Let me tell you my story.
My name is Oskar Jansson and I’m a 24-year old footballer and YouTuber from Sweden.
2025 marks my 19th consecutive year as a footballer, whereas two of the more recent seasons (2022 and 2023) were my first seasons spent at the professional level.
Throughout these soon-to-be 19 years as a footballer I’ve experienced an incredible amount that I could have only dreamt of when I started out as a 7-year old kid. Playing for my hometown club, to joining my first academy at 13, to moving away from my family at 16, battling periods of self-doubt through my late teenage years, being on the verge of giving up in my early 20s before finally signing my first pro contract in early 2022.
During my first season as a professional footballer I also decided to pursue another passion of mine - YouTube. After slightly more than two years on the platform, something that started out as purely something fun have now turned into something much bigger. A place where my mission has become to help other footballers out in the world to realize their football dreams.
Down below you’ll be able to read through every stage of my journey so far.
Excited to have you here!
Oskar
The Beginnings (2007-2013)
All the way back in 2007, a scrawny kid laced up in his first pair of football boots for the very first time. In the early days, playing football was a way for me to hang out with my friends and just have fun. However, in 2010 I reached a point where I started to take the game more and more seriously.
I started to feel a burning desire within myself and almost obsession-like passion for football and for success. Somewhere within me a spark had been lit, and I knew that I wanted to dedicate my life to football and chase a professional career within the beautiful game.
During the coming years I trained almost every day, with the team but also by myself. I constantly tried to research and learn as much about the game as I possibly could. All of this work eventually resulted in me becoming one of the best players in my hometown club.
This inevitably made me look beyond the horizon and towards the next step in my career.
The Academy (2013-2016)
After seven years in my hometown club Hällefors AIF, it was time for a new challenge.
Me and my dad had started to scout for the best possible solutions for me to maximize my football development and in the end made the decision to reach out to the Degerfors IF academy. I went on a trial in late 2013, performed very well while there and was quickly accepted into the academy.
This meant that almost every day me and my parents would need to drive several hours for me to get to the training and to the games. A sacrifice that I’m incredibly grateful that my parents made for me and that ultimately put me on the path that have led me to where I am today.
During my three years in the academy I learned plenty of new concepts and I definitely made some progress in my development, but somewhere along the way due to different reasons my self-confidence was lost. I became afraid out on the field to make mistakes, when previously risk-taking was one of my biggest strengths. I stopped taking players on 1v1 because I feared the reactions of the coaches and players around me if I failed.
In 2016 I turned 16 years old and it was time to start high school, and when that time came I felt like I needed something new. A place to start over, to find myself and my confidence and get back to performing in the way that I knew that I could.
Moving Away (2016-2019)
In August 2016 I went through a big change in my life. The time had come to start high school, but I would do so in a new city, located three and a half hours away from my family. This meant that I packed my bags and at the age of 16, moved to an entirely new city. The city of Jönköping.
In the early stages of this new phase of my life, things looked great. I had settled in well into my new school and found a couple of friends that I enjoyed hanging out with, but I also performed well on the pitch, where I seemed to have regained some of that lost self-confidence from previous years.
This honeymoon phase quickly seemed to pass however, as I mostly struggled to perform and once again I felt like I was at the bottom. As I turned 17, 18; I started to feel stressed about not having reached where I believed I would at that phase of my career, and that only made me feel worse and also perform worse. Despite all this, I always kept believing, and I always kept working hard. I went to the pitch to keep honing my skills. I worked hard in the gym to improve my physique. My obsession with learning and improving never faded away and coupled with my unwavering belief in that I would one day make it, I never stopped.
In 2019 I enjoyed probably the best season up to that point of my career, scoring 11 goals, making another 4 assists and proving to be an integral part in bringing the U19-team to promotion.
However, even though I had done incredibly well, once again it wasn’t enough. I still wasn’t good enough to sign for the first team which meant that at the end of the 2019 season I had to look for other options.
Taking A Step Down (2020-2021)
After three years in my second academy in Jönköping, I once again packed my bags to move to an entirely new city. I managed to find a team in Växjö: Växjö Norra IF.
This would be my first real taste of senior football but somewhere I felt like a failure. Going from two highly esteemed academies down to a fifth tier side felt like a step in the wrong direction. A step further away from my dreams. During this time I also turned 20 years old and I still hadn’t been close to reaching the professional level and I felt like my time was running out.
In 2020, the global pandemic also hit which meant our season went from 22 games down to 11, which was an incredibly tough moment mentally as I felt like I needed the games to keep progressing in my development. I struggled to break into the starting XI and in what felt like the blink of an eye the season was over.
When we then reached the 2021 season, I had a feeling that this would be my final push and I would try to make my absolute most of it. The pandemic affected this season as well, postponing the season start until June. I told myself that, “instead of complaining about things I can’t control, let’s use this period, work harder than ever before and start the season like a different player”.
