ANDREAS ISAKSSON

'Andreas Isaksson' was born on October 3, 1981 in Trelleborg and is a Swedish football player (goalkeeper) and national team player for Sweden.
He currently plays for Manchester City in England and for the Swedish national team, for whom he currently has 42 caps. His name is pronounced [IPA: an'dreːas 'ɪːsakˌsɔn].

Contents

Career

Season 07/08

References

External links

Career

Isaksson started his career with his home-town team Trelleborg, where he played two seasons 1998 and 1999. He became known as a great goalkeeping prospect and was thus bought by Italian giants Juventus in 1999, but with the likes of Dutch international goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar in the squad, Isaksson never played a first-team game for the Turin club.
In 2001 he signed with Swedish team Djurgården in order to play first-team football. In his first two full seasons, 2002 and 2003, Djurgården won two straight Swedish titles as well as the cup in 2002. He was voted best Swedish goalkeeper for four consecutive years from 2002 to 2005.^[1]
While at Djurgården, Isaksson established himself as the second-choice goalkeeper after Magnus Hedman for the Swedish national team, making his international debut against Switzerland in March 2002.^[2] Injury to Magnus Hedman allowed Isaksson the opportunity to play for Sweden on a regular basis, playing in all but one of Sweden's qualifying matches for Euro 2004, and all Sweden's matches during the tournament. Shortly after Euro 2004, French club Rennes signed him, where he became the starting goalkeeper. Fellow former Djurgården player Kim Källström also played at the club. During his time at Rennes, Isaksson caught the eye of many clubs in Europe for his amazing shot stopping ability.
Isaksson has remained the first-choice goalkeeper for his national team since Euro 2004, making three appearances in the 2006 World Cup in Germany (He got injured and could not play all games). As of July 2006 he has 42 caps for Sweden. After an impressive World Cup performance, he completed a £2 million move to Manchester City of the Premier League on August 15 2006 where he is expected to replace David James as their first choice keeper, but due to knee and ankle injuries^[3] and the form of Nicky Weaver he did not make his debut until 9 December 2006, when he replaced the injured Weaver in a Manchester derby match.
Now Isaksson has established himself as the blues first choice keeper and his fine form has forced Nicky Weaver out of the first team and out of the club. He made a fine save from a Jermaine Defoe penalty in the final minutes of his first season at Manchester City at White Hart Lane. Since returning from injury, he has once again established himself as Sweden's first choice keeper for his nation's Euro 2008 qualifiers.

Season 07/08

Isaksson played the majority of Manchester City's pre-season campaign, traveling with the squad to Sweden and Belgium. As the club's number one goalkeeper to Sven-Göran Eriksson's starting XI, Andreas unfortunately was sidelined for up to six weeks with a fractured thumb, an injury which he sustained in one of his side's final training sessions before their match-up against West Ham. Eriksson decided to put Kasper Schmeichel, son of goalkeeping legend Peter Schmeichel as the Swede's replacement, surprisingly putting in a string of solid performances. Isaksson is ready to start playing again and Eriksson is hoping his fellow Swede will get the chance to sharpen up in the Euro 2008 qualifiers against Denmark and Montenegro.

References

1. Previous winners
2. Andreas Isaksson
3. Isaksson faces fight with Weaver for No 1 shirt

External links

★ Andreas Isaksson's profile, stats & pics

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