Jonatan Johansson (footballer)

Jonatan Johansson
Johansson playing for Finland in 2009
Personal information
Full name Jonatan Lillebror Johansson
Date of birth (1975-08-16) 16 August 1975 (age 48)
Place of birth Stockholm, Sweden
Height 1.84 m (6 ft 0 in)
Position(s) Forward
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1993–1995 Pargas 49 (13)
1995–1997 TPS 32 (6)
1997 Flora Tallinn 9 (9)
1997–2000 Rangers 48 (14)
2000–2006 Charlton Athletic 148 (27)
2006Norwich City (loan) 12 (3)
2006–2008 Malmö 41 (12)
2009 Hibernian 9 (0)
2009–2010 St Johnstone 6 (1)
2010–2011 TPS 19 (10)
Total 373 (98)
International career
1996–2010 Finland 106 (22)
Managerial career
2012 Greenock Morton U20
2012–2015 Motherwell U20
2016–2017 Finland (assistant)
2017–2018 Rangers (assistant)
2018–2019 Greenock Morton
2020–2022 TPS
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Jonatan Lillebror Johansson (born 16 August 1975) is a Finnish football coach and former player.

His main position was forward, playing most notably for Rangers and Charlton Athletic. Johansson was also a regular in the Finland national team, earning a total of 106 caps.

Club career

Early career

Johansson was born in Stockholm, Sweden, and started his career in Finland with his hometown club Pargas. In 1995, he moved on to the Veikkausliiga club TPS. In 1997, he transferred to Flora Tallinn, becoming the first Finnish player to move to an Estonian club. The fee for transfer was reportedly 170.000 Finnish markka, which corresponds to around €30.000.

In 1997, he moved to Scotland to join Rangers for a transfer fee of £300,000.

Johansson signed for newly promoted English Premier League club Charlton Athletic in the summer of 2000, for a fee of around £3.75 million (€5.6 million). He competed for a place up front with Shaun Bartlett, Kevin Lisbie and Jason Euell.

On 31 January 2006, having fallen out of contention at The Valley, Johansson was loaned to Football League Championship side Norwich City as a replacement for Dean Ashton. He scored his first goal on 5 February to open an East Anglian derby at home to Ipswich Town, a 2–1 loss.

Johansson and fellow out-of-favour forwards Bartlett and Francis Jeffers were released by Charlton in May 2006. In July he signed with Swedish club Malmö until 2008.

Hibernian

On 13 November 2008, Johansson signed a pre-contract agreement with Scottish Premier League side Hibernian. He agreed an 18-month contract with Hibs, after his contract with Malmö FF expired. Johansson was unable to sign until 1 January, due to the transfer window rules, but began training in December. He made his debut on 3 January 2009 against Hearts in the Edinburgh derby. Johansson scored his first goal seven months after signing at East End Park against Dunfermline Athletic in a 4–0 friendly win, but he was expected to leave Hibernian due to the increased competition for places. His departure was confirmed on 1 September 2009.

St Johnstone

It only became apparent that Johansson had signed for St Johnstone on 27 October 2009 when he was named in the starting line-up for their Scottish League Cup quarter-final tie at home to Dundee United. He had previously been training with the club to maintain his fitness ahead of Finland's international matches earlier in the month. Johansson signed a short-term contract until the new year. He scored a winning goal against Hearts on 21 November, which was his first competitive goal in Scotland for ten years, St Johnstone did not renew his short-term contract and Johansson left the club.

Greenock Morton and an unnamed German club made Johansson contract offers, but Johansson rejected Morton's offer.

Return to TPS

On 8 February 2010, Johansson returned to TPS Turku after spending 14 years abroad. He scored his first goal (a penalty kick) in a Veikkausliga game against VPS Vaasa on 7 May. He also scored twice in the next match, against Inter Turku, in the city's local derby. He also won the 2010 Finnish Cup, 2–0 against HJK Helsinki in the final. He finished the season with 10 goals, being the club's second best goalscorer, only two goals behind Roope Riski. Johansson announced his retirement from professional football on 23 March 2011.

International career

Johansson made his debut for the Finland national team on 16 March 1996 against Kuwait, scoring the game's only goal. He was a regular member of the Finland squad and earned his 100th cap in October 2009. Johansson made a total of 106 appearances for Finland and scored 22 goals. Only Jari Litmanen has made more appearances for Finland than Johansson. As of October 2021, Johansson is fourth in goals scored for Finland, after Teemu Pukki, Litmanen and Mikael Forssell.

