LA Galaxy MLS Cup 2014: Where are they now?
By Matt Coles
RM – Stefan Ishizaki – IF Elfsborg (Allsvenskan, SWE)
Right-winger Stefan Ishizaki’s only taste of MLS action came with the LA Galaxy, in a two-year spell where he helped the side to the MLS Cup in 2014. In that glory season, the midfielder played 34 times, including four postseason appearances, scoring five times and assisting eight others across the course of the campaign.
The majority of Ishizaki’s career has been in his home country of Sweden, where he was born and raised. His professional debut came with AIK in 1999. The winger played over 100 times for the club and won the Svenska Cupen in his first year with the side.
After a loan spell with Genoa in 2004, Ishizaki moved back to Scandinavia, signing for Norweigan side Vålerenga IF. He helped the club to the Tippeligaen in 2005, before then signing for Swedish club IF Elfsborg. In his eight years with the Swedish giants, he played over 240 times, scoring 53 goals, as well as helping them to two Allsvenskan titles, in 2006 and 2012.
The Swede left his homeland to move to MLS in 2014, signing for the LA Galaxy, playing over 50 times for the club in his 18 months there. He helped the side to victory in the MLS Cup final in his first season, but left halfway through the 2015 campaign, to return to Sweden with his expecting wife, signing for AIK once more, where he continues to play his football.