WC Player Profile: Oscar Hiljemark

The well-travelled midfielder is finding his form again at Genoa and is a manager’s dream tournament player, writes Greg Murray.

It has not been smooth sailing for Oscar Hiljemark, who captained Sweden to triumph in the Under-21 European Championship in 2015 and came to Serie A for Palermo.

He lost his way at Genoa, was loaned out to Panathinaikos, but was granted a welcome reunion with Davide Ballardini.

Hiljemark is the kind of hard-working midfielder that's needed in an intensive month-long competition like the World Cup.

Despite captaining Sweden’s U21’s to victory in the 2015 European Championships, Oscar Hiljemark has struggled to get into the senior team this season.

Having burst on to the scene as a youngster at IF Elfborg in the Swedish top division, Hiljemark spent two seasons with PSV Eindhoven, before his career took him to Italy. It was at Palermo that the central midfielder enjoyed his best spell, playing every game in the 2015-16 season, during which he bagged a brace against Milan and provided a relegation saving assist in the final game.

Thanks to his impressive form, the Gislaved-born player was signed by Genoa in the summer of 2017, in the hope of bulking out the midfield. However, just six months on, Hiljemark had lost the faith of the then-manager Ivan Juric and moved yet again, this time to Panathinaikos.

The decision to move to Greece saw Hiljemark lose his place in the Sweden match-day squad, as qualifiers against Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Italy passed him by. Moreover, Panathinaikos’ financial problems saw the midfielder, alongside other players, left with unpaid wages. This prompted Hiljemark’s loan to be recalled, reuniting him with Davide Ballardini, under whom he had played at Palermo.

Despite shifting clubs three times in the space of a year, Hiljemark’s performances remained consistent. A reliable, cool-headed central midfielder, the Swede has played over 30 games in each of his last three seasons, and has yet to pick up a red card in his career. Furthermore, at 25 years of age, the player has enjoyed his most productive season, having contributed to 10 goals.

In short, Hiljemark is a manager’s dream midfielder, especially when faced with an intense, month-long tournament. It comes as no surprise, therefore, that Janne Andersson brought the Genoa man back for the international friendlies against Romania and Chile, before selecting him in his World Cup squad.

With the Coach preferring a two-man central midfield, and the likes of Sebastian Larsson and Gustav Svensson favoured, Hiljemark may struggle to force his way into the starting line-up against South Korea today. However, the injury sustained to Jakob Johansson (shortly after scoring the goal that secured Sweden the win over Italy) leaves the Genoa player as Andersson’s first choice off the bench.  

Furthermore, with games against Mexico and Germany to play, Hiljemark provides not only a fresh pair of legs, but has contributed to as many goals as both Larsson and Svensson combined this season. With both players on the wrong side of 30, the former Palermo man is almost certain to get a start in Russia, and a chance to reignite his promising career.