Jon Dahl Tomasson facts for kids
.jpg)
Tomasson as Malmö manager in 2021
|
|||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 29 August 1976 | ||
| Place of birth | Copenhagen, Denmark | ||
| Height | 1.82 m | ||
| Playing position | Striker, second striker | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | Sweden (manager) | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1984–1985 | Solrød | ||
| 1985–1992 | Køge | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1992–1994 | Køge | 48 | (28) |
| 1994–1997 | Heerenveen | 78 | (37) |
| 1997–1998 | Newcastle United | 23 | (3) |
| 1998–2002 | Feyenoord | 122 | (55) |
| 2002–2005 | AC Milan | 76 | (22) |
| 2005–2007 | VfB Stuttgart | 30 | (8) |
| 2007 | → Villarreal (loan) | 11 | (4) |
| 2007–2008 | Villarreal | 25 | (3) |
| 2008–2011 | Feyenoord | 37 | (20) |
| Total | 450 | (180) | |
| National team | |||
| 1992 | Denmark U16 | 3 | (2) |
| 1992 | Denmark U17 | 8 | (8) |
| 1993–1995 | Denmark U19 | 16 | (12) |
| 1995–1997 | Denmark U21 | 10 | (5) |
| 1996 | Denmark B | 1 | (0) |
| 1997–2010 | Denmark | 112 | (52) |
| Teams managed | |||
| 2011–2013 | Excelsior (assistant) | ||
| 2013–2014 | Excelsior | ||
| 2014 | Roda JC | ||
| 2015–2016 | Vitesse (assistant) | ||
| 2016–2019 | Denmark (assistant) | ||
| 2020–2021 | Malmö FF | ||
| 2022–2024 | Blackburn Rovers | ||
| 2024– | Sweden | ||
|
|||
Jon Dahl Tomasson (born 29 August 1976) is a Danish football manager and former player. He is currently the manager of the Sweden national team.
As a forward, he played for famous clubs like Feyenoord and AC Milan. With Feyenoord, he won the UEFA Cup in 2002. At AC Milan, he won the UEFA Champions League in 2003. He also played in England, Germany, and Spain.
Jon Dahl Tomasson is one of the top goal scorers for the Denmark national team. He scored 52 goals in 112 games. He was named the Danish Player of the Year in 2002 and 2004. He played in major tournaments like the UEFA European Championship (2000, 2004) and the FIFA World Cup (2002, 2010).
After his playing career, Tomasson became a coach. He worked as an assistant and manager in the Netherlands. He was also an assistant manager for the Danish national team. In 2020, he became the manager of Malmö in Sweden. He led them to win the Swedish championship twice in a row. In 2022, he became the head coach of Blackburn Rovers. In February 2024, he became the new head coach for the Sweden national team.
Contents
Jon Dahl Tomasson's Club Career
Starting Out in Denmark
Jon Dahl Tomasson was born in Copenhagen, Denmark. He started playing football at age five for a youth team called Solrød. When he was nine, he joined Køge, a bigger club nearby.
At 16, in November 1992, he played his first senior game for Køge. He helped the club get promoted twice in a row. They moved up from the Denmark Series to the second Division in 1993. Then, in 1994, they were promoted to the first Division.
Moving to the Netherlands: Heerenveen
In December 1994, at 18, Tomasson moved to the Dutch club Heerenveen. This club plays in the Eredivisie, which is the top league in the Netherlands. He quickly became a regular player.
In the 1995–96 season, he was Heerenveen's top scorer with 14 goals. He scored even more in the 1996–97 season, with 18 goals. He also won the Best Dutch Football Talent of 1996 award.
Time in England: Newcastle United
His success caught the eye of FA Premier League club Newcastle United. He joined them in July 1997. The manager, Kenny Dalglish, thought Tomasson would work well with striker Alan Shearer.
However, Shearer got a serious injury. Tomasson had to play as a main striker instead of his usual attacking midfield role. He found it hard to get used to the English game. He scored only four goals in 35 games during the 1997–98 season.
Returning to the Netherlands: Feyenoord
In July 1998, Tomasson went back to the Eredivisie and joined Feyenoord. He played as an attacking midfielder again. Feyenoord won the Eredivisie championship in the 1998–99 season. They also won the Dutch Super Cup.
