Rasmus Christoffer Elm (born 17 March 1988) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He is currently the assistant coach of Kalmar FF. During his career, he played for Kalmar FF in Sweden, for AZ in the Netherlands and the Russian side CSKA Moscow. Elm earned 39 caps for Sweden between 2009 and 2013 and competed at UEFA Euro 2012. He is the younger brother of Viktor and David Elm.

Rasmus Elm
With CSKA Moscow in 2012
Personal information
Full name Rasmus Christoffer Elm
Date of birth (1988-03-17) 17 March 1988 (age 36)
Place of birth Kalmar, Sweden
Height 1.84 m (6 ft 0 in)
Position(s) Midfielder
Team information
Current team
Kalmar FF (assistant)
Youth career
Johansfors IF
Emmaboda IS
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2005–2009 Kalmar FF 96 (19)
2009–2012 AZ 83 (18)
2012–2015 CSKA Moscow 47 (5)
2015–2019 Kalmar FF 72 (2)
Total 298 (44)
International career
2003–2005 Sweden U17 15 (0)
2005–2007 Sweden U19 19 (5)
2007–2010 Sweden U21 18 (0)
2009–2013 Sweden 39 (4)
Managerial career
2020– Kalmar FF (assistant)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Club career

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Early career

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Elm playing for Kalmar FF

In his childhood, Elm played for Johansfors IF and Emmaboda IS, before he signed in January 2005 for Kalmar FF.[1]

Kalmar FF

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In four-and-a-half years with the Allsvenskan club, Elm played 96 games and scored 17 goals. While at Kalmar, he helped the team win the 2007 Svenska Cupen, the 2008 Allsvenskan, and the 2009 Svenska Supercupen.[2]

On 27 August 2009, Elm signed a four-year deal with Eredivisie side AZ Alkmaar. He made his debut on 12 September 2009 in the 2–1 loss against ADO Den Haag.

Former Sweden men's national team coach Lars Lagerbäck once commented that Elm was the biggest talent Sweden has produced since Zlatan Ibrahimović.[3] While suffering from injuries and illness during his first two seasons in AZ, Elm experience a successful 2011–12 season. He received several player of the match awards during that season and was praised by the press and the fans for his passing and free kicks as well as his goal scoring.

Elm played a total of 83 matches for AZ before he left the club during the summer of 2012.[4]

CSKA Moscow

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On 30 July 2012, Elm signed a three-year contract with Russian Premier League side CSKA Moscow, taking the shirt number 20.[4] On 21 October 2012, he scored his first goal for CSKA after converting a penalty at home against Rubin Kazan in a 2–0 victory.[5] On 3 January 2015, Elm had his contract with CSKA terminated by mutual consent in order to recover from a long-term stomach illness that had left him unable to train with the club.[6][7]

Return to Kalmar FF and retirement

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Elm returned to Kalmar FF and Sweden ahead of the 2015 Allsvenskan season. In early 2020, Elm announced his retirement from professional football, citing health issues related to his stomach illness.[8]

International career

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Elm was the captain of the Swedish under-19 squad until August 2007, when he made his debut for the U21 squad.[9] On 11 February 2009, Elm scored his first goal for the Swedish senior team in a friendly against Austria.[9] He represented Sweden at Euro 2012.[10] On 16 October 2012, he scored the fourth and equalising goal in Sweden's remarkable 4–4 draw in Berlin against Germany in 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group C. The Swedes were losing 0–4 until the last 29 minutes of the game when a flurry of Swedish goals were capped by the stoppage time goal from Elm. The result was hailed as one of the greatest sporting achievements in Swedish history.[11][12]

Personal life

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Both of his siblings have also played professional football: David, who previously played for Fulham, and his other brother Viktor, who previously played for the Dutch club AZ.

