Marcus Berg

IFK Göteborg

After spending two years in the youth team, during the 2005 season Berg was promoted to the regular squad and played for IFK Göteborg in the Allsvenskan. During the time playing for IFK Göteborg, he played alongside his older brother Jonatan. Berg played for IFK Göteborg until the 2007 summer and put forth an attracting performance throughout his final season, as he maintained a high scoring efficiency throughout the league matches. Göteborg won the league that season and Berg received a standing ovation upon leaving the field after the 5–0 away victory over Kalmar FF where Berg scored, which was his last for the club because of his suspension for the game against Djurgårdens IF. Among dedicated IFK Göteborg supporters, Berg is known as Svarte-Marcus ("Black Marcus") due to his many goals in the Göteborg youth and reserve teams, and later also senior team. The nickname is an homage to the legendary IFK Göteborg striker Filip "Svarte-Filip" Johansson.

Groningen

On 10 August 2007, Dutch club FC Groningen signed Berg for a reported £2.5 million to replace the departing Ajax-bound Luis Suárez. Berg had a good debut season in the Netherlands. Although he was not the top scorer in the Eredivisie in 2007–08, he scored 18 goals for Groningen, helping the Dutch outfit to a seventh-place finish. In the 2008–09 season, Groningen remained top of the Eredivisie table after five games played. Berg had a good display as well. He managed to score 13 goals in…

Youth

Berg started off his international career with the Sweden U19 team for which he scored 3 goals in 8 games. He then went on to represent the Sweden U21 team, for whom he played at the 2009 UEFA European Under-21 Championship on home soil in Sweden. He was a stand-out player at the tournament, scoring 7 goals in 4 games as Sweden was eliminated in the semi-finals by England. After the tournament, UEFA named Berg the Player of the Tournament and his 7 goals won him the tournament's Golden Boot. His 7 goals in the tournament is also a record, breaking the previous record of four goals held jointly by Alberto Gilardino, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and Maceo Rigters. The record has since been equalled by Luca Waldschmidt.

Senior

Early career

Berg was first approached to the Sweden senior team in February 2008 where he was called for a friendly versus Turkey; he made his debut on that match by playing full-90 minutes as the friendly ended in a goalless draw. He was omitted from the team later in June of that year for the UEFA Euro 2008. Berg was called-up regularly during Sweden's 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign. He scored his first goal for the team on 10 June 2009 in the 4–0 home win over Malta. He was on the score sheet also in the final match day against Albania, netting the second in an eventual 4–1 home win, which was not enough to secure Sweden a place at the tournament. With 2 goals, he was Sweden's joint second top goalscorer along with…

Berg was renowned for his heading ability, first touches, and being able to shoot and pass with both his right and left foot. He was also known for his tactical dribbles and scoring from unusual angles. Berg scored 15 goals in his first season in the Eredivisie, having only played 25 matches due to having a back-strain injury. In his second season for Groningen, he scored 13 goals in the first 15 matches and was by then the second highest goalscorer in the league. He also showed his scoring ability in the 2009 UEFA European Under-21 Championship, which he scored a record-breaking seven goals in four matches. His exceptional performance earned him the player of the tournament award.

Club

International

Sweden's score is listed first, and the score column indicates the score after each Berg goal.