Daniel Andersson (footballer, born 1977)

Daniel Jerry Andersson (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈdɑ̂ːnɪɛl ˈânːdɛˌʂɔn]; born 28 August 1977) is a Swedish former professional footballer who is the director of sports at Malmö FF. He played primarily as a defensive midfielder but could also play as a centre back, which he mostly did later in his career. 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.

Daniel Andersson

Andersson with Malmö FF in 2011
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)
Position(s)	Defender, midfielder
Team 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	Malmö FF	207	(19)
Total		455	(47)
International career
1993–1994	Sweden U17	16	(6)
1995	Sweden U19	4	(1)
1996–1998	Sweden U21	16	(2)
1997–2009	Sweden	74	(0)
Managerial career
2012–2013	Malmö FF (assistant manager)
2014–	Malmö FF (director of sports)
2018	Malmö FF (caretaker)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

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.

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.

Venezia and loans to Chievo and Ancona

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

Return to 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 held it until retirement.

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, he played his last match for Malmö FF as player only in the away match against Austria Wien 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.

International career

Youth

Andersson represented the Sweden U17, U19, and U21 teams between 1993 and 1998 and was part of the Sweden squad that reached the quarter-finals at the 1998 UEFA European Under-21 Championship.

Senior

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.

On 14 May 2018, Andersson took over as the caretaker manager at Malmö FF, following the sacking of Magnus Pehrsson; as the club was placed 10th in the league after nine rounds.

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

Andersson playing for Malmö FF in the UEFA Europa League

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			Cup		Continental		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Malmö FF	1995	Allsvenskan	21	2	—		—		21	2
	1996	Allsvenskan	26	2	—		—		26	2
	1997	Allsvenskan	26	4	—		—		26	4
	1998	Allsvenskan	12	3	—		—		12	3
	Total		85	11	0	0	0	0	85	11
Bari	1998–99	Serie A	33	3	—		—		33	3
	1999–2000	Serie A	32	5	—		—		32	5
	2000–01	Serie A	32	8	—		—		32	8
	Total		97	16	0	0	0	0	97	16
Venezia	2001–02	Serie A	29	0	—		—		29	0
Chievo	2002–03	Serie A	12	0	—		—		12	0
Ancona	2003–04	Serie A	25	1	—		—		25	1
Malmö FF	2004	Allsvenskan	11	0	0	0	0	0	11	0
	2005	Allsvenskan	25	2	3	1	5	1	33	4
	2006	Allsvenskan	25	3	1	0	—		26	3
	2007	Allsvenskan	23	4	2	0	—		25	4
	2008	Allsvenskan	24	3	3	0	—		27	3
	2009	Allsvenskan	26	1	1	0	—		27	1
	2010	Allsvenskan	30	5	2	0	—		32	5
	2011	Allsvenskan	25	0	3	1	11	0	38	1
	2012	Allsvenskan	16	1	1	0	—		17	1
	2013	Allsvenskan	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
	Total		207	19	16	2	16	1	239	22
Career total			455	47	16	2	16	1	487	50

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Sweden	1997	3	0
	1998	5	0
	1999	8	0
	2000	8	0
	2001	10	0
	2002	4	0
	2003	0	0
	2004	0	0
	2005	7	0
	2006	7	0
	2007	6	0
	2008	12	0
	2009	4	0
Total		74	0

Honours

Malmö FF

• Allsvenskan: 2004, 2010

Individual

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

External links

• Malmö FF profile (in Swedish) (archived)
• Daniel Andersson at the Swedish Football Association (in Swedish)