Erik Friberg
Friberg with the Seattle Sounders in 2011
Personal information
Full name John Erik Gunnar Friberg
Date of birth (1986-02-10) 10 February 1986
Place of birth Lindome, Sweden
Height 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position(s) Midfielder
Youth career
2003–2004 Västra Frölunda IF
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2005–2006 Västra Frölunda IF 32 (3)
2007–2010 BK Häcken 94 (5)
2011 Seattle Sounders FC 28 (1)
2012–2013 Malmö FF 51 (6)
2014–2015 Bologna 7 (0)
2015 Esbjerg fB 13 (1)
2015–2016 Seattle Sounders FC 46 (1)
2017–2022 BK Häcken 138 (5)
Total 409 (22)
International career‡
2012 Sweden 2 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 8 November 2022
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 23 January 2012

John Erik Gunnar Friberg (born 10 February 1986) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Beginning his career with Västra Frölunda IF in 2005, he went on to represent Seattle Sounders, Malmö FF, Bologna, and Esbjerg fB before retiring at BK Häcken in 2022. He won two caps for the Sweden national team in 2012.

Club career

Early career

Friberg began his career with Västra Frölunda IF before moving to BK Häcken in January 2007. He made his UEFA Europa League debut on 2 August 2007 against KR Reykjavíkur. The game ended 0–1 for Häcken.[1] He played 20 minutes in two games against Spartak Moscow during the first round of the UEFA Cup.[2]

Seattle Sounders FC

On 16 December 2010, it was announced that Friberg had signed a deal with Seattle Sounders FC of Major League Soccer.[3] He made his debut for the Sounders in their opening game of the 2011 MLS season against Los Angeles Galaxy.

Malmö FF

On 12 December 2011, Seattle Sounders confirmed that Friberg would move to Malmö FF for the 2012 season.[4] Malmö FF announced the day after that Friberg had signed a contract until the end of the 2014 season. He joined Malmö FF when the transfer window opened on 1 January 2012.[5] Friberg was applauded by media for his play during the 2012 pre-season.[6] Friberg later played 24 out of 30 matches during his first season at the club.

For the club's league title winning 2013 season Friberg played 27 matches and scored 6 goals. He also played all six matches of the club's participation in the qualifying stages for the 2013–14 UEFA Europa League. During the season Friberg earned the nickname Mr. 100% after scoring six goals in six shots on goal during the entire season.[7] His most important goal of the season was when he scored the only goal of the game at home against Mjällby AIF in the 26th round of the league with just a couple of minutes to go of the game.

Bologna

On 30 January 2014, Friberg signed with Italian Serie A club Bologna.[8]

Return to Seattle Sounders

Friberg returned to Seattle Sounders FC on 29 June 2015.[9]

Return to BK Häcken

Friberg return to BK Häcken in 2017, and helped the club win the 2022 Allsvenskan title for the first time in the club's history before retiring at the end of the season.[10]

International career

Friberg was selected for the annual training camp for the Sweden national team in January 2012 after Malmö teammates Mathias Ranégie and Ivo Pękalski had to withdraw from the squad. The squad selection for the camp traditionally feature the best Swedish players in domestic and other Scandinavian leagues.[11] He made his debut for Sweden in the friendly against Bahrain on 18 January 2012, replacing Oscar Hiljemark in the 86th minute of a 2–0 win.[12]

Personal life

He is the cousin of CS:GO player Adam Friberg.[13]

Career statistics

Club

[14]

Club Season League Cup Continental Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
BK Häcken 2007 Superettan 140—30170
2008 Superettan 252——252
2009 Allsvenskan 28330—313
2010 Allsvenskan 27020—290
Total 94550301025
Seattle Sounders 2011 MLS 2612040341
Malmö FF 2012 Allsvenskan 24000—240
2013 Allsvenskan 2764060376
Total 5164060616
Bologna 2013–14 Serie A 7000—70
Esbjerg fB 2014–15 Danish Superliga 13130—161
Seattle Sounders 2015 MLS 1610031192
2016 MLS 3002020340
Total 4612051532
BK Häcken 2017 Allsvenskan 27150—321
2018 Allsvenskan 2614140342
2019 Allsvenskan 2424020302
2020 Allsvenskan 28161–342
2021 Allsvenskan 15030–180
2022 Allsvenskan 18 0 1 0 – 22 0
Total 1385232601707
Career total 3751937224144222

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year[14]

National teamYearAppsGoals
Sweden 201220
Total20

Honours

Malmö FF

Seattle Sounders FC

BK Häcken

References

  1. ↑ UEFA.com Erik Friberg
  2. ↑ Erik Friberg-Europa League
  3. ↑ Signing of midfielder Erik Friberg finally made official
  4. ↑ Friberg transferred to Sweden's Malmö
  5. ↑ "Malmö FF värvar Erik Friberg från Seattle Sounders" (in Swedish). mff.se. 13 December 2011. Archived from the original on 16 January 2012. Retrieved 13 December 2011.
  6. ↑ "MFF:s Friberg kan bli årets kap". sydsvenskan.se. Sydsvenskan. 17 February 2012. Retrieved 8 December 2012.
  7. ↑ "Årets: Året i bilder, guldhalvåret". svenskafans.com (in Swedish). Svenska Fans. 2 December 2013. Retrieved 7 December 2013.
  8. ↑ "Erik Friberg lämnar Malmö FF". mff.se (in Swedish). Malmö FF. 30 January 2014. Archived from the original on 2 February 2014. Retrieved 30 January 2014.
  9. ↑ "Sounders FC signs midfielder Erik Friberg". SoundersFC Communications. 29 June 2015. Retrieved 13 August 2015.
  10. ↑ "Friberg fick avsluta karriären med SM-guld: "Det är svårt att ta in"". fotbollskanalen (in Swedish). Retrieved 7 November 2022.
  11. ↑ "Landslaget blir himmelsblågult: "Vi är stolta"" (in Swedish). Fotbollskanalen. Retrieved 13 January 2012.
  12. ↑ "Herr: 2–0 mot Bahrain i Doha" (in Swedish). svenskfotboll.se. Retrieved 19 January 2012.
  13. ↑ "Twitter conversation between Adam and Erik Friberg". twitter.com. Retrieved 15 December 2016.
  14. 1 2 "Erik Friberg". soccerway.com (in Swedish). Soccerway. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
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