Tomasson scored 15 goals in 2000–01 and 17 goals in 2001–02. He played well with striker Pierre van Hooijdonk. In 2002, Tomasson was key to Feyenoord winning their first international trophy in 26 years. They won the 2001–02 UEFA Cup tournament. He scored four goals in the tournament. In the final against Borussia Dortmund, Tomasson scored a goal. Feyenoord won 3–2, and he was named man of the match.
Playing in Italy: AC Milan
On 2 May 2002, Tomasson moved to Italy to play for Serie A club AC Milan. He joined them on a free transfer. In his first season (2002–03), Milan won the Italian Cup.
Tomasson often came on as a substitute. He scored three goals in the UEFA Champions League. Milan won this big tournament in May 2003. Tomasson missed the final due to an injury. In the 2003–04 season, he played more and scored 12 Serie A goals. Milan won the league title that year. In August 2004, Milan also won the Italian Super Cup.
In the 2004–05 season, he struggled to get a regular starting spot. He was mostly a substitute again. In the 2005 UEFA Champions League Final against Liverpool, he came on as a substitute. He scored in the penalty shootout, but Milan lost the final.
Moving to Germany: VfB Stuttgart
In July 2005, German club VfB Stuttgart bought Tomasson for €7.5 million. He signed a four-year contract. He was the team's top scorer with eight Bundesliga goals in 2005–06. However, the team finished ninth. In the 2006–07 season, Stuttgart became the champions of the Bundesliga.
Time in Spain: Villarreal
On 24 January 2007, Tomasson was loaned to Villarreal in Spain's Primera División. He joined to cover for an injured striker. When he played his first game for Villarreal, Tomasson became one of only five players to have played in the Premier League, Serie A, Bundesliga, and Primera División.
Villarreal signed him permanently in July 2007. In the first game of the 2007–08 season, he scored a goal. He mostly played in the club's UEFA Cup games that season, scoring five goals. Villarreal finished as runners-up in La Liga, their best season ever.
Final Return to Feyenoord
In July 2008, Tomasson returned to Feyenoord on a free transfer. He started well, scoring four goals in three games. However, he then got an injury that kept him out for several months. He only played 14 games in the 2008–09 season.
In the 2009–10 season, he faced more injuries. Still, he played 28 games and scored 12 goals, the most for his club. He helped Feyenoord finish fourth in the Eredivisie. They also reached the final of the Dutch Cup, but lost to Ajax. During the 2010 World Cup, he got another serious injury. This injury affected his playing time for Feyenoord in the 2010–11 season.
Jon Dahl Tomasson's International Career
Tomasson played for Denmark's youth teams, scoring 10 goals in 16 games for the under-19 team. He was named the 1994 Danish U-19 Player of the Year. In total, he scored 27 goals in 37 matches for various national youth teams.
He made his debut for the Denmark national team on 29 March 1997. After moving to Feyenoord, he was called up again in August 1998. He quickly became an important player, scoring six goals in seven matches for the Euro 2000 qualification. He played in all three of Denmark's matches at UEFA Euro 2000.
Before joining Milan, he played for Denmark in the 2002 FIFA World Cup. He scored four goals in four games during that tournament. Tomasson also played for Denmark at UEFA Euro 2004. He scored three goals in four games and was chosen for the Euro 2004 Team of the Tournament.
In 2010, he was part of Denmark's squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. On 24 June, he scored against Japan in a 3–1 defeat. Denmark was eliminated from the competition. FIFA rated him as Denmark's best player in that tournament.
Tomasson scored a total of 52 goals in 112 games for Denmark. This makes him the joint all-time top goal scorer for the Denmark national team. He played for his country from March 1997 to June 2010. On 9 August 2010, he retired from the national team.
Jon Dahl Tomasson's Coaching Career
Early Coaching Roles
Jon Dahl Tomasson retired from playing on 6 June 2011. He then became an assistant coach at the Dutch club Excelsior. He became the head coach of Excelsior at the start of the 2013–14 season. His first game was a 2–2 draw.
