Ronnie Ekelund

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Personal information
Ronnie Ekelund
Full name	Ronnie Michael Ekelund
Date of birth	August 21, 1972 (age 34)
Place of birth	Glostrup, Denmark
Height	5 ft 11 ins (1.79 m)
Playing position	Midfielder
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1988-1992 1992-1994 1994-1995 1995-1996 1996 1996-1999 1999-2000 2000-2001 2001-2004 2005-	Brøndby IF FC Barcelona Southampton (Loan) Manchester City (Loan) Coventry City (Loan) Odense Toulouse Walsall San Jose Earthquakes California Cougars	1 (0) 17 (5) 4 (0) 0 (0) 9 (1) 91 (11)
National team
1990-1993	Denmark u-21	21 (3)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

Ronnie Michael Ekelund (born August 21, 1972 in Glostrup, Denmark) is a Danish football (soccer) player, who plays for the California Cougars in Major Indoor Soccer League. Ekelund most prominently spent two years at FC Barcelona, and also played for a number of clubs in English football. He has played 21 matches and scored three goals for the Danish under-21 national team, but has never represented his country at the senior level.

[edit] Biography

Ekelund started his professional career with Danish club Brøndby IF in 1988. He made his first team debut at the age of 15, becoming the youngest player ever to appear in the top-flight Danish 1st Division. He was named 1988 Danish under-17 Talent of the Year. Ekelund was a part of the 1990 and 1991 Danish championship winning Brøndby team, and was called up for the Danish under-21 national team. He impressed with the Denmark under-21 team in the 1992 Summer Olympics hosted at Barcelona, and was soon off to defending Spanish La Liga champions FC Barcelona. He joined Danish-Spaniard Thomas Christiansen at FC Barcelona B, the second-string team of the club. Due to league restrictions on the number of foreigners in the playing line-up, Ekelund had a hard time displacing stars like Michael Laudrup, Hristo Stoichkov and Romario in the Barcelona attack. He played a single league match during the 1993-94 season, before leaving the club.

Ekelund went to England, to Premiership club Southampton. He joined the club after the 1994 pre-season, when both Southampton and Barcelona were holding a training camp in Holland and stayed at the same hotel. Southampton coach Alan Ball and FC Barcelona's Dutch manager Johann Cruyff were old friends and had taken family holidays together. Cruyff walked in during the team's evening meal, and chatted with the players and his old friend Alan Ball. After a long chat, he finally said he had to leave and be with his squad, and asked Ball what gift he wanted: he replied "a left sided midfielder"; Cruyff told him "No problem. I will leave one in the morning". In the morning, the Saints coach found a player in full Barcelona tracksuit, his name was Ronnie Ekelund, and the rest they say is history.

Ekelund was an instant hit at Southampton's The Dell stadium, forming a great partnership with English mifielder Matthew Le Tissier. He was skillful with the ball, had great pace, clever movement and superb finishing ability. At first, Saints wondered why Barcelona had let him go so easily, but the reasons soon became clear when it emerged that Ekelund was carrying a back injury. The Southampton medical team felt that this could only be cured by surgery, but Ekelund refused to "go under the knife"; this disagreement put paid to any hopes of a permanent transfer deal.

Ekelund underwent brief loan deals at English clubs Manchester City and Coventry City, but injuries limited his playing time there. He went back to Denmark in 1996, playing for Odense BK. He had stints with French club Toulouse FC and English team Walsall F.C., before leaving Europe in 2001.

In 2001, Ekelund transferred to San Jose Earthquakes in the Major League Soccer championship, where he was ever-present in the starting lineup. In four seasons with San Jose, he scored 11 goals (five of them penalty kicks) and made 16 assists in the regular season. He also scored a goal and made four assists in the playoffs. He helped the team win the MLS Cup title in 2001 and 2003. Ekelund was named in the MLS Best XI in 2002. He left the team after the 2004 MLS season. Ekelund made the move to indoor soccer in 2005 joining the California Cougars who are coached by his good friend and former teammate Troy Dayak.

During the 2005-06 season, Ekelund unsuccessfully tried to join Southampton as a coach.