Joakim Persson

Joakim Persson (born 3 April 1975) is a Swedish football manager and former player. He is the head coach of Varbergs BoIS.

CLUB Career

Born in Helsingborg, Persson began his career as a youth-team player with Hogaborgs BK before moving to Malmo FF in 1992. He made his professional debut in a Swedish Cup game against Landskrona in 1994.

Persson moved to the Italian Serie A club Atalanta in 1996. He returned to Sweden after less than two seasons in Italy, having very rarely played for Atalanta's first-team, joining IFK Goteborg in January 1998. Things went little better for him in Sweden. He was often singled out by the media as the main cause of his team's poor performances throughout his two seasons with Goteborg. After the 1998 season he was voted as the "most overrated player" in the Allsvenskan by his fellow players.

At the end of the 1999 season, Persson left IFK Goteborg in order to escape the intense scrutiny he had been subjected to. He joined Esbjerg fB, of the Danish Superliga, midway through the league season, at the end of which they were relegated to the Danish 1st Division.