Jacob Ondrejka Joins FC Groningen on Loan for Fresh Start

Jacob Ondrejka is heading back to familiar territory – and he badly needs a reset.

The 23-year-old Swede has joined FC Groningen on loan from Parma, with both player and club pushing to have him registered in time for Sunday’s second Eredivisie fixture of the season against newly promoted ADO Den Haag. If the paperwork drops in time, he could be thrown straight into the Dutch top flight.

For Ondrejka, the move is a return to the footballing landscape he knows well. He has already made his name in the Low Countries once, lighting up Belgium with Antwerp. Now he crosses the border, looking to do the same in green and white.

His route to Groningen has been anything but straightforward. Ondrejka came through in his native Sweden with Landskrona BoIS, before a 2020 switch to Elfsborg accelerated his rise. Across three strong years there, he stacked up 110 appearances and 20 goals, establishing himself as one of the more exciting attacking talents in the Allsvenskan.

That form earned him his first crack abroad. In the summer of 2023, Antwerp moved in, and Ondrejka adapted quickly. Over a season and a half with the Great Old, he played 55 times, scoring 12 goals and delivering seven assists. By the midway point of his second campaign, he had already hit seven goals and five assists in just 26 games. Those numbers turned heads in Italy.

Parma made their move, taking him to Serie A. To finish that season, he featured 12 times and produced a respectable return of five goals, hinting that he could carry his Belgian form into one of Europe’s major leagues.

Then the goals dried up.

Last season, Ondrejka managed only 17 appearances for Parma and failed to register a single goal or assist. The contract is long – he is tied to the Italian club until 2029 – but his momentum stalled badly. For a player who thrives on rhythm and confidence, bit-part minutes in a system that never truly revolved around him have left him searching for a spark.

That is where Groningen come in. Newly back in the Eredivisie and keen to re-establish themselves, they are betting that the version of Ondrejka who tore through defences with Antwerp is still in there. For the Swede, this loan is more than a change of scenery. It is a chance to prove that his Belgian and early Parma numbers were not a brief surge, but the baseline of what he can be.

If he finds that level again in Groningen, this won’t just reshape their season. It could rewrite the trajectory of his career.