Career statistics

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Club

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As of 19 March 2021[13]

Club Season League Cup Europe Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Kalmar FF 2005 Allsvenskan 7 0 0 0 7 0
2006 Allsvenskan 23 1 0 0 23 1
2007 Allsvenskan 20 4 0 0 20 4
2008 Allsvenskan 27 5 2 0 2 0 31 5
2009 Allsvenskan 19 9 3 1 2 2 24 12
Total 96 19 5 1 4 2 105 22
AZ Alkmaar 2009–10 Eredivisie 23 3 3 0 0 0 26 3
2010–11 Eredivisie 28 5 3 1 4 0 35 6
2011–12 Eredivisie 32 10 4 1 16 2 52 13
Total 83 18 10 2 20 2 113 22
CSKA Moscow 2012–13 Russian Premier League 26 5 3 0 2 0 31 5
2013–14 Russian Premier League 21 0 4 0 4 0 29 0
Total 47 5 7 0 6 0 60 5
Kalmar FF 2015 Allsvenskan 12 0 1 0 13 0
2016 Allsvenskan 18 1 4 1 22 2
2017 Allsvenskan 3 0 3 0 6 0
2018 Allsvenskan 19 1 1 0 20 1
2019 Allsvenskan 20 0 0 0 20 0
Total 72 2 9 1 0 0 83 3
Career Total 298 44 31 4 30 4 361 52

International

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Appearances and goals by national team and year[13]
National team Year Apps Goals
Sweden 2009 11 1
2010 2 0
2011 8 0
2012 10 2
2013 8 1
Total 39 4

International goals[13]

Sweden's goal tally listed first. The score column shows the score after each Elm goal.

# Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1. 11 February 2009 UPC-Arena, Graz, Austria   Austria 1–0 2–0 Friendly match
2. 11 September 2012 Swedbank Stadion, Malmö, Sweden   Kazakhstan 1–0 2–0 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification
3. 16 October 2012 Olympic Stadium, Berlin, Germany   Germany 4–4 4–4 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification
4. 6 February 2013 Friends Arena, Solna, Sweden   Argentina 2–3 2–3 Friendly match

Honours

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Kalmar FF

CSKA Moscow

Individual

References

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  1. ^ ""Tårarna rann – det var så mäktigt"". Aftonbladet (in Swedish). 3 June 2012. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  2. ^ "Elm slutar i Blågult: "Var sak har sin tid"". Aftonbladet (in Swedish). 15 March 2017. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  3. ^ Dutt, Sujav (11 June 2012). "Sweden's Elm backed to blossom at EURO". uefa.com. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
  4. ^ a b Hedlundh, Kent (30 July 2012). "Elm explains Moscow move". Sky Sports. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
  5. ^ "PFC CSKA vs Rubin — 2:0 | Club news CSKA. Professional Football Club". Archived from the original on 27 December 2012. Retrieved 11 March 2013.
  6. ^ "Rasmus Elm left PFC CSKA". pfc-cska.com. PFC CSKA Moscow. 3 January 2015. Retrieved 4 January 2014.
  7. ^ Эльм покинул ЦСКА. championat.com (in Russian). Championat. 3 January 2015. Retrieved 4 January 2015.
  8. ^ "Rasmus Elm lägger av: "Inte lyckats"". SVT Sport (in Swedish). 7 March 2020. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  9. ^ a b Jansson, AnnaMaria (11 February 2009). "Rasmus Elm frälste Sverige" (in Swedish). Aftonbladet. Retrieved 11 February 2009.
  10. ^ "Här är den svenska EM-truppen - Radiosporten". Sveriges Radio. 14 May 2012.
  11. ^ O'Connor, Philip (17 October 2012). "Swedish coach didn't sleep following amazing fightback in Germany". Irish Independent. Retrieved 17 October 2012.
  12. ^ "The night efficiency died: Sweden collapse signals the end of German mental toughness". GOAL. 17 October 2012. Retrieved 17 October 2012.
  13. ^ a b c "Rasmus Elm - Spelarstatistik - Svensk fotboll". www.svenskfotboll.se. (in Swedish). Retrieved 19 March 2021.
  14. ^ "Stora Grabbars Märke - Svensk fotboll". www.svenskfotboll.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 29 September 2021.
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  NODES
Association 1
INTERN 6
Note 1