And that was exactly what I did.
When the 2021 season was over I had scored 5 goals, including one of the best goals I had ever scored, made 4 assists and put in a bunch of great performances. I felt like I had done enough to make the push for a higher level. Therefore, at the end of 2021, I put together a highlight video that I sent out to almost every single professional team I could think of, I crossed my fingers and I waited.
Signing My First Pro Contract (2022-2023)
I had almost given up and stopped hoping but during the final days before the new year of 2022 I received a text from an unknown number saying:
”Hey! I’m the coach of Vänersborgs IF and I wonder whether you would be able to hop on a call?”. Vänersborgs IF was one of the clubs that I had sent my highlight video to and was one of the 16 professional teams playing in Ettan Södra in Sweden.
After the call it had been decided. During the second week of January I would travel up to Vänersborg for a week’s trial. During the trial I played some of my best football and at the end of the week when the coach called me into his room, it all felt surreal.
”I’ll be honest with you. I want to offer you a contract”.
Even though I heard what he said, I couldn’t quite understand it. After 15 whole years of playing football, moving cities, working hard through early mornings, late nights, rain, snow and facing setback after setback I finally had reached a point where I could call myself a professional footballer.
That moment is a moment I will remember for the rest of my life.
I signed my first 2-year professional contract in early February 2022, just days before I was about to turn 22 years old, and then a new phase had begun.
When I signed, I never expected to become a key player straight away. My goal was to learn everyday, keep improving and eventually reach a point where I could compete for a place in the starting lineup.
However, once I was there, I started losing sight of that mindset and started growing frustrated for not getting more playing time. I got a few starts, had a few great performances and even scored my first professional goal in September 2022 with an equalizer at home against Åtvidabergs FF.
When the season concluded in November and we had managed to fight off the other relegation contenders and secured a spot in Ettan Södra 2023, I felt like the next season would be my season.
After a great pre-season and some good momentum built up in early 2023, I became absolutely devastated when I, in the fourth game of the season, came on as a substitute, only to a few minutes later make a sprint forward and pull my hamstring. I had never had a serious injury up to that point and after a conversation with the physio we concluded that I would be out for at least 2 months.
In reality, I wasn’t fully back until around four months after the injury, but I didn’t feel like myself and physically capable until the very last few games of the year. And when we in the last game faced relegation down into division 2, I had to make a choice.
PROJECT REBORN (2024)
At the end of my second professional season I felt like it was time for a new chapter in my career.
I had started to feel like I didn’t make much progress in my career and a lot of the motivation had been lost. Out of those thoughts and feelings an idea started to form: What if I could, for a limited time, dedicate all of my efforts to improve as much as I possibly could. To work on myself individually without the constraints of team football, to try new methods of training and then to finally make my comeback to sign a new professional contract.
All while documenting the entire project on my YouTube-channel.
This idea was where ‘PROJECT REBORN’ was born.
In late November 2023 I officially started this new journey. For the first few months I felt incredibly motivated and excited, and I managed to make an incredible amount of progress in a very short amount of time.
However, as we entered the new year of 2024 I made the decision to resign with my old club, Vänersborgs IF for a third consecutive season (albeit at the semi-pro level), with the goal of combining ‘PROJECT REBORN’ with team football.
Somewhere along the way and as the months passed further into 2024 I felt like the original vision of ‘PROJECT REBORN’ started to fade away. Because of obvious reasons and responsibilities, team football once again became the priority and I struggled to maintain the course I set back in November. I tried to find a solution and to restart the project several times but in the end it never worked out as I had hoped.
Therefore I started to look towards the future, analyze my previous mistakes and scout alternatives on how I could bring it back. To form a project bigger, better and more refined than before. A project that would not only result in a transformation for me, but for thousands of footballers around the world.
That ultimately led to the birth of ‘PROJECT REBORN 2’.
PROJECT REBORN 2 (2025)
In late 2023, PROJECT REBORN started as a personal mission—a bold attempt to reignite my football career, push my limits, and document the process to inspire others. It was an experiment in transformation, and while I made incredible progress, I quickly realized that this journey was bigger than just me.
PROJECT REBORN 2 is that evolution.
This isn’t just a restart—it’s a complete reimagining of what’s possible. The lessons, the growth, and the experience from the first journey have shaped something far more ambitious. PROJECT REBORN 2 is no longer just about my comeback—it’s a movement.
In 2025, I’m taking this project to the next level—documenting every challenge, every breakthrough, and every step toward reaching my highest potential as a footballer. With a renewed focus, higher production quality, and a fresh perspective, PROJECT REBORN 2 will push the boundaries of what’s possible, both on and off the pitch.
This is just the beginning.
If you’re serious about football, if you’re chasing your dreams, and if you refuse to settle—then welcome to PROJECT REBORN 2.