John Rune Alvbåge (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈjɔnː ˈâlːvˌboːɡɛ]; born 10 August 1982) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Beginning his career with Torslanda IK in 1999, he went on to play professionally in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, the United States, and Cyprus before announcing his retirement in 2022. A full international between 2006 and 2009, he won four caps for the Sweden national team and was a squad member at the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
After playing for local club Torslanda IK, he joined Västra Frölunda IF and debuted in the Swedish Allsvenskan, only 18 years old. He then moved to Örebro SK in 2003, before joining IFK Göteborg in 2005. He only stayed half a season at IFK Göteborg, where he was a backup for former Swedish international goalkeeper Bengt Andersson.
He moved abroad later that same year, being bought by Danish club Viborg FF in July 2005. Bought as a replacement for Danish international goalkeeper Jesper Christiansen, Alvbåge quickly established himself in the Viborg team, and debuted for the Sweden national team in January 2006.
He returned to Örebro SK during the summer of 2008.
Before the start of the 2012 season, he returned to IFK Göteborg where he was the first-choice goalkeeper. He helped the club win two Svenska Cupen titles (2012–13 and 2014–15) during his time there.
In January 2017 it was announced that Alvbåge had been loaned to Minnesota United FC of Major League Soccer until July 2017 with the option for an additional 18 months.
Alvbåge announced his retirement from professional football on 27 July 2022.
Alvbåge represented Sweden at all youth levels, including U17, U19, and U21 level. He represented the Sweden U21 team at the 2004 UEFA European Under-21 Championship where Sweden finished fourth.
He made his full international debut for Sweden in a friendly game against Jordan on 23 January 2006. Later that year, he was selected for the 2006 FIFA World Cup squad as the third-choice goalkeeper behind Andreas Isaksson and Rami Shaaban. In total, he made four appearances for Sweden between 2006 and 2009.
Svenska Cupen: 2012–13, 2014–15
Allsvenskan goalkeeper of the year: 2015
John Rune Alvbåge at the Swedish Football Association (in Swedish)
John Rune Alvbåge club team profile at SvFF (in Swedish) (archived)
John Rune Alvbåge national team profile at SvFF (in Swedish) (archived)
John Alvbåge at Elite Football
John Alvbåge at National-Football-Teams.com