Daniel_Sjolund

Daniel Sjölund

Daniel Sjölund

Finnish footballer (born 1983)

Henrik Daniel "Daja" Sjölund (born 22 April 1983) is a Finnish football coach and a former footballer who played as a midfielder. Sjölund is currently working as an assistant coach of Veikkausliiga club IFK Mariehamn. He is best remembered for his stints with Djurgårdens IF and IFK Norrköping. He won 37 caps for the Finland national team.

Quick Facts Personal information, Full name ...

Career

Sjölund playing for Djurgården in 2011.

Daniel Sjölund was born in the municipality of Finström, based in Åland which is a Swedish-speaking autonomous region that belongs to Finland. Sjölund started his career at IF Finströms Kamraterna, when he was a child.[2] Afterwards he went to IFK Mariehamn[3] and IF Brommapojkarna,[3] before being signed by West Ham at the age of just 16, after impressive displays for Finland's youth teams. In 2000 Liverpool manager Gérard Houllier agreed to pay £1 million for the talented forward[4] in a deal that also saw Rigobert Song going the other way.[5] After failing to get into the first team at Liverpool, Sjölund joined Djurgården for the 2003 season, first on loan[6] and later on a permanent deal.[7] He has won two Swedish championships and two Swedish Cups with Djurgården. The 2005 season finally saw Sjölund become a regular in the Djurgården team, and he scored seven goals in the league.[2]

A regular for the Under-21s since the age of 17, Sjölund made his senior international debut for the Finnish national team on 22 May 2003 against Norway.[8] Good performances in the 2005 season have seen him promoted to the senior team on a regular basis. Sjölund was also a part of the Finland squad at the 2001 FIFA World Youth Championship.

In September 2012 Sjölund played his 200th league game for Djurgården wearing a number 200 shirt.[9] But only a couple of months later the club announced that they would not be extending his contract.[10]

Sjölund signed with Åtvidabergs FF on 4 February 2013 and stayed with the club for two seasons.[11] He signed a pre-contract with local rivals IFK Norrköping during the 2014 season, and joined the squad for the 2015 season.[12]

Sjölund re-signed with IFK Mariehamn for the 2019 season.[13] In mid October, it was announced that Sjölund had retired from football.[14]

Sjölund returned to playing after less than a year of retirement, this time with Finnish fourth-tier club FC Åland.[15]

Coaching career

In November 2021 Sjölund announced that he had signed a three year contract to manage FC Åland.[16] In September 2023, he was appointed as the assistant coach of Veikkausliiga club IFK Mariehamn for the rest of the 2023 season.[17] After the season, his contract was extended for two more years for same position.[18]

Personal information

His sister Annica Sjölund is also a Finnish international who competed in Women's Euro 2009.

Career statistics

As of 26 September 2019
More information Club, Season ...

International goals

As of 17 October 2010

More information Goal, Date ...

International

As of 14 November 2012
More information Finland national team, Year ...

Honours

Club

Djurgårdens IF
IFK Norrköping

Individual

References

  1. [1]
    "Daniel Sjölund". Liverpool F.C. Archived from the original on 2 May 2001. Retrieved 17 August 2022.
  2. [2]
    "Daniel Sjölund". svenskfotboll.se. Swedish Football Association. Retrieved 23 January 2010.
  3. [3]
    Thomas Jonsson (7 October 2009). "Daja bästa IFK-are genom tiderna". alandstidningen.ax (in Swedish). Ålandstidningen. Archived from the original on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 23 January 2010.
  4. [4]
    "Daniel Sjolund". soccerbase.com. Archived from the original on 2 March 2007. Retrieved 23 January 2010.
  5. [5]
    "Rigobert Song". soccerbase.com. Archived from the original on 28 May 2006. Retrieved 23 January 2010.
  6. [6]
    Johanna Lundeberg (15 January 2003). "Vänsterfoten är Sjölunds vapen". dif.se (in Swedish). Djurgårdens IF Fotboll. Archived from the original on 23 August 2010. Retrieved 23 January 2010.
  7. [7]
    "Daniel Sjölund kvar i Djurgården". dif.se. Djurgårdens IF Fotboll. 15 November 2003. Archived from the original on 23 August 2010. Retrieved 23 January 2010.
  8. [8]
    "Daniel Sjölund". palloliitto.fi (in Finnish). Football Association of Finland. Archived from the original on 22 June 2003. Retrieved 23 January 2010.
  9. [9]
    "Sjölunds jublimeum blev ingen succé". dif.se (in Swedish). Djurgårdens IF. Archived from the original on 1 November 2012. Retrieved 3 December 2012.
  10. [10]
    "Daniel Sjölund och DIF går skilda vägar". dif.fi (in Finnish). Djurgårdens IF. Archived from the original on 10 November 2012. Retrieved 3 December 2012.
  11. [11]
    "Daniel Sjölund nästa nyförvärv" (in Swedish). 4 February 2014. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
  12. [12]
    "IFK Norrköping värvar från ÅFF". Norrköpings Tidningar (in Swedish). 21 July 2014. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
  13. [13]
    Avtalet mellan Grönvitt och Daja undertecknat Archived 18 April 2019 at the Wayback Machine, ifkfotboll.ax
  14. [14]
    Daniel Sjölund lägger skorna på hyllan, hbl.fi, 16 October 2019
  15. [15]
    Sjölund gör oväntad comeback: "Förstärkning för slutspurten", fotbollskanalen.se
  16. [16]
    ”Daja” ny tränare för FC Åland, Ålands Radio
  17. [17]
    IFK Mariehamn vahvistaa valmennustaan – Daniel Sjölund kakkosluotsiksi loppukaudeksi, Veikkausliiga, 7 September 2023
  18. [18]
    En pusselbit klar i IFK Mariehamns tränarteam – Daniel Sjölund fortsätter i klubben: ”Får bra kontinuitet”, Svenskan Yle, 4 December 2023
  19. [19]
    "Stats" (PDF). www.difarkivet.se. Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 June 2019. Retrieved 19 May 2019.
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