Mattias Asper

Nils Mattias Joacim Asper (born March 20, 1974 in Sölvesborg) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He played 3 international matches for the Sweden national football team, and was a squad member for them at UEFA Euro 2000.

Mattias Asper
Mattias Asper in May 2014
Personal information
Full name Nils Mattias Joacim Asper
Date of birth (1974-03-20) 20 March 1974
Place of birth Sölvesborg, Sweden
Height 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in)
Position(s) Goalkeeper
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1993–1997 Mjällby AIF 98 (0)
1998–2000 AIK 60 (0)
2000–2002 Real Sociedad 10 (0)
2002 → Beşiktaş (loan) 8 (0)
2002–2006 Malmö FF 100 (0)
2006 Viking FK 10 (0)
2007 IF Brommapojkarna 6 (0)
2008–2015 Mjällby AIF 232 (1)
Total 524 (1)
National team
1999–2002 Sweden 3 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Club career

Asper was the first choice goalkeeper for Mjällby AIF in four seasons before signing to the Allsvenskan side AIK in 1998. Lee Baxter began the 1998 season as the first choice. But after seven games AIK had only managed to collect seven points, including only one win. On the 8 of June, Asper made his debut against Östers IF putting Lee Baxter on the bench, which would last for the rest of the season. With Asper in the net, AIK did not lose a single game in the 1998 season and they also won Allsvenskan the same year.

In 1999, AIK qualified for Champions League making it all the way to the group stage. This year, Asper held a clean sheet for 797 minutes in Allsvenskan which was a new record.

His performances in AIK attracted interest from Spanish club Real Sociedad, who bought him just before the 2000-01 season. However, he did not had much of a success in Spain and eventually returned to Sweden and Malmö FF in 2002, after being on loan to Beşiktaş J.K.. He won the Swedish championship with Malmö FF in 2004.

He announced his retirement on 26 November 2014.[1]

International career

Asper made his international debut for Sweden on 27 November 1999 in a friendly game against South Africa, replacing Magnus Kihlstedt at halftime.[2][3] He made his second appearance for Sweden on 29 March 2000 in a friendly game against Austria.[4] He was selected for Sweden's UEFA Euro 2000 squad, and served as back-up goalkeeper behind Magnus Hedman as Sweden was eliminated after the group stage.[2] He won his third and last international cap in a friendly game against Russia on 21 April 2002.[5]

Honours

Club
AIK
1998
1999
Malmö FF
2004

Individual
  • Swedish Goalkeeper of the Year: 2
1998, 1999

References
  1. Niklas Lundell (26 November 2015). "Mattias Asper slutar med fotbollen" (in Swedish). SVT Sport. Retrieved 27 November 2015.
  2. "Mattias Asper - Spelarstatistik - Svensk fotboll". www.svenskfotboll.se. (in Swedish). Retrieved 2020-11-13.
  3. "Sydafrika - Sverige - Matchfakta - Svensk fotboll". www.svenskfotboll.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 2020-11-13.
  4. "Österrike - Sverige - Matchfakta - Svensk fotboll". www.svenskfotboll.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 2020-11-13.
  5. "Ryssland - Sverige - Matchfakta - Svensk fotboll". www.svenskfotboll.sehttps (in Swedish). Retrieved 2020-11-13.
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