Jesper Blomqvist

Swedish football

After an early spell at Tavelsjö, Blomqvist signed for then recently formed Umeå in 1992. In the spring portion of his first season for the club, he helped them to the Division 2 Norra Norrland title, promoting the club to Division 1 Norra for the autumn. At the time this was the second tier of Swedish football. Subsequently, he signed for IFK Göteborg on 11 September 1993. Blomqvist played a part in the club's Allsvenskan win that year. He scored eight goals in 24 league appearances en route to the league title in 1994. Furthermore, he scored in the club's 3–1 win over Manchester United in the Champions League. This performance caught the eye of United manager Alex Ferguson and helped the team qualify for the quarter-finals of the tournament. Another title followed in 1995, with Blomqvist's goal against Helsingborg, when he performed a variant of the Pelé runaround move, voted goal of the season. In his last season for Göteborg, he played against former club Umeå, who had reached the Allsvenskan for the first time in their history. In 1996, Blomqvist was voted Fan's Player of the Year and Midfielder of the Year. At the end of the 1996 season, he signed for newly crowned Serie A champions AC Milan.

Serie A

In his first season of Italian football, Milan failed to win a trophy, and Blomqvist often sat on the bench. He nearly decided against going to Old Trafford because he did not want a repeat of this season. The defending champions had an…

Blomqvist was part of the bronze medal-winning Sweden national team at the 1994 FIFA World Cup. He gained his first international cap against Colombia in 1994. His only World Cup match in the starting eleven came against Cameroon, although he also replaced Henrik Larsson in the second half of a draw against eventual champions Brazil. Each member of the squad was awarded a Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal in recognition of their third place in the tournament. Blomqvist was also considered for the 2002 FIFA World Cup squad. In total, Blomqvist has made 30 appearances for his country, without scoring.

Club

International

Blomqvist was born and raised in Tavelsjö, in the Umeå Municipality of Sweden. He currently resides in Sweden, although he has also purchased property in Croatia. After officially retiring in 2005, Blomqvist became a pundit for Swedish television station TV4. He was the victim of an assault during a visit to his hometown Umeå in September 2006, when he was struck twice across the face. His attacker was prosecuted for the incident. Blomqvist and his ex-wife Pauline have a son born in 2012. They had divorced in 2016 but remain friends and share custody of their son.