On 26 December 2013, he signed a deal to become the head coach of Roda JC. He started on 3 January. After the second half of the season, the team was relegated. He was dismissed on 26 May 2014.
On 19 June 2015, Tomasson became the assistant manager of Vitesse. On 7 March 2016, he was appointed as an assistant coach for the Danish national team. He helped Denmark qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup and the 2020 UEFA European Championship. The team did not lose a game for three years.
Managing Malmö FF
On 5 January 2020, Tomasson became the new manager of Swedish club Malmö. In his first season, he led the team to win the 2020 Allsvenskan title. This was Malmö's 21st Swedish Championship.
In his second season, he guided Malmö to the group stage of the Champions League. They beat strong teams like Rangers to get there. In December 2021, Tomasson and Malmö won their second straight Allsvenskan league title. He left the club on 30 December.
Leading Blackburn Rovers
On 14 June 2022, Tomasson was named the new head coach of Blackburn Rovers. He signed a three-year deal. He said he was "proud and excited" to join a club with "a lot of tradition and also great ambition."
In his first season (2022–23), Blackburn finished 7th in the Championship. They just missed out on the playoffs for promotion to the Premier League. Tomasson left Blackburn in February 2024.
Coaching Sweden's National Team
On 26 February 2024, Tomasson was announced as the new head coach of the Sweden national team. He is the first non-Swede to coach the national team.
Jon Dahl Tomasson's Personal Life
Jon Dahl Tomasson has two sons, Luca (born 2008) and Liam (born 2012). Their mother is his Danish wife, Line Dahl Kongeskov Tomasson. He lives with his family in the Netherlands.
Tomasson has family roots from Denmark, Finnish, and Iceland.
Jon Dahl Tomasson's Style of Play
As a player, Tomasson was known for being good at finding the right position on the field. He was also great at scoring goals. Even though he wasn't super fast or physically strong, he was very effective.
Coaches and experts praised him for his hard work in training. He also moved well without the ball. This helped create space for his teammates. He could play as a main striker or as a second striker, showing how versatile he was.
Managerial Statistics
| Team | From | To | Record | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % | Ref. | |||
| Excelsior | 17 June 2013 | 3 January 2014 | 25 | 10 | 9 | 6 | 37 | 29 | +8 | 40.00 | |
| Roda JC | 3 January 2014 | 26 May 2014 | 17 | 3 | 2 | 12 | 14 | 30 | −16 | 17.65 | |
| Malmö | 5 January 2020 | 30 December 2021 | 93 | 52 | 21 | 20 | 187 | 104 | +83 | 55.91 | |
| Blackburn Rovers | 14 June 2022 | 9 February 2024 | 90 | 40 | 14 | 36 | 137 | 132 | +5 | 44.44 | |
| Sweden | 1 March 2024 | present | 10 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 23 | 14 | +9 | 60.00 | |
| Total | 235 | 111 | 47 | 77 | 398 | 309 | +89 | 47.23 | — | ||
Honours and Achievements
As a Player
Feyenoord
- Eredivisie: 1998–99
- Johan Cruijff Shield: 1999
- UEFA Cup: 2001–02
AC Milan
- Serie A: 2003–04
- Coppa Italia: 2002–03
- Supercoppa Italiana: 2004
- UEFA Champions League: 2002–03
- UEFA Super Cup: 2003
Individual Awards
- 1994 Danish U19 Player of the Year
- 1996 Dutch Football Talent of the Year
- 2002 World Cup Bronze shoe (4 goals)
- 2002 Danish Player of the Year
- 2004 UEFA Euro All-Star Team
- 2004 Danish Player of the Year
- Top scorer of the Danish 2nd Division (1994)
- Top scorer for Køge BK (1994)
- Top scorer for SC Heerenveen (1995–96, 1996–97)
- Top scorer for Feyenoord (2000–01, 2009–10)
- Top scorer for VfB Stuttgart (2005–06)
As a Manager
Malmö
- Allsvenskan: 2020, 2021
- Allsvenskan Manager of the Year: 2020
Images for kids
-
Tomasson as Malmö manager in 2021
-
Tomasson training with Feyenoord in August 2008
-
Tomasson with Vitesse in 2016
