could not pay a large salary to a legend who was in the infirmary all the time.
Break and move to the USA
Jungberg took a short break for recovery and in the fall of 2008, when he was completely ready, he signed a contract with the Seattle Sounders American club. Just then, the general excitement in the American League began, where all the older players went to earn money at the end of their careers. Jungberg joined them and at the age of 31 became a player in the Sounders. He played for the club for two seasons and did a lot for him, but decided not to renew the contract. In 2010, he moved to another American club - Chicago.
Latest games in the USA
These six months were the last for Jungberg in America - he had great games, but it was clear that Freddie wanted to return to Europe. And so it happened - already in the winter of 2011, the 33-year-old player returned to the UK, only this time he signed a contract with the Scottish Celtic.
Return to Europe
Jungberg triumphantly returned to Europe, but everyone already understood that this was the sunset of the career of a great player. He rarely came out at the base of Celtic, but still continued to play. And in the summer of 2011, after six months at Celtic, Jungberg decided to try something else exotic - and signed a contract with the Japanese club Shimizu.
Retirement and renewal
Jungberg played part time for Shimizu, and in February 2012 announced that he was completing his football career. What did Fredrick Jungberg decide to devote himself to? The football player’s wife was waiting for him at home, he could not play in Japan for a long time, so he decided to tie up with football. However, everything was not so simple - after two and a half years, Jungberg surprised everyone by announcing that he was resuming his football career. He played for six months at the Indian club Mumbai, after which he finally tied up with it. And now all that Fredrik Jungberg is focused on is personal life and affairs not related to football.
Trophies
The Swedish national football team, for which Jungberg played from 1998 to 2008, was not able to win any trophies. However, at the club level, Jungberg made good progress - in 1995 he won the Swedish Cup with Halmstad, and two years later he won the Swedish Championship. And from 2002 to 2005, Jungberg with Arsenal won two championships in England and three cups of England. And in his six months in Scotland, he won the national cup with Celtic.