Olof Mellberg is a central defender currently playing for Greek giants Olympiakos. He is well known by English football fans for playing for Aston Villa for 7 years, captaining them for 5 seasons.
Olof was a keen tennis player but decided to concentrate on football and joined Swedish local side Gullspång and was signed by Swedish Premiership side Degerfors IF just 2 years into his career. However, he only stayed there for one season before he was sold to AIK. After making an instant impression he caught the eye of some top European clubs and was sold to Spanish side Racing Santander.
His move to English football came in 2001 with David O’Leary’s Aston Villa. Mellberg gained the captaincy and became a hero amongst the Villa fans before stepping down from his role as skipper after Sweden’s 2006 World Cup campaign.
Mellberg remained at Villa for another two seasons and on his final game for the club, bought every fan who travelled to Upton Park on the last day of the season a shirt with the words ‘Thanks 4 The Support’ printed on the back! Mellberg then left for Italian side Juventus where he spent just one season, helping them to the Seria B title before joining Greek side Olympiakos where he continues to play.
Mellberg has been capped 100 times by Sweden, scoring 7 goals.