Jacob Ondrejka Joins FC Groningen on Loan from Parma

Jacob Ondrejka has completed a loan move to FC Groningen from Parma, returning to familiar territory in the Low Countries as he looks to restart a career that has stalled in Italy.

The Swedish midfielder is aiming to be registered in time to feature in Groningen’s second Eredivisie match of the season, a home game on Sunday against newly promoted ADO Den Haag. If the paperwork clears, he could be thrown straight into the squad.

This will not be his first taste of football in this part of Europe. Ondrejka previously impressed just across the border in Belgium with Antwerp, where his attacking output earned him a step up to Serie A.

The 23-year-old began his senior career in Sweden with Landskrona BoIS before moving to Elfsborg in 2020. There, he built his reputation: 110 appearances, 20 goals, steady progress, and a growing profile that drew attention from abroad.

Antwerp moved for him in the summer of 2023. In a season and a half with the Great Old, Ondrejka played 55 games, scoring 12 goals and delivering seven assists. By midway through his second campaign, he had already produced seven goals and five assists in 26 matches. That form forced open a bigger door.

Parma came calling. A move to Serie A followed.

His first months in Italy hinted at a smooth transition. Ondrejka featured 12 times to finish that season, finding the net five times and suggesting Parma had unearthed a clever attacking option.

Then came the drop-off.

Last season, opportunities shrank and the end product disappeared. Across 17 appearances for Parma, Ondrejka failed to score or register an assist. The contract in Emilia-Romagna runs until 2029, but the trajectory clearly needed a jolt.

That jolt is Groningen.

For the Dutch club, it is a chance to tap into the version of Ondrejka that lit up Antwerp, the one who drove at defenders, arrived late in the box, and turned promising moves into numbers on the board. For the player, it is a chance to prove that his Belgian and early Parma form was no brief surge, but the standard he can hit week after week in the Eredivisie.