Kerstin Ingrid Therese Sjögran (born 8 April 1977) is a Swedish football manager and coach, and former player as a midfielder for Damallsvenskan club FC Rosengård and the Sweden national team. A modern pioneer and source of inspiration in women's football, she is considered one of the greatest Swedish footballers of all time and imagined by some as a possible future head coach for the national team. Nicknamed "Terre", Sjögran made her first Damallsvenskan appearances for Kristianstad/Wä DFF. She joined Malmö FF Dam in 2001 and remained with the club through its different guises as LdB FC and FC Rosengård. Sjögran spent the 2011 season with American Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) club Sky Blue FC.
Sweden's all-time record appearance holder, Sjögran is the first player to win 200 caps for Blågult and is tied with Birgit Prinz at 214 for the most capped European footballer in national teams. She made her national team debut in October 1997 and represented her country in the 2001, 2005, 2009 and 2013 editions of the UEFA Women's Championship, as well as at the 2003, 2007, 2011 and 2015 FIFA Women's World Cups. She also played at the 2000, 2004 and 2008 Olympic Football Tournaments, but missed out in 2012 due to injury. Sjögran twice won the Diamantbollen, the award for Sweden's female player of the year, in 2007 and 2010.
Today she is sporting director in Manchester City W.F.C.
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Club career
Sjögran began playing football with boys at Harlösa IF and moved on to Veberöds AIF at the age of 12. She has mentioned on several occasions as an adult that Jürgen Klinsmann was her greatest inspiration, whom she first saw in the 1990 World Cup. Aged 14, she was already playing for Veberöds' women's team in Division 3. After signing for Division 1 club Wä IF in 1997 Sjögran was part of the team promoted into the Damallsvenskan for the first time that year. She came to the attention of bigger clubs and joined Wä's local rivals Malmö FF Dam in 2001.
Malmö showed good form but were prevented from winning trophies by the dominant Umeå IK team of the era. With Sjögran playing as a left winger, the 2003 Svenska Cupen final finished Umeå 1–0 Malmö, after an extra time goal by Umeå's Hanna Ljungberg. In April 2005, Sjögran rejected advances from several rival clubs to extend her Malmö contract.
Consistent performances from Sjögran at Malmö saw her honoured as Sweden's female Midfielder of the Year in 2007 and 2008. In 2007, she won the Diamantbollen award for the best female footballer in the country.
In March 2009, Sjögran indicated her interest in playing in the English FA WSL, which was supposed to start the following year but was delayed. Later in 2009, she was picked in the American Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) International Draft by Atlanta Beat, but remained loyal to Malmö.
Inspired by 33-year-old Sjögran, Malmö won their first Damallsvenskan championship since 1994 in the 2010 season. It was delighted Sjögran's first league winner's medal after finishing in second place on five previous occasions. Sjögran won the Diamantbollen again in 2010. Her acceptance speech paid tribute to the influence of her step-father. A surprised Sjögran had expected Charlotte Rohlin to win the award.
In December 2010 Malmö let Sjögran move to America, with WPS club Sky Blue FC. Sky Blue coach Jim Gabarra had made Sjögran one of his top transfer targets, describing her as "consistently exceptional". Sjögran played just 13 matches for Sky Blue, as the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup was scheduled during the 2011 season. Starting 12 of the games, she posted six assists as Sky Blue finished fifth of six teams.
International career
Sjögran made her first appearance for the senior Swedish national team on 30 October 1997; a 3–1 friendly defeat by the United States in Chattanooga, Tennessee. She was fast-tracked into the national team by coach Marika Domanski-Lyfors although she had not yet played in Sweden's top division. After some injury problems kept her out of club football, Sjögran was not selected for the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup in the United States. She returned to the squad for the 2000 Sydney Olympics, but was mainly an understudy and was restricted to substitute appearances as Sweden crashed out in the first round.
Sjögran was a more established first team player by the time of UEFA Women's Euro 2001. She came on as a substitute in all Sweden's games except the final, which she started. Sweden lost 1–0 to Claudia Müller's golden goal for hosts Germany.
At the 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup, Sjögran was substituted at half-time in Sweden's first match, a 3–1 loss to hosts the United States. She came on as a substitute in Sweden's remaining matches and won praise for her performance in the final, which Sweden again lost to Germany on a golden goal. In its tournament review, the Expressen newspaper described Sjögran as a talented enigma who seemed incapable of translating her best performances to the international stage.
Following the retirement of midfield star Malin Moström in late 2006, Sjögran was given a more prominent role by coach Thomas Dennerby. As part of the Sweden team surprisingly eliminated in the first round of the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup, Sjögran was one of few Swedish players to emerge with any credit from the tournament. She also played a leading role as Sweden beat rivals Denmark in a qualification play-off for the following year's Olympics. In China 2008 she participated in the Swedes' 2–0 quarter-final defeat by Germany.
At the 2011 Algarve Cup Sjögran surpassed Victoria Sandell Svensson's national record of 166 caps, after playing in a 2–1 defeat to Japan. She marked the occasion by scoring her 17th international goal, direct from a free kick.
Experienced "elder stateswoman" Sjögran helped Sweden achieve third place at the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup in Germany. She assisted Lisa Dahlqvist's winning goal against North Korea in the group stage, and started Sweden's 3–1 semi-final defeat to eventual winners Japan in Frankfurt. Sjögran played the whole match as Sweden secured third place by beating France 2–1 in Sinsheim.
Managerial career
Since 1 August 2015 Sjögran is sporting director in FC Rosengård.
Personal life
In an interview made in 2005 before the European Championship Sjögran states that she would choose innebandy if she wouldn't play football. Her favourite food was shellfish, her favourite music was techno/house and her favourite movie was Saw. She thought Birgit Prinz was the best current player and that golfer Annika Sörenstam was the best Swedish athlete of all time. In a short interview made in 2013 she also mentioned table tennis as a secondary sports choice.
Economics graduate Sjögran took legal action when she was refused unemployment benefit on the grounds that her football career stopped her being available for work. She later worked part-time for the insurance company, Trygg-Hansa.
Sports journalist Anja Gatu wrote a fictional biographical children's book, with illustrations by Maria Borgelöv, about Sjögran's early years in Harlösa IF titled Rött kort, Therese! ("Red card, Therese!") in 2015. One and a half-year later Gatu wrote a sequel titled Snygg fint, Therese! ("Nice feint, Therese!").
Sjögran participated in SVT's 2017 season of Mästarnas mästare which was recorded in Algarve, Portugal in September 2016. She was once again miscredited for her deeds as SVT in a press release before a press gathering for the show had left out most of her merits and claimed that Anders Svensson was the most capped Swedish player. The car incident from Fotbollsgalan was supposedly brought up during recording of her recap in the show, but was ultimately cut from the broadcast.
She still played football regularly in 2016, but only in Swedish amateur league Korpen.
Career statistics
Honours
Veberöds AIF
Division 3: 1994
Wä FF
Division 1: 1997
LdB FC Malmö/FC Rosengård
Damallsvenskan: 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015
Svenska Supercupen: 2011, 2012, 2015
Sweden
FIFA Women's World Cup: runner-up 2003; third place 2011
UEFA Women's Euro: runner-up 2001
Algarve Cup: 2001, 2009
Australia Cup: 2003
Individual
Best female player in Sweden: 2007, 2010
Best female midfielder in Sweden: 2007, 2008
Soccer Channel special prize: 2015