Hanna Carolina Ljungberg (born 8 January 1979) is a Swedish former association football forward. She spent the majority of her club career at Umeå IK and was a Swedish international from 1996 to 2008.

Club career

From 1998 to 2009, Ljungberg made 227 appearances and scored 196 goals for Umeå IK in the Damallsvenskan, winning the Diamond Ball (Diamantbollen) in 2002. She also scored a record-setting number of goals that season with 39 goals (roughly 1.78 per game). In the 70th minute of a cup match against AIK on 17 May 2007, Carola Söberg's injury forced Ljungberg to play in goal. Fortunately, Umeå IK held on to their clean sheet.

International career

Ljungberg debuted for Sweden on 6 February 1996 in an 8-0 win over Spain at age 17. As a highly prolific striker, she was instrumental in the Swedish side that were runners-up at the 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup held in the United States, scoring three goals and assisting one more. She was also voted as the third-best World Player of the Year by FIFA in 2003. Until October 2014, when she was surpassed by Lotta Schelin, Ljungberg was the goal leader of the Swedish national team with 72 goals. During the UEFA Women's Cup 2002-03, Ljungberg was the top goalscorer in the tournament with 10 goals. Italian men's football club Perugia contacted Ljungberg to hire her for their Serie A roster, but the deal was aborted.

Retirement

In August 2009, Ljungberg announced her retirement after a knee injury in a league match on 5 July. Her right anterior cruciate ligament, previously reconstructed in 2004, was again partly torn and she decided with her doctors that to continue to play presented too high a risk of permanent disability. Later on, she helped Joakim Blomqvist and his assistant Maria Bergkvist in the coaching of her old team. At the same time, Ljungberg was studying at Umeå University to become a physiotherapist and graduated in June 2012.

Personal life

Ljungberg appeared in the Sveriges Television documentary television series The Other Sport from 2013 and was also depicted on a stamp commemorating the Swedish Football Association's 100th anniversary.

Matches and goals scored at major tournaments

Ljungberg featured for Sweden at three World Cups (USA 1999, USA 2003, China 2007) and three Olympic Games (Athens 1996, Sydney 2000, Athens 2004.) She scored Sweden's lone goal in the 2003 World Cup Final, where Sweden lost to Germany for a second place finish.

Matches and goals scored at European Championship tournaments

Hanna Ljungberg appeared at three European Championship tournaments: Norway/Sweden 1997, Germany 2001, and England 2005. In the 2005 Semi-Final, she scored twice against Norway, erasing Norwegian leads each time. Her second goal in the 89th minute knotted the score at 2-2 and forced extra time. Sweden could not find a match winner though, and exited the tournament in a 2-3 defeat.

International goals

Honours

Club

International

Individual