John Alvbåge

John Alvbåge

Personal information
Full name	John Rune Alvbåge
Date of birth	(1982-08-10) 10 August 1982 (age 42)
Place of birth	Gothenburg, Sweden
Height	1.87 m (6 ft 2 in)
Position(s)	Goalkeeper
Youth career
	Torslanda IK
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1999	Torslanda IK	1	(0)
2000–2002	Västra Frölunda IF	72	(0)
2003–2004	Örebro SK	51	(0)
2005	IFK Göteborg	0	(0)
2005–2008	Viborg FF	87	(0)
2008–2011	Örebro SK	107	(0)
2012–2017	IFK Göteborg	131	(0)
2017	→ Minnesota United (loan)	3	(0)
2017	→ Stabæk (loan)	8	(0)
2018–2019	Omonia	1	(0)
2018–2019	→ Nea Salamina (loan)	1	(0)
2019	IK Sirius	7	(0)
2020	Lindome GIF	26	(0)
2021	Akropolis IF	13	(0)
Total		508	(0)
International career
1997–1999	Sweden U16	14	(0)
2000	Sweden U18	4	(0)
2002–2004	Sweden U21	11	(0)
2006–2009	Sweden	4	(0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 16:02, 21 January 2022 (UTC)

John Rune Alvbåge (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈjɔnː ˈâlːvˌboːɡɛ]; born 10 August 1982) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Beginning his career with Torslanda IK in 1999, he went on to play professionally in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, the United States, and Cyprus before announcing his retirement in 2022. A full international between 2006 and 2009, he won four caps for the Sweden national team and was a squad member at the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

Club career

Early career

After playing for local club Torslanda IK, he joined Västra Frölunda IF and debuted in the Swedish Allsvenskan, only 18 years old. He then moved to Örebro SK in 2003, before joining IFK Göteborg in 2005. He only stayed half a season at IFK Göteborg, where he was a backup for former Swedish international goalkeeper Bengt Andersson.

Viborg FF

He moved abroad later that same year, being bought by Danish club Viborg FF in July 2005. Bought as a replacement for Danish international goalkeeper Jesper Christiansen, Alvbåge quickly established himself in the Viborg team, and debuted for the Sweden national team in January 2006.

Return to Örebro SK

He returned to Örebro SK during the summer of 2008.

Return to IFK Göteborg

Before the start of the 2012 season, he returned to IFK Göteborg where he was the first-choice goalkeeper.^[1] He helped the club win two Svenska Cupen titles (2012–13 and 2014–15) during his time there.^[2]

Loan to Minnesota United

In January 2017 it was announced that Alvbåge had been loaned to Minnesota United FC of Major League Soccer until July 2017 with the option for an additional 18 months.^[3]

Retirement

Alvbåge announced his retirement from professional football on 27 July 2022.^[4]

International career

Alvbåge represented Sweden at all youth levels, including U17, U19, and U21 level. He represented the Sweden U21 team at the 2004 UEFA European Under-21 Championship where Sweden finished fourth.^[5][6]

He made his full international debut for Sweden in a friendly game against Jordan on 23 January 2006.^[7] Later that year, he was selected for the 2006 FIFA World Cup squad as the third-choice goalkeeper behind Andreas Isaksson and Rami Shaaban.^[8] In total, he made four appearances for Sweden between 2006 and 2009.^[6]

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition^[9]^[6]

