Quick Facts
Biography
Nils Markus Rosenberg ([ˈmarkɵs ˈruːsəm.ˈbærj]; born 27 September 1982) known as Markus Rosenberg, is a Swedish footballer who plays as a forward for Allsvenskan club Malmö FF, he also serves as club captain. Rosenberg is nicknamed "Sillen" (Swedish: the herring) and played 33 games and scored six times for the Sweden national team before retiring from international duty in 2014.
Rosenberg started his career at home town club Malmö FF before moving on to other European leagues. He also became top scorer in Allsvenskan while on loan at Halmstads BK during the 2004 season. Rosenberg has played for big clubs across Europe like Werder Bremen in the German Bundesliga, Ajax in the Eredivisie and Racing Santander in La Liga. After returning to Malmö FF in 2014, Rosenberg scored several key goals in the club's Champions League run and helped the team win the league title. The following year, Rosenberg once again played a pivotal role in securing consecutive group stage qualifications for Malmö FF in the Champions League.
Club career
Early career
Born in Malmö, Rosenberg started his playing career at Malmö FF at the age of five. He was successful in the youth team where he started playing as a right-back before moving to the attack. He had his debut in 2001 against AIK, but struggled to become a first-team regular with strong competition from Niklas Skoog and Peter Ijeh. When the club bought strikers Afonso Alves and Igor Sypniewski ahead of the season, Rosenberg decided to go to Halmstads BK on loan in 2004. Playing at Halmstad he became the top goalscorer of the 2004 season and only just missed out on becoming the league champion with Halmstad finishing two points behind Malmö. In his last game back in Malmö, he also topped the Royal League 2004–05 scoring list as well as leading Allsvenskan in assists before joining Dutch outfit Ajax.
Ajax
He joined Ajax Amsterdam at the start of the 2005–06 season for a fee of €5.3 million. Manager Danny Blind showed his faith in Rosenberg by playing with him in the first eleven right away. Rosenberg started well, scoring at his debut against Brøndby IF in the UEFA Champions League qualifiers, and scoring at his Eredivisie debut versus RBC Roosendaal. On 27 September 2005 (on his 23rd birthday), Rosenberg scored against Arsenal in a 2–1 loss in the UEFA Champions League. During the season his performances dropped, until Blind decided to play in a 4–4–2 system with Rosenberg and Angelos Charisteas as their strikers instead of the 4–3–3 system with Rosenberg as the only central striker that was played before.
Under the new system Ajax were still underachieving in that period and during the winter break Klaas-Jan Huntelaar joined them for a €9 million fee. Rosenberg did no longer play as a central forward, but as a left winger in the 4–3–3 system they switched back to. The second half of the season playing in this line-up Ajax performed better and were able to reach the newly born Eredivisie play-offs a being ranked fifth in the regular competition. In these play-offs they beat Feyenoord Rotterdam and FC Groningen to claim a spot in the UEFA Champions League preliminaries for the following season. Ajax also won the KNVB Cup in that season.
Rosenberg was called up in the Swedish national team for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, but did not play any matches. When the 2006–07 season started he was no longer a regular first team player, but mostly used as a back-up for Huntelaar. He scored three goals in two UEFA Cup appearances versus IK Start, but could not take Huntelaar's place as main striker under the new coach Henk ten Cate.
Werder Bremen
On 26 January 2007, Rosenberg moved to Bundesliga club Werder Bremen playing his first game two days later against Hannover 96. In his first season, he scored his first goal for Werder Bremen against FC Bayern Munich in a 1–1 draw on 11 March 2007, with the back of the head. On 8 April 2007, Rosenberg scored a winning goal (also the only goal and second goal for the club) in a 1–0 win over 1. FC Nürnberg in Werder's fight for the Bundesliga title. On 6 May 2007, Rosenberg scored his first hat trick for the club in a 4–1 win over Hertha BSC. In the last game of the season with Bremen out of the title race after losing to Eintracht Frankfurt 2–1 in the previous week, Rosenberg scored twice in a 2–0 win over Wolfsburg on 19 May 2007. Overall, Rosenberg scored 8 goals in 14 starts in his first Bundesliga season, five of them as a substitute making him the most effective joker of the league.
