Henrik Daniel "Daja" Sjölund (born 22 April 1983) is a Finnish football coach and a former footballer who played as a midfielder. Sjölund is currently working as an assistant coach of Veikkausliiga club IFK Mariehamn. He is best remembered for his stints with Djurgårdens IF and IFK Norrköping. He won 37 caps for the Finland national team.
Career
Daniel Sjölund was born in the municipality of Finström, based in Åland which is a Swedish-speaking autonomous region that belongs to Finland. Sjölund started his career at IF Finströms Kamraterna, when he was a child. Afterwards he went to IFK Mariehamn and IF Brommapojkarna, before being signed by West Ham at the age of just 16, after impressive displays for Finland's youth teams. In 2000 Liverpool manager Gérard Houllier agreed to pay £1 million for the talented forward in a deal that also saw Rigobert Song going the other way. After failing to get into the first team at Liverpool, Sjölund joined Djurgården for the 2003 season, first on loan and later on a permanent deal. He has won two Swedish championships and two Swedish Cups with Djurgården. The 2005 season finally saw Sjölund become a regular in the Djurgården team, and he scored seven goals in the league.
A regular for the Under-21s since the age of 17, Sjölund made his senior international debut for the Finnish national team on 22 May 2003 against Norway. Good performances in the 2005 season have seen him promoted to the senior team on a regular basis. Sjölund was also a part of the Finland squad at the 2001 FIFA World Youth Championship.
In September 2012 Sjölund played his 200th league game for Djurgården wearing a number 200 shirt. But only a couple of months later the club announced that they would not be extending his contract.
Sjölund signed with Åtvidabergs FF on 4 February 2013 and stayed with the club for two seasons. He signed a pre-contract with local rivals IFK Norrköping during the 2014 season, and joined the squad for the 2015 season.
Sjölund re-signed with IFK Mariehamn for the 2019 season.Avtalet mellan Grönvitt och Daja undertecknat , ifkfotboll.ax In mid October, it was announced that Sjölund had retired from football.Daniel Sjölund lägger skorna på hyllan, hbl.fi, 16 October 2019
Sjölund returned to playing after less than a year of retirement, this time with Finnish fourth-tier club FC Åland.Sjölund gör oväntad comeback: "Förstärkning för slutspurten", fotbollskanalen.se
Coaching career In November 2021 Sjölund announced that he had signed a three-year contract to manage FC Åland.”Daja” ny tränare för FC Åland, Ålands Radio In September 2023, he was appointed as the assistant coach of Veikkausliiga club IFK Mariehamn for the rest of the 2023 season.IFK Mariehamn vahvistaa valmennustaan – Daniel Sjölund kakkosluotsiksi loppukaudeksi, Veikkausliiga, 7 September 2023 After the season, his contract was extended for two more years for same position.En pusselbit klar i IFK Mariehamns tränarteam – Daniel Sjölund fortsätter i klubben: ”Får bra kontinuitet”, Svenskan Yle, 4 December 2023
Personal information His sister Annica Sjölund is also a Finnish international who competed in Women's Euro 2009.
Career statistics
+ Club statisticsClubSeasonLeagueCupLeague CupEuropeOtherTotalDivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsIFK Mariehamn1998Kakkonen 18 4——— 18 41999 9 7——— 9 7Total271100———2711Brommapojkarna1999 Division 1 Norra 9 0 — — 9 0Total 9 0 0 0 — — 0 0 9 0West Ham1999–00 Premier League 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 02000–01 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Total 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Liverpool2000–01 Premier League 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 02001–02 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 02002–03 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Total 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Djurgården2003 Allsvenskan 19 3 3 1 — 1 0 23 42004 17 1 4 3 — 2 0 3 0 26 42005 22 7 6 6 — 2 0 6 1 36 142006 26 2 3 0 — 2 0 1 0 32 22007 23 5 1 0 — 24 52008 10 1 0 0 — 3 0 13 12009 19 3 0 0 — 0 0 19 32010 14 0 0 0 — 14 02011 28 2 2 1 — 30 32012 27 3 1 0 — 28 3Total 205 27 20 11 — 10 0 10 1 245 39Åtvidaberg2013 Allsvenskan 28 6 4 1 — 32 72014 23 0 3 1 — 26 1Total 51 6 7 2 — 0 0 0 0 58 8IFK Norrköping2015 Allsvenskan 28 2 5 0 — 33 22016 27 2 5 0 — 2 0 34 22017 25 1 4 0 — 3 0 32 120188100———81Total 84 6 14 0 — 5 0 0 0 103 6IFK Mariehamn2019Veikkausliiga17020———190FC Åland2020 Kolmonen 3 1 0 0 — — 3 12021 7 1 0 0 — — 3 0 10 1Total 10 2 0 0 — — 3 0 13 2Career total 380 41 43 13 0 0 15 0 13 1 451 55
International goals
+ Goal Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition Reports 1. 12 November 2005 Olympic Stadium, Helsinki 1–0 2–2 Friendly match 2. 10 September 2008 Olympic Stadium, Helsinki 3–2 3–3 FIFA World Cup 2010 qualifying
International
Finland national teamYearAppsGoals200320200420200541200610200760200831200940201040201150201260Total372
Honours
Djurgårdens IF Allsvenskan: 2003, 2005 Svenska Cupen: 2004, 2005
IFK Norrköping Allsvenskan: 2015
Individual Swedish Goal of the Year: 2005 Årets Järnkamin: 2008
References
External links
IFK Mariehamn profile