J. Hjalmar

Joel Hjalmar's path to first-team football ran through a loan he was never meant to keep. Häcken promoted him to the senior squad on 29 January 2025, then immediately sent him out to Norrby for the season — a detour that turned into his career.

He started out at Qviding FIF, where his early appearances came mostly with the U19 side rather than the first team. A free move to Häcken's academy followed in January 2023, and by 2024 he was captain of the club's P19 side, leading it to the Swedish youth championship and a runner-up finish at the Scandinavian championship. That run earned him the step up to Häcken's first-team squad — brief as it turned out to be, since the loan to Norrby came within days.

At Norrby, in the Ettan Södra third tier, Hjalmar made himself difficult to leave out: 30 appearances, three goals and three assists across the 2025 season, as the club won promotion to Superettan. Norrby made the move permanent that winter, exercising their option in December and completing the transfer in late January 2026 on a contract running to the end of 2028. He has carried that form into the second tier, appearing 20 times and scoring once in Superettan so far this season.

A right-footed central midfielder, he wears the number 6 for Norrby.