Because of his aerial ability and his strength Rosenberg is considered a dangerous header of the ball, but he is also dangerous when having the ball at his feet. Rosenberg soon became fan favourite and earned a nickname "Rosi". Rosenberg has struggled to perform in the league, but has proved to be a very efficient goal scorer in both the European and domestic cups. Rosenberg established himself in the starting and form a partnership with strikers like Hugo Almeida and Boubacar Sanogo.
In his second season and full season at Werder Bremen, Rosenberg made 30 appearances and scored 14 goals which made him a top scorer with Diego with 13 goals behind him. Rosenberg made his debut of the season in a 2–2 draw against VfL Bochum. On 29 September 2007, Rosenberg scored his first goal of the season in an 8–1 thriller against Arminia Bielefeld also setting up a goal for Hugo Almeida. In the Champions League Group Stage Matchday 5 on 28 November 2007, Rosenberg scored his first Champions League goal for the club in a 3–2 win over Real Madrid setting up a goal for Boubacar Sanogo.
In his third season Rosenberg reached 29 appearance and scored 7 goals becoming second top scorer of the season behind Claudio Pizarro. This season, the club won the DFB-Pokal and reached the UEFA Cup final against Shakhtar Donetsk but lost 2–1. On 9 August 2008 in the 2008–09, Rosenberg scored 4 goals and set up Almeida twice in a 9–3 win over Eintracht Nordhorn. On 16 August 2008, Rosenberg scored a brace on his debut of the season in a 2–2 against Arminia Bielefeld. On 20 September 2008, Rosenberg scored twice in a 5–2 win over Bayern Munich which Werder Bremen beat Bayern Munich for the first time at the Allianz Arena. In the Champions League Group Stage Matchday 5 on 26 November 2008, Rosenberg set up Almeida to score the second goal in a 2–2 draw against Anorthosis Famagusta. In the last Champions League Group Stage Matchday 6 on 9 December 2008, Rosenberg scored a winning goal in a 2–1 win over Internazionale. Nevertheless, Werder were eliminated from the Group Stage and sent to the UEFA Cup. On 15 March 2009, Rosenberg scored twice in a 4–0 win over VfB Stuttgart.
In his fourth season, Rosenberg made 17 appearance scoring 1 goal. Rosenberg made his debut of the season in a 0–0 draw against Bayer 04 Leverkusen on 20 September 2009 after being out of action with a knee problems for 3 months. Rosenberg was placed on the bench for large parts of the season. On 21 November 2009, Rosenberg scored his first and only goal of the season in a 6–0 win over SC Freiburg. Unable to produce goalscoring form, Rosenberg managed to score in the Europa League with a scoring a brace in a 4–1 win over Nacional and a 3–1 win over Athletic Bilbao. In March 2010; following a bad performance in the league gainst Bochum, Rosenberg didn't make the squad for the subsequent semi-final match of the DFB-Pokal versus Augsburg. Rosenberg complained to German tabloid BILD: "I wasn't the only one to play badly against Bochum. It is not good that I was immediately removed from the squad. I'm frustrated. Obviously, I'm thinking about what happens in the summer. I'm not here to sit in the stands. I want to play football."
Just before the 2010–11 season, Rosenberg stated that he wanted to stay with Werder Bremen after being reportedly unhappy over the contract stall. In the second leg of their play-off round of the UEFA Champions League against Sampdoria on 24 August 2010 with Bremen trailing 0–3 behind, Rosenberg scored in injury time helping Werder to make it into extra time before Pizarro scored the decisive goal to reach the group stage of the Champions League.
