One More Sweden National Team Player Has Joined FC Krasnodar

FC Krasnodar signed a contract with the Sweden national team striker Marcus Berg, who has scored more than 250 goals throughout his professional career.

Marcus Berg was born on 17 August 1986 in Torsby, Sweden. He began going in for football at the local club of the same name, and in the beginning of 2003 he signed a contract with IFK Göteborg at the age of 16. He performed for the Göteborg youth team at first for a couple of years, and on the opening matchday of season 2005 he made his debut for the first team in a game against Malmö FF. Berg scored his first goal in adult football against Helsingborgs IF in August of the same year.

In season 2007 Marcus became an important player of the first eleven scoring 14 goals in 17 games. A striker with big number of scored goals attracted attention of scouts from Netherlands, hence in August 2007 he was bought by FC Groningen. Berg spent two seasons in the Dutch club and earned 55 points (44+11) according to the “goal + pass” system after 69 official appearances. Naturally, many European clubs became interested in this capable football player, so in summer 2009 the striker moved to Germany after signing a 5-year contract with Hamburger SV.

Berg regularly made the starting lineup with his new team at first, but then in January 2010 Hamburg bought a Dutch star player Ruud van Nistelrooy, and Marcus had to accept the role of his “understudy”. In summer of that same year the Swede moved to PSV Eindhoven on loan. It was not a bad season he spent with the PSV on the whole, but once a loan contract was over the striker went back to the German club.

With one year of the contract still remaining Hamburger SV sold Berg to the Greek Panathinaikos, where Marcus remained for four seasons. In Greece Marcus became one of the most fearsome and constant top scores, as in 151 official games he scored 99 goals and provided 28 assists to his partners. In season 2016/17 he won a title of the Superleague Greece top goalscorer.

Marcus Berg spent his last two seasons in one of the leading clubs of Asia, Al-Ain FC from the UAE. A true master of the finishing stage with a splendid well-trained shot and good at aerial duels, Marcus remained Marcus and scored 46 goals in 60 official games. As a result, Berg became a titleholder of both the 2017–18 UAE Pro-League and 2017–18 UAE President's Cup trophies with his new team.

Marcus Berg began displaying his sniper skills in the national team of his country since he was young. He made his first appearance for the Sweden national U19 team at the age of 17. A few years later they began summoning him to the U21 squad on a regular basis, and Marcus went as far as to become the top scorer (7 goals) and best player of the 2009 UEFA European Under-21 Championship that was staged in 2009. As for the primary Sweden national team, the striker made his debut there in February 2008. Since then he had capped 71 times and scored 19 goals. It was Berg who became the primary attacking tool of the Blågult when Zlatan Ibrahimović finished his career there. It should be noted, that Marcus scored his currently last international goal against Team Russia in a 2018–19 UEFA Nations League game that the Swedes won in autumn last year.

As for now, the contract between Marcus Berg and Al-Ain had expired, so the striker signed a one-year work contract with FC Krasnodar as a free agent. He is to begin training with his new team soon.

Career statistics for Marcus Berg

* All stats are shown with the inclusion of the national Cup and continental Cup games

Marcus Berg’s Individual Highlights