After scoring the opening goal in a 2010 FIFA World Cup Qualifying match against Wales, Johansson was the subject of verbal criticism by Craig Bellamy.

Coaching career

Johansson worked for Greenock Morton as their reserve team coach in 2012. He moved to Motherwell in August 2012 to coach their under-20 team. Johansson left Motherwell in July 2015 and was replaced by Stephen Craigan. In December 2016, he was appointed as an assistant coach to Markku Kanerva for the Finland national team.

On 9 April 2017, he was announced as an assistant coach to Rangers manager Pedro Caixinha. After starting work with Rangers, Johansson left his position with the Finland national team.

Morton manager

Johansson was appointed on a two-year contract as manager of Scottish Championship club Greenock Morton on 6 September 2018. His first match in charge ended in a 1–1 draw at Tannadice Park against Dundee United. Johansson left Morton at the end of the 2018–19 season, as the club decided not to exercise the option of retaining him for the second year of his contract.

TPS

Johansson was appointed as new manager at TPS on 24 July 2020. He signed an initial two-year contract with the option of another year. He was dismissed by TPS on 25 September 2022.

Personal life

Johansson married Jean Anderson, a Scottish television presenter who is from Port Glasgow, in June 2008.

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League Cup League Cup Europe Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
TPS 1995 Veikkausliiga 9 0 6 0 0 0 2 0 17 0
1996 23 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 23 6
Total 32 6 6 0 0 0 2 0 40 6
Flora Tallinn 1996–97 Meistriliiga 9 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 9
Rangers 1997–98 Scottish Premier League 6 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 8 0
1998–99 25 8 3 3 2 1 7 5 37 18
1999–2000 16 6 0 0 2 0 8 1 26 7
Total 47 14 5 3 4 1 16 6 71 25
Charlton Athletic 2000–01 Premier League 31 11 0 0 2 3 1 0 34 14
2001–02 30 5 2 0 2 0 0 0 34 5
2002–03 31 3 2 2 1 0 0 0 34 3
2003–04 26 4 1 0 2 0 0 0 29 4
2004–05 26 4 3 0 2 0 0 0 29 4
2005–06 4 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 6 1
Total 148 27 10 3 9 3 1 0 168 33
Norwich City (loan) 2005–06 Championship 12 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 12 3
Malmö FF 2006 Allsvenskan 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2007 21 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 21 6
2008 20 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 20 6
Total 41 12 0 0 0 0 0 0 41 12
Hibernian 2008–09 Scottish Premier League 9 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 10 0
St Johnstone 2009–10 6 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 6 1
TPS 2010 Veikkausliiga 19 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Career total 323 93 23 6 13 4 19 6 359 99

International

Scores and results list Finland's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Johansson goal.
List of international goals scored by Jonatan Johansson
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1 16 March 1996 Kuwait City, Kuwait  Kuwait 1–0 Friendly
2 5 February 1998 Limassol, Cyprus  Cyprus 1–1 Friendly
3 22 April 1998 Edinburgh, Scotland  Scotland 1–1 Friendly
4 5 September 1998 Helsinki, Finland  Moldova 3–2 UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying
5 14 October 1998 Istanbul, Turkey  Turkey 3–1 UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying
6 10 February 1999 Ta'Qali, Malta  Poland 1–1 Friendly
7 18 August 1999 Bruges, Belgium  Belgium 4–3 Friendly
8
9 9 October 1999 Helsinki, Finland  Northern Ireland 4–1 UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying
10 30 April 2003 Vantaa, Finland  Iceland 3–0 Friendly
11 8 February 2005 Nicosia, Greece  Latvia 2–1 Friendly
12 26 March 2005 Teplice, Czech Republic  Czech Republic 3–4 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification
13 6 September 2006 Helsinki, Finland  Portugal 1–1 UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying
14 6 June 2007 Helsinki, Finland  Belgium 2–0 UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying
15 20 August 2008 Tampere, Finland  Israel 2–0 Friendly
16
17 10 September 2008 Helsinki, Finland  Germany 3–3 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification
18 28 March 2009 Cardiff, Wales  Wales 2–0 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification
19 1 April 2009 Oslo, Norway  Norway 2–3 Friendly
20 6 June 2009 Helsinki, Finland  Liechtenstein 2–1 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification
21 5 September 2009 Lankaran, Azerbaijan  Azerbaijan 2–1 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification
22 14 October 2009 Hamburg, Germany  Germany 1–1 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification

See also


This page was last updated at 2024-01-20 16:39 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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