Olof Mellberg
Mellberg at the 2006 World Cup
Olof Mellberg ( born September 3, 1977 in Gullspång ) is a Swedish football player. The two fight and aerially strong defensive player " traditional character ", which runs both as a defense and as a defensive midfielder, debuted in 2000 in the Swedish national team. The 2003 with the Guldbollen excellent as a football player of the year Swede won the Allsvenskan season 1998 Swedish champions title with AIK and in the Super League season 2010/ 11 and 2011/12 Greek championship titles with Olympiakos Piraeus.
Career
Breakthrough in Sweden and moving abroad
Mellberg began playing football at Gullspångs IF in his hometown. In 1994 he moved to Degerfors IF, in which he rose after two years in the youth in the An incoming men's team in Allsvenskan. In the Cup Winners' Cup in 1993, he established himself right away in the squad and was a regular in the first division for use. At the end of the 1997, he finished with the team only one relegation zone.
Mellberg left along with his team-mates Marino Rahmberg the club towards AIK. Overall, he stayed for nine months with the traditional club of Solna and contributed in 17 league games on the side of players like Michael Brundin, Krister Nordin, Anders Limpar, Nebojsa Novakovic and Johan Mjallby to winning the Von- Rosen's Cup for the Swedish national champion at.
The talent of the young defensive player had spread in Europe. In the late summer of the Championship season Mellberg moved to Spain to Racing Santander. In La Liga he established himself as a regular player and came in the season 1999/2000 in all 38 league games for use. He helped one hand the club from the northern Spanish Cantabria for relegation, on the other hand he played himself into the notebook of the national coach Tommy Söderberg and his assistant Lars Lagerback. On 23 February 2000, he made his debut in the 0-1 defeat against the Italian National Team Jersey in the country selection, in which he played himself firmly in the sequence. At the European Championship finals in 2000 he was already on the side of Joachim Björklund, Teddy Lucic and Patrik Andersson to the regular players in defense and played in all three games in the group stage, but early exit as a group Last could not prevent.
The subsequent season at Racing Santander proved similarly unsuccessful for Mellberg. As Table Penultimate, the club was relegated to the second division. However, due to his consistent performances he drew interest from other European clubs up.
Years in England and climb to the captain
Mellberg joined in the summer of 2001 to Aston Villa in the English Premier League. The club from Birmingham, where he signed a contract with five years maturity, paid a transfer fee in the amount of approximately £ 5 million for his services. In the team around players like George Boateng, Mark Delaney, and Darius Vassell Alpay Özalan he established himself at once in the root formation. At the end of the season he was again included in the squad of the Swedish national team in a major tournament. At the World Championship Tournament 2002, he helped the team to surprising group victory against England, Argentina and Nigeria. Also in the second-round match against Senegal, he was deployed, but resigned with the team by a goal from Henri Camara in extra time by a golden goal from the tournament.
In the Premier League match time following the final tournament Mellberg was involved in all 38 regular season games and managed with his club three points clear at the best relegated West Ham United in the league. At the end of 2003, it drew the Svenska Fotbollförbundet from the Guldbollen as best Swedish footballer of the year. Under the newly obligated coach David O'Leary, he reached with the club in the season 2003 /04 in sixth place and also the semi-finals of the League Cup, where the team despite a 2-0 success after goals from Thomas Hitzlsperger and Jlloyd Samuel in the return game failed due to a 2:5 first leg defeat to Bolton Wanderers. In the course of the season Mellberg rose to become captain of the club, after he had been appointed as the successor of Mjallby parallel to the captain of the Swedish national team.
In the office of the captain Mellberg led to the side of Erik Edman, Andreas Jakobsson and Mikael Nilsson, the country selection at the 2004 European Championship quarter-finals. There, the team met with the selection of the Netherlands. After 120 goalless minutes, the team had to play in a penalty shootout. After five penalties, it was 4-4 draw, as had Zlatan Ibrahimović and Philip Cocu not taken. Subsequently, Edwin van der Sar stopped Mellberg penalty and Arjen Robben helped the Dutch to the rise of the semi-finals.
In the following two years, Aston Villa could not build on the success and reached despite the commitment of players like Eric Djemba -Djemba, Aaron Hughes, Wilfred Bouma and Milan Baroš only the tenth respectively 14th place in the table under O'Leary. He still was among the evergreens and denied much of the appearances for the club. In the summer of 2006, he ran with the Swedish national selection for the Football World Cup in Germany. As four years earlier, the collection succeeded first knockout round, where he lost to the team after two goals from Lukas Podolski of Germany's selection with a 0-2 defeat.
After the end of the tournament Mellberg gave his captain roles - in the national team inherited him Fredrik Ljungberg, at club base Gareth Barry. Nevertheless sat Villa manager Martin O'Neill continued to him in his defensive chain. At the opening game of the season 2006/ 07 he wrote himself into the history books when he 's 1-1 draw against Arsenal scored the first competitive goal at the Emirates Stadium. At the end of the season, in which he competed in all 38 league games in the starting eleven, he came eleventh place in the table with the team. Over the following season Mellberg most often from his preferred central position in the role of right-back, as the newly signed Zat Knight with Martin Laursen was the master central defensive duo. Nevertheless, he came again in 34 games for use, where he was sent off on March 15 in the 0-2 defeat against FC Portsmouth.
In January 2008, Mellberg announced his departure from England after the European Championship finals in 2008. There he ran in all three group matches at the side of Mikael Nilsson, Petter Hansson and Fredrik Stoor in the defensive line of the Swedish team that retired prematurely after only one win against Greece as a group of third parties.
In southern European leagues
In summer 2008, Mellberg joined free transfer to Italian giants Juventus. There he was given a contract until 30 June 2011. In Italy he played in his first season, 27 games in the trained Claudio Ranieri teams around players like Christian Poulsen, Hasan Salihamidžić and David Trezeguet. After the club brought back for season 2009/10 Fabio Cannavaro of Real Madrid, was about the future Mellberg, whose speed had lost something over the years, speculated in the club. After only one season at Juventus, he moved finally in the summer of 2009 for 2.5 million euros to the Greek club Olympiakos Piraeus, with which he consecutively won the Greek Cup twice in the seasons 2010/11 and 2011 /12. For the 2012/13 season in the Segunda División Mellberg moved to Villarreal.
Mellberg also belonged to the squad of the Swedish national team at Euro 2012. According to Lothar Matthäus, Peter Schmeichel, Alessandro del Piero, Edwin van der Sar and Lilian Thuram, it is the sixth player who has participated in four European Championship finals. On June 19 he came in the final 2-0 win over France on his 13th European Championship finals use. After the game, he announced his retirement from international football. Overall Mellberg came to 117 international matches in which he scored eight goals.
Honors / Achievements
- Swedish Champion: 1998
- Sweden's Footballer of the Year: 2003
- Greek champion: 2011, 2012
- Greek Soccer Cup: 2012
- Silver Bollen " Årets back" (Sweden's defensive player of the year ): 2003, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012