Full name Bjorn Morgan Enqvist Years Team Position Midfielder 1987–1995 Malmo FF Height 1.8 m | Role Footballer Place of birth Lund, Sweden Name Bjorn Enqvist | |
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Date of birth (1977-10-12) 12 October 1977 (age 38) | ||
Playing position | ||
Björn Morgan Enqvist (born 12 October 1977 in Lund, Sweden) is a Swedish footballer. last playing for Aris Limassol FC in the 2nd division in Cyprus.
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Early life
Enqvist is a centre midfielder from the academy of Malmö FF, where he started his career as a 10-year-old playing in a very successful youth team of boys born 1977. The team won two Swedish championships for u-16. Both the national league for u-16 and the National indoor 5 a-side championship. They also competed successfully in many European tournaments and the successful youth team finally produced five professional players for the senior team of Malmö FF, including Enqvist.
England
On 10 February 1995, Enqvist was brought by Crystal Palace to the Premier League at the age of 17 notably the first ever foreign (outside the British isles) player to sign for the club. He spent two years playing for the club mostly in the Crystal Palace reserves but also reaching the FA Youth Cup semi-final against Liverpool where Enqvist scored a memorable volley.
Scandinavia
Enqvist transferred back to Malmö FF in January 1997 under Dutch coach Frans Thijssen. In his two years in the senior squad of Malmö FF he was an important player when the team finished third in the league 1997, and also influential in 1998 where the team also took part in the UEFA Cup where they for the second year running got knocked out by Croatian side Hajduk Split.
In 1999 Enqvist transferred to VPS Vaasa in Finland where he in two years playing for the club managed to win two league cup titles and again took part in the UEFA Cup. In January 2000 he signed for Swedish side GAIS where he played two years.
Enqvist caught the eye of several European clubs including West Ham, Espanyol, NEC Nijmegen and Italian sides Ternana and Pistoiese. But player and clubs could never agree on a transfer fee. He remained in Scandinavia until January 2003 when he made a free transfer to Greece.
Greece
Enqvist arrived in Greece on 3 January signing for Athens-based Apollon Athinon. He then moved on to sign for Panahaiki in July 2004 where he enjoyed his most successful period in Greece playing under coach Ivan Jovanovic. He also played for Kastoria in Northern Greece for one year under coach Gjoko Hadzievski. In Greece Enqvist played successfully with close to 90 games in B-Ethniki scoring 13 times as a defensive playmaker. In 2009 Enqvist returned to Greece after playing in Cyprus and signed for Veria FC, where he after a successful season won the league and promotion to the 2nd division.
Cyprus
His career then continued in Cyprus where on 7 January he signed for Nea Salamina.
In July 2007 Enqvist transferred within Cyprus and signed for APEP Pitsilia. In which he has enjoyed two successful seasons. His first season saw him guide the team to promotion to the Cypriot top league playing as a defensive playmaker. Enqvist has currently completed his second successful season 08/09 again playing regularly as a central defensive midfielder. This team made history as the first APEP side ever, which managed to stay up in the top league. In June 2010 Enqvist signed a contract with Aris Limassol FC in the 2nd division where he again managed to play a big part in the team's league title and promotion to the premier league.
International career
Enqvist was capped for Sweden on all levels from u-16 to u-21, representing his country (Sweden). Captaining the u-18 side and taking part in Sweden's U-21 European qualifiers against England and was also capped against strong opposition France and Spain among others.