Jesper Johansson (footballer)
Jesper Pele Johansson was a Swedish goalkeeper who was born on 30th May 1994. He has played for Mjällby AIF and GAIS football club in his playing career.
Career[edit]
Jesper Johansson began his career by playing in the minor leagues and was acknowledged by different coaches at elite levels. This enabled him to play in elite leagues even during his teenage years. He began his career with Mjällby AIF football club and was on the quest to become one of the best goalkeepers in Sweden. However, he was also under the radar of many club coaches, managers, and supporters. Johansson also played 4 Under-21 internationals for Sweden before being reached out by GAIS as a last-minute reserve goalkeeper in their senior team.[1]
During his first outing with GAIS, Johansson was responsible for most of the saves. He was competing for a place in the first XI with their first-choice keeper, Tommi Vaiho, in his debut year.[1]
Current Status[edit]
Johansson was a regular for Mjällby in the last two seasons, as he took over Mattias Asper's goalkeeper role after he retired. With his goalkeeping abilities, the club also won the Superettan division in 2018. After that, however, the toll of playing at the elite level got to him, and he could not perform well. As a result, he was replaced by the Finnish goalkeeper, Carl-Johan Eriksson.[2]
According to Blekingesport, Johansson said that he was underperforming according to his expectations, and stress and anxiety were growing inside him. In response to that, he took sick leave and hoped that things would get better for him. Instead, the game he loved the most became a source of stress for him. He started to have suicidal thoughts. In response to that, he decided to quit the game before it got to him.[3] In recent years, Johansson was also the third Swedish goalkeeper who testified about mental illness after Matt Pyzdrowski and Tim Erlandsson.[2]
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "U21-landslagsmålvakt till Göteborgsklubben". www.expressen.se (in svenska). Retrieved 2021-09-30.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "25-åringen slutar: "Många mår dåligt där ute"". www.expressen.se (in svenska). Retrieved 2021-09-30.
- ↑ Flemming, Henrik (2019-09-23). "Jesper Johansson: "Fotbollen knäckte mig"". Blekinge Läns Tidning (in svenska). Retrieved 2021-09-30.
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