An article on Swedish players in Holland and Germany. By freelance sports writer Ben Sibley.
The Dutch Eredivisie, along with the German Bundesliga, witnesses an influx of Swedish, Finnish, and Norwegian footballers year after year. The trend is long established, the most well-known example being Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s move from Malmö to Ajax Amsterdam in the spring of 2001.
The sheer amount of players who have followed in Zlatan’s footsteps highlight the vast difference between coincidence and trend; there is no doubt Scandinavian players and their agents recognise the Dutch Eredivisie as the perfect stepping stone for their careers.
Further along the career path of such players, the German Bundesliga comes into play; perhaps the most notable recent example being Marcus Berg’s move from FC Groningen to SV Hamburg last month.
Similar to the Eredivisie offering a step up in class from the Nordic leagues, the Bundesliga offers a step up from Holland; far from being a hollow claim, Fifa rank the German premier division as the fifth best in Europe, with Holland languishing down in ninth. Those who make an impression in the Eredivisie following a move from Scandinavia alert Bundesliga clubs who have utilised this relationship between the two leagues to great effect.
Of course there are those who make the move to Europe with a Dutch club and swiftly return to Sweden, Finland or Norway after failing to make the grade. Additionally, there are those who move directly to the Bundesliga, along with others who take the plunge straight into the Premiership, La Liga or Serie A. However, there is no doubting the trend we are focusing on this week.
After directly following Ibrahimovic from Malmö to Ajax Amsterdam, Markus Rosenberg has established himself as a consistent goalscorer in the German Bundesliga with Werder Bremen. Following a productive spell on loan at Halmstad in 2004, Rosenberg returned to Malmö, ending up top scorer in that year’s Royal League.
After being alerted to his performances in the competition, Ajax paid €5.3m to take him to Amsterdam at the beginning of the 2005-06 season. He immediately began to repay Danny Blind’s faith in him by scoring on his debut against (ironically) Brondby in the UEFA Champions League qualifiers.
However, as the season progressed, Blind’s preference for a 4-3-3 system saw Rosenberg pushed out of position to the left side of attack. After failing to make an impact in the new formation and the arrival of Klaas-Jan Huntelaar from Heerenveen, he began the following season as second choice striker. However, Werder Bremen had seen enough of him to warrant making him their first purchase of the 2007 January transfer window.
Those who had witnessed Rosenberg’s performances in the Eredivisie had no doubt of his ability to step up to the higher level of German football. Two years on, Rosenberg has bagged 29 goals in 73 first-team appearances; a figure that would no doubt be significantly higher had Bremen sustained their impressive form from of recent years in the 2008-09 season.
Thus far, Rosenberg can be considered a success story of the Sweden-Holland-Germany route taken by many others.
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