Ola Toivonen

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Ola Toivonen
Personal information
Full name	Ola Toivonen
Date of birth	July 3, 1986 (1986-07-03) (age 23)
Place of birth	Degerfors, Sweden
Height	1.89 m (6 ft 2+1⁄2 in)
Playing position	Midfielder / Striker
Club information
Current club	PSV Eindhoven
Number	7
Senior career1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
2005–2006 2006–2007 2007–2009 2009–	Degerfors IF Örgryte IS Malmö FF PSV Eindhoven	027 00(5) 025 00(6) 051 0(17) 014 00(6)
National team2
2006–2008 2007–	Sweden U21 Sweden	020 00(10) 002 00(0)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 8 February 2009. 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 16 November 2008. * Appearances (Goals)

Ola Toivonen (born July 3, 1986 in Degerfors, Sweden) is a Swedish football player. He plays primarily as a striker or in second hand as a midfielder. He currently plays for PSV Eindhoven.

Contents 1 Career 2 International career 3 External links 4 References

[edit] Career

Toivonen started his career at Degerfors^[1], where he was involved in their campaign in 2005 when they avoided relegation from Superettan.

He was then bought by Örgryte, and their manager Zoran Lukic. The first, and only, season in Örgryte ended sadly. Lukic was sacked, and Örgryte finished last in Allsvenskan, and thus was relegated to Superettan. However, Toivonen was praised for his efforts in midfield. In November 2006, he won the award "Newcomer of the year" at the annual Swedish football awards.^[2] He soon signed a deal with Malmö FF in a transfer worth more than $1.1m.^{[citation needed]} He became Malmö's second most expensive player of all time (only Brazilian international Afonso Alves cost Malmö more money, when the club bought him for $1.3m in 2004, also from Örgryte).^{[citation needed]}

In the 2007 season, Toivonen's first at Malmö, the club finished 9th in Allsvenskan and Toivonen scored 3 goals. The 2008 season went somewhat better for Malmö, finishing 6th, and this was the absolute breakthrough for Toivonen.^[3] In 27 games, he managed to score 14 goals as well as 7 assists.^[1] This drew the attention of some Premier League and Eredivisie clubs, most notably PSV Eindhoven,^[4][5] whom he signed a contract with in early 2009.^[6] The transfer fee was, according to some source, €3,5 million, and according to other sources €4.5 million.^[3] He received a red card in a February 2009 match against FC Volendam, which sidelined him for two matches.

[edit] International career

On 21 August 2007, he scored a hat trick (including 2 penalties) for Sweden U-21 against Wales U-21 in a 4-3 friendly defeat.^[7]

Toivonen's full international debut came on the 14 January 2007, when Sweden lost 2-0 away to Venezuela.^[8] He was a member of the U-21 national team at the 2009 European Championship in Sweden and scored three times in the competition against Italy U-21.^[9] , Serbia U-21.^[10] and a superb freekick against England U-21 which contributed to a comeback from 3-0 down to 3-3 with him scoring the second goal.^[11]

[edit] External links

• (English) Ola Toivonen Stats @ Guardian
• (English) Ola Toivonen Stats @ Soccer Terminal
• (Swedish) Ola Toivonen Profile @ Svensk Fotboll

[edit] References

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