After returning from loan at Santander, Rosenberg scored a brace in a 2–0 win over Kaiserslautern on the opening day of the 2011–12 Bundesliga season. On 28 April 2012, Rosenberg scored his last goal for the club in a 3–1 loss against Wolfsburg. On 5 May 2012, Rosenberg made his last appearance for the club in a 3–2 loss against Schalke 04. At the end of the 2011–12 season, Werder Bremen decided to not extend Rosenberg's contract.
Racing Santander
On 31 August 2010, he signed a contract extension which would see him at Bremen until 2012 and was loaned to Spanish La Liga club Racing Santander until June 2011. Rosenberg made his debut for Santander in a 1–0 defeat against Valencia on 11 September 2010. On 26 September 2010, Rosenberg received a red card after a second bookable offence resulting in a one-match ban. On 23 October 2010, Rosenberg scored his first goal for Racing Santander in a 6–1 defeat to Real Madrid. At the end of season, Rosenberg lead the club's scoring chart at nine goals in the beginning of May. On 23 June 2011, he expressed his wishes to continue to be playing in Europe for a couple of years and then to finish his career at his hometown club Malmö FF.
West Bromwich Albion
On 7 August 2012, West Bromwich Albion announced they had secured Rosenberg on a three-year contract. He wore the number 8 for the 2012–13 season. Rosenberg played 24 league matches for the club during his first season at the club but failed to score any goals. Having only appeared in four league matches for the 2013–14 season, Rosenberg and the club reached a mutual agreement to terminate his contract on 1 February 2014. When he left West Brom, Rosenberg donated all his house contents to charity.
Return to Malmö FF
On 1 February 2014, Malmö FF confirmed that they had agreed on a three-year contract with Rosenberg. On 3 February 2014 the transfer was confirmed after the medical examination had been performed and Rosenberg had travelled to Bradenton, Florida where the club was engaged in a pre season training camp. Rosenberg scored his first league goal after returning to the club on 7 April 2014 in a 3–0 away win against rivals IFK Göteborg. In August 2014, Rosenberg announced his retirement from the Swedish national football team in order to fully concentrate on Malmö FF. The following day, he scored a brace as Malmö FF defeated Red Bull Salzburg in a 3–0 win to qualify for the 2014–15 UEFA Champions League. On 1 October 2014, Rosenberg scored both goals in a 2–0 win against Olympiakos, securing Malmö's first win in the 2014–15 UEFA Champions League. Overall Rosenberg scored 15 goals and made 14 assists in the league, proving to be a vital part of the team as they defended their league title. This was also the first time in Rosenberg's career that he won a league title. With 15 league goals and 24 goals in all competitions, the 2014 became Rosenberg's most successful season to date in terms of goals. After the successful season Rosenberg was awarded Allsvenskan forward of the year and Allsvenskan most valuable player of the year. He was also nominated for Swedish forward of the year at Fotbollsgalan.
On 5 August 2015, Rosenberg scored a goal in Malmö’s 3–0 return leg win over RB Salzburg in the third qualifying round for the 2015–16 Champions League. Thanks to an aggregate score of 3–2 Malmö eliminated Salzburg for the second successive season contributing to Salzburg’s run of eight unsuccessful attempts to qualify for the Champions League since being bought by the Red Bull company in 2005. In their home game on 25 August 2015, Rosenberg scored the first goal as Malmö beat Celtic 2–0 winning 4–3 on aggregate and thereby qualifying for the Champions League group stage for the second consecutive year.
International career
Rosenberg had his debut for Sweden in a match against South Korea on 22 January 2005. He was chosen for the 2006 FIFA World Cup as well as the UEFA Euro 2008 and the UEFA Euro 2012 squad. In total, he made 33 appearances and scored six goals for Sweden before retiring from international duty in August 2014.
In the UEFA Euro 2008 qualifier fan attack, Rosenberg was punched in the stomach by Christian Poulsen. Sweden was given a penalty kick as a result of Poulsen's punch, which resulted in a Danish supporter attacking the referee and the game being abandoned, with Sweden being handed the victory by UEFA.
Following the 2012 Euros Rosenberg lost his place with the national team. After a successful season in 2014, Rosenberg was once again eyed by Erik Hamrén, but chose to declare his retirement from international football to focus on his career at Malmö FF.
