Jesper Håkansson

Danish footballer (born 1981)

Jesper Håkansson
Personal information
Date of birth (1981-08-14) 14 August 1981 (age 42)
Place of birth Albertslund, Denmark
Height 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Position(s) Attacking midfielder
Forward
Winger
Youth career
Frem
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1998–1999 Frem 32 (5)
1999–2005 Heerenveen 45 (10)
2003 → Viborg (loan) 6 (0)
2004–2005 → RBC Roosendaal (loan) 24 (6)
2005–2006 Djurgården 1 (0)
2006–2007 ADO Den Haag 6 (0)
2007–2008 Lyngby 23 (3)
2008–2009 Newcastle United Jets 10 (0)
2009 Amager
2009 Frem 7 (5)
2009–2010 AB 15 (1)
2010–2015 Roskilde
International career
1996 Denmark U16 4 (0)
1996–1998 Denmark U17 34 (4)
1998–1999 Denmark U19 5 (2)
2002 Denmark U20 4 (1)
1999–2002 Denmark U21 4 (0)
Managerial career
2023 FC Roskilde
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 21:14, 28 August 2010 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 19:38, 29 June 2010 (UTC)

Jesper Håkansson (born 14 August 1981) is a Danish former professional footballer. He mostly appeared as a midfielder or a forward. He was most recently the manager of FC Roskilde.

Club career

Håkansson in August 2011

Håkansson can play as attacking midfield, winger or striker and has extensive experience having played in the Danish, Dutch and Swedish leagues.[1]

In 1997 Håkansson won the Danish Under-17 Player of the Year award. He made his first-team debut in the Danish 1st Division at age 16, making him the second youngest BK Frem player ever after Sophus Nielsen.[2]

After leaving BK Frem in 1999, Håkansson went on trial with Manchester United; however, he chose to join Dutch Eredivisie club Heerenveen, where he believed he would get more game time. He scored a goal on his debut against Dutch giants Ajax.[3] After a short loan spell back in Denmark with Viborg in 2003, he returned to Heerenveen before spending the entire 2004–05 season on loan to RBC Roosendaal. He then joined Djurgården in Sweden, for whom he only made one appearance.

After a year in Sweden, Håkansson returned to the Netherlands to play for ADO Den Haag, but he did not make his debut until 19 January 2007, coming on for the last 10 minutes of a 3–1 loss at home to AZ Alkmaar. Early in the 2007–08 season, he then moved back to Denmark to play with Lyngby BK. He scored three goals for Lyngby, including one in his last game for the club on 24 May 2007 against Copenhagen.[3]

Håkansson signed a two-year contract with the Newcastle United Jets on 30 July 2008 after a week-long trial.[4] He made his debut for the Newcastle Jets on 29 August 2008, in a 5–0 defeat at the hands of Melbourne Victory. His time in Australia was marked by frequent injuries, and he played just 10 times for Newcastle before being released on 30 January 2009, so that he could return to Europe.[5] Six weeks later, he signed with FC Amager but after less than a month they went bankrupt and he joined his former club, Frem, scoring five goals in just seven appearances. After the season, it was announced that Frem would only be allowed to sign amateur contracts and Håkansson had to find a new club for the third time in six months.[citation needed]

In June 2009, he signed for second-tier club AB. Håkansson made 16 appearances for AB, scoring one goal, but when AB missed out on promotion, Håkansson was released. He later signed for FC Roskilde, where he stayed for five years before retiring in 2015.[citation needed]

International career

He has represented Denmark at under-16, under-17, under-19, under-20 and under-21 levels. He is the third youngest player to have represented Denmark at the under-21 level.[3]

In April 2007 he was called up for the Danish national team, but has not yet featured in a competitive game.[4]

Managerial career

In 2023 he returned to FC Roskilde as manager of the club.[6] After only two games in charge of the team, he left the club by mutual consent.[7]

Honours

Club

Djurgården

Individual

References

  1. ^ "Jesper Hakansson profile" (in Dutch). Club Achter de Duinen. Retrieved 30 July 2008.
  2. ^ Bjerre, Steen. "Boldklubben Frem Detailed Player Info" (in Danish and Dutch). BK Frem. Archived from the original on 9 October 2008. Retrieved 30 July 2008.
  3. ^ a b c "Jets Sign Jesper". FourFourTwo. 30 July 2008. Archived from the original on 12 August 2008. Retrieved 30 July 2008.
  4. ^ a b "Jets sign Danish International". Newcastle Jets. 30 July 2008. Archived from the original on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 30 July 2008.
  5. ^ "...And Jets dump Jesper". ftbl.com.au. Nextmedia. 30 January 2009. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
  6. ^ "Ny trænerduo på plads i FC Roskilde" (in Danish). FC Roskilde. Retrieved 6 July 2023.
  7. ^ "Efter to kampe: Cheftræner stopper i FC Roskilde" (in Danish). Sjællandske Nyheder. Retrieved 18 August 2023.
  8. ^ Förteckning över samtliga SM-guld för Djurgårdens IF på seniornivå genom tiderna Archived 30 June 2019 at the Wayback Machine

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jesper Håkansson.
  • Jesper Håkansson national team profile at the Danish Football Association (in Danish)
  • FC Roskilde profile (in Danish) at the Wayback Machine (archived 29 November 2014)
  • Jesper Håkansson Interview with Bold
  • Jesper Håkansson Interview with FTBL at archive.today (archived 12 July 2020)
  • Djurgårdens IF interview (in Swedish) at the Wayback Machine (archived 7 March 2006)