Daniel Sjölund

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.

Daniel Sjölund

Sjölund with Finland in 2010
Personal information
Full name	Henrik Daniel Sjölund
Date of birth	(1983-04-22) 22 April 1983 (age 41)
Place of birth	Finström, Åland, Finland
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)[1]
Position(s)	Attacking midfielder
Team information
Current team	IFK Mariehamn (assistant)
Youth career
0000–1998	IF Finströms Kamraterna
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1998–1999	IFK Mariehamn	27	(11)
1999	IF Brommapojkarna	9	(0)
1999–2000	West Ham United	0	(0)
2000–2003	Liverpool	0	(0)
2003	→ Djurgårdens IF (loan)	19	(3)
2004–2012	Djurgårdens IF	186	(24)
2013–2014	Åtvidabergs FF	51	(6)
2015–2018	IFK Norrköping	88	(6)
2019	IFK Mariehamn	23	(0)
2020–2021	FC Åland	10	(2)
Total		380	(41)
International career
	Finland U21	18	(5)
2003–2012	Finland	37	(2)
Managerial career
2021–2023	FC Åland
2023–	IFK Mariehamn (assistant)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

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

Club statistics

Club	Season	League			Cup		League Cup		Europe		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
IFK Mariehamn	1998	Kakkonen	18	4			—		—		—		18	4
	1999		9	7			—		—		—		9	7
	Total		27	11	0	0	—		—		—		27	11
Brommapojkarna	1999	Division 1 Norra	9	0			—		—				9	0
	Total		9	0	0	0	—		—		0	0	9	0
West Ham	1999–00	Premier League	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	2000–01		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Total		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Liverpool	2000–01	Premier League	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	2001–02		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	2002–03		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Total		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Djurgården	2003	Allsvenskan	19	3	3	1	—		1	0			23	4
	2004		17	1	4	3	—		2	0	3	0	26	4
	2005		22	7	6	6	—		2	0	6	1	36	14
	2006		26	2	3	0	—		2	0	1	0	32	2
	2007		23	5	1	0	—						24	5
	2008		10	1	0	0	—		3	0			13	1
	2009		19	3	0	0	—				0	0	19	3
	2010		14	0	0	0	—						14	0
	2011		28	2	2	1	—						30	3
	2012		27	3	1	0	—						28	3
	Total		205	27	20	11	—		10	0	10	1	245	39
Åtvidaberg	2013	Allsvenskan	28	6	4	1	—						32	7
	2014		23	0	3	1	—						26	1
	Total		51	6	7	2	—		0	0	0	0	58	8
IFK Norrköping	2015	Allsvenskan	28	2	5	0	—						33	2
	2016		27	2	5	0	—		2	0			34	2
	2017		25	1	4	0	—		3	0			32	1
	2018		8	1	0	0	—		—		—		8	1
	Total		84	6	14	0	—		5	0	0	0	103	6
IFK Mariehamn	2019	Veikkausliiga	17	0	2	0	—		—		—		19	0
FC Åland	2020	Kolmonen	3	1	0	0	—		—				3	1
	2021		7	1	0	0	—		—		3	0	10	1
	Total		10	2	0	0	—		—		3	0	13	2
Career total			380	41	43	13	0	0	15	0	13	1	451	55

International goals

As of 17 October 2010^[update]

Goal	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition	Reports
1.	12 November 2005	Olympic Stadium, Helsinki	Estonia	1–0	2–2	Friendly match
2.	10 September 2008	Olympic Stadium, Helsinki	Germany	3–2	3–3	FIFA World Cup 2010 qualifying

International

As of 14 November 2012

Finland national team
Year	Apps	Goals
2003	2	0
2004	2	0
2005	4	1
2006	1	0
2007	6	0
2008	3	1
2009	4	0
2010	4	0
2011	5	0
2012	6	0
Total	37	2

Honours

Djurgårdens IF

• Allsvenskan:^[19] 2003, 2005
• Svenska Cupen: 2004, 2005

IFK Norrköping

• Allsvenskan: 2015

Individual

• Swedish Goal of the Year: 2005
• Årets Järnkamin: 2008

References

1. "Daniel Sjölund". Liverpool F.C. Archived from the original on 2 May 2001. Retrieved 17 August 2022.
2. "Daniel Sjölund". svenskfotboll.se. Swedish Football Association. Retrieved 23 January 2010.
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. "Daniel Sjolund". soccerbase.com. Archived from the original on 2 March 2007. Retrieved 23 January 2010.
5. "Rigobert Song". soccerbase.com. Archived from the original on 28 May 2006. Retrieved 23 January 2010.
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. "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. "Daniel Sjölund". palloliitto.fi (in Finnish). Football Association of Finland. Archived from the original on 22 June 2003. Retrieved 23 January 2010.
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. "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. "Daniel Sjölund nästa nyförvärv" (in Swedish). 4 February 2014. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
12. "IFK Norrköping värvar från ÅFF". Norrköpings Tidningar (in Swedish). 21 July 2014. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
13. Avtalet mellan Grönvitt och Daja undertecknat Archived 18 April 2019 at the Wayback Machine, ifkfotboll.ax
14. Daniel Sjölund lägger skorna på hyllan, hbl.fi, 16 October 2019
15. Sjölund gör oväntad comeback: "Förstärkning för slutspurten", fotbollskanalen.se
16. ”Daja” ny tränare för FC Åland, Ålands Radio
17. IFK Mariehamn vahvistaa valmennustaan – Daniel Sjölund kakkosluotsiksi loppukaudeksi, Veikkausliiga, 7 September 2023
18. En pusselbit klar i IFK Mariehamns tränarteam – Daniel Sjölund fortsätter i klubben: ”Får bra kontinuitet”, Svenskan Yle, 4 December 2023
19. "Stats" (PDF). difarkivet.se. Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 June 2019. Retrieved 19 May 2019.

External links

• "Profile at FA of Finland's official website" (in Finnish). Archived from the original on 22 June 2003. Retrieved 7 June 2006.
• Profile at Djurgården's official website at the Wayback Machine (archived 11 February 2007) (in Swedish)
• Daniel Sjölund – Unofficial Fansite at the Wayback Machine (archived 29 August 2005)
• Daniel Sjölund at Soccerway
• IFK Mariehamn profile