Club	Season	League			Cup		Continental		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Torslanda IK	1999	Division 2 Västra Götaland	1	0	0	0	—		1	0
Västra Frölunda IF	2000	Allsvenskan	12	0	0	0	2	0	14	0
	2001	Superettan	30	0	0	0	—		30	0
	2002	Superettan	30	0	0	0	—		30	0
	Total		72	0	0	0	2	0	74	0
Örebro SK	2003	Allsvenskan	26	0	2	0	—		28	0
	2004	Allsvenskan	25	0	2	0	—		27	0
	Total		51	0	4	0	0	0	55	0
IFK Göteborg	2005	Allsvenskan	0	0	2	0	3	0	5	0
Viborg FF	2005–06	Danish Superliga	33	0	0	0	—		33	0
	2006–07	Danish Superliga	33	0	0	0	—		33	0
	2007–08	Danish Superliga	21	0	0	0	—		21	0
	Total		87	0	0	0	0	0	87	0
Örebro SK	2008	Allsvenskan	18	0	0	0	—		18	0
	2009	Allsvenskan	30	0	0	0	—		30	0
	2010	Allsvenskan	30	0	2	0	—		32	0
	2011	Allsvenskan	29	0	3	0	2	0	34	0
	Total		107	0	5	0	2	0	114	0
IFK Göteborg	2012	Allsvenskan	23	0	1	0	—		24	0
	2013	Allsvenskan	30	0	7	0	2	0	39	0
	2014	Allsvenskan	19	0	4	0	2	0	25	0
	2015	Allsvenskan	30	0	4	0	4	0	38	0
	2016	Allsvenskan	29	0	4	0	7	0	40	0
	Total		131	0	20	0	15	0	166	0
Minnesota United (loan)	2017	Major League Soccer	0	0	0	0	—		0	0
Stabaek (loan)	2017	Eliteserien	8	0			—		7	0
Omonia	2017–18	Cypriot First Division	1	0	0	0	—		1	0
	2018–19	Cypriot First Division	0	0			—		0	0
	Total		1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
Nea Salamina (loan)	2017–18	Cypriot First Division	1	0			—		1	0
IK Sirius	2019	Allsvenskan	7	0	0	0	—		7	0
Lindome GIF	2020	Ettan Södra	26	0	0	0	—		26	0
Akropolis IF	2021	Superettan	13	0	0	0	—		13	0
Career total			508	0	31	0	22	0	561	0

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year^[6]

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Sweden	2006	2	0
	2007	1	0
	2008	0	0
	2009	1	0
Total		4	0

Honours

IFK Göteborg^[2]

• Svenska Cupen: 2012–13, 2014–15

Individual

• Allsvenskan goalkeeper of the year: 2015^[10]
• Archangel of the Year: 2015^[2]

References

1. "Det känns som att komma hem" (in Swedish). IFK Göteborg. 6 October 2011. Archived from the original on 7 October 2011. Retrieved 9 March 2014.
2. "John Alvbåge - ifkdb.se". ifkdb.se. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
3. Jornvik, Ulf. "John Till Minnesota United" (in Swedish). IFK Goteborg. Archived from the original on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 25 January 2017.
4. Runsten, Viktor (27 July 2022). "Fotboll: John Alvbåge avslutar karriären – fortsätter som tränare". SVT Sport (in Swedish). Retrieved 28 July 2022.
5. "uefa.com - UEFA European U-21 C'ship". archive.ph. 5 January 2013. Archived from the original on 5 January 2013. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
6. "John Rune Alvbåge - Spelarstatistik - Svensk fotboll". www.svenskfotboll.se. (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 28 July 2022. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
7. "Herr: Mållöst mot Jordanien" (in Swedish). SvFF. 23 January 2006. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
8. "Svenska VM-truppen uttagen – två debutanter" (in Swedish). SvFF. 9 May 2006. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
9. "John Alvbåge". Elite Prospects. Archived from the original on 19 February 2014. Retrieved 2 February 2014.
10. "TV: Alvbåge allsvenskans bästa målvakt: "En stor ära"". fotbollskanalen (in Swedish). Retrieved 28 July 2022.

External links

• John Alvbåge at IFK Göteborg
• John Rune Alvbåge at the Swedish Football Association (in Swedish)
• John Rune Alvbåge club team profile at SvFF (in Swedish) (archived)
• John Rune Alvbåge national team profile at SvFF (in Swedish) (archived)
• John Alvbåge at Elite Football
• John Alvbåge at Soccerway
• John Alvbåge at National-Football-Teams.com
• #1 John Alvbåge at ifkdb.com