Career statistics
Club
- As of 24 November 2016.
| Club | Season | League | Cup | Continental | Total | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Malmö FF | 2001 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 0 | — | 13 | 1 | |
| 2002 | 11 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 13 | 0 | ||
| 2003 | 16 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 21 | 5 | |
| Halmstads BK | 2004 | 26 | 14 | 3 | 3 | — | 29 | 17 | |
| Total | 26 | 14 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 29 | 17 | |
| Malmö FF | 2005 | 12 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 5 |
| Total | 52 | 8 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 60 | 11 | |
| Ajax | 2005–06 | 31 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 2 | 39 | 14 |
| 2006–07 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 14 | 3 | |
| Total | 40 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 5 | 53 | 17 | |
| Werder Bremen | 2006–07 | 14 | 8 | 0 | 0 | — | 14 | 8 | |
| Werder Bremen II | 2006–07 | 2 | 0 | — | — | 2 | 0 | ||
| Total | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |
| Werder Bremen | 2007–08 | 30 | 14 | 3 | 1 | 11 | 1 | 44 | 16 |
| 2008–09 | 29 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 13 | 1 | 47 | 13 | |
| 2009–10 | 17 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 24 | 4 | |
| 2010–11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | |
| Racing Santander | 2010–11 | 33 | 9 | 2 | 0 | — | 35 | 9 | |
| Total | 33 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 35 | 9 | |
| Werder Bremen | 2011–12 | 33 | 10 | 1 | 1 | — | 34 | 11 | |
| Total | 123 | 40 | 10 | 7 | 32 | 6 | 165 | 53 | |
| West Bromwich Albion | 2012–13 | 24 | 0 | 3 | 0 | — | 27 | 0 | |
| 2013–14 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 6 | 0 | ||
| Total | 28 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 33 | 0 | |
| Malmö FF | 2014 | 28 | 15 | 3 | 1 | 12 | 7 | 43 | 23 |
| 2015 | 28 | 11 | 5 | 3 | 10 | 3 | 43 | 17 | |
| 2016 | 22 | 8 | 5 | 3 | — | 27 | 11 | ||
| Total | 78 | 34 | 13 | 7 | 22 | 10 | 113 | 51 | |
| Career Total | 382 | 117 | 39 | 20 | 69 | 21 | 490 | 158 | |
International
- As of 19 June 2012.
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sweden | 2005 | 6 | 3 |
| 2006 | 6 | 1 | |
| 2007 | 7 | 2 | |
| 2008 | 7 | 0 | |
| 2009 | 4 | 0 | |
| 2010 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2011 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2012 | 3 | 0 | |
| Total | 33 | 6 | |
International goals
| # | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 22 January 2005 | The Home Depot Center, Carson |  South Korea | 1–1 | 1–1 | Friendly |
| 2. | 17 August 2005 | Ullevi, Gothenburg |  Czech Republic | 2–1 | 2–1 | Friendly |
| 3. | 12 November 2005 | Seoul World Cup Stadium, Seoul | South Korea | 2–2 | 2–2 | Friendly |
| 4. | 6 September 2006 | Ullevi, Gothenburg |  Liechtenstein | 3–1 | 3–1 | UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying |
| 5. | 6 June 2007 | Råsunda Stadium, Solna |  Iceland | 4–0 | 5–0 | UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying |
| 6. | 12 September 2007 | Podgorica City Stadium, Podgorica |  Montenegro | 1–1 | 1–2 | Friendly |
Honours
Club
- Ajax
- KNVB Cup: 2005–06
- Johan Cruijff Shield: 2006
- Werder Bremen
- DFB-Pokal: 2008–09
- Malmö FF
- Allsvenskan: 2014, 2016
- Svenska Supercupen: 2014
Individual
- Allsvenskan Top Scorer: 2004
- Allsvenskan forward of the year: 2014
- Allsvenskan most valuable player of the year: 2014