swedish football player
For early uses of this name, see Anders Svensson ( disambiguation )
Anders Gunnar Svensson ( swedish pronunciation : [ ˈânːdɛʂ ˈsvɛ̌nːsɔn ] ; born 17 July 1976 ) is a swedish erstwhile professional football player. He was a central midfielder, known for his sink, barren kicks, and set piece-taking abilities, who normally operated in a playmaking character. He was capped 148 times for the swedish national football team, many times as a captain, before he retired from international football in 2013. He is the most capped male player for Sweden, beating Thomas Ravelli ‘s former read of 143 caps.

american samoa well as being named captain of Sweden on several occasions, Svensson besides captained Southampton and Elfsborg. He played important roles in the 2002 and 2006 World Cups, in which he proved his leadership skills, resulting in him being named captain of that Sweden national team in 2009. [ 4 ] He is the eighth-most capped european player in history, after Lothar Matthäus, Martin Reim, Cristiano Ronaldo, Iker Casillas, Vitālijs Astafjevs, Sergio Ramos, and Gianluigi Buffon. Svensson besides represented the swedish national football team at three straight european Championships, in 2004, 2008, and 2012 .

early years [edit ]

Svensson was born on 17 July 1976 in Gothenburg to parents Bertil and Gun Svensson. Svensson has three brothers, the oldest one, Thomas, Kristoffer, and the youngest one, Marcus. His father Bertil was his coach at Guldhedens IK. [ 5 ] He grew up watching English football on television, and when he finally played the game, he was compared with one of the best talents of English football David Beckham. [ 6 ] In 1980, Svensson played for Guldhedens IK, where he played for ten years. [ 5 ]

Club career [edit ]

IF Elfsborg [edit ]

Svensson played at Guldhedens IK for ten years, until he moved to Borås, where he began to play for IF Elfsborg. As his function on the gear was that of an offense midfielder, although at Southampton he besides played on the leave side of midfield. He made his discovery while playing for IF Elfsborg in the late 1990s before moving to English english Southampton in 2001 .

Southampton [edit ]

Svensson moved to Southampton on 14 June 2001 for a £750,000 transfer tip. [ 7 ] In his foremost season in the Premier League, Svensson scored four goals in 35 appearances for the Saints, and the golf club finished in 11th invest, missing the UEFA Cup engagement by precisely one point. [ 8 ] He was a key musician for Southampton ; although near the end of his fourth dimension with the club, he was rarely selected for Gordon Strachan ‘s starting 11. He played an authoritative character for Southampton in their success in the 2002–03 FA Cup. Their open equal was a 4–0 win against fellow Premier League clubhouse Tottenham Hotspur. Svensson scored a finish along with other goal scorers Michael Svensson, Jo Tessem, and James Beattie, taking the club to a second straight victory against Tottenham, having beaten them on New Year ‘s Day in the league. [ 9 ] He played for Southampton in the 2003 FA Cup Final against Arsenal, which Southampton lost 1–0. [ 10 ] Svensson besides played in the 2003–04 UEFA Cup for the Saints, but the clubhouse was knocked out of the tournament in the first round. During his time with Southampton, Svensson made 140 appearances. Despite chair Rupert Lowe allegedly offering him a raw contract, [ 11 ] Svensson turned down the offer in order to return to his former club IF Elfsborg. [ 12 ]

reappearance to IF Elfsborg [edit ]

He rejoined Elfsborg in 2005 and was the captain of the team until 2014, when he gave up the style to Johan Larsson. [ 13 ] He helped the team win the 2006 and 2012 Allsvenskan titles. [ 14 ] After another 10 years at IF Elfsborg Svensson decided to announce his retirement from professional football in 2015. [ 14 ]

International career [edit ]

In 1996, he debuted in the swedish under-21 team. In 1998, he played in the U-21 championships along with Jörgen Pettersson, Yksel Osmanovski, Daniel Andersson, and Freddie Ljungberg. [ 5 ]

He debuted for the swedish national side against South Africa in 1999. [ citation needed ] He was known for being a good barren kick taker, [ citation needed ] which he showed in the 2002 World Cup in South Korea/Japan, where he scored a free kick goal against Argentina, which effectively eliminated the adversary in the group stages. He set up the open goal for Henrik Larsson against Senegal through an in-swinging corner. He closely scored a gold goal in extra time, but his shoot from inside the box was denied by the post. He played for Sweden in the Euro 2004, a well as the 2006 World Cup. [ 15 ] [ 16 ] however, he found mannequin for the national team during the Euro 2008 qualifying phase. He played 11 games with 2 goals and 1 help which led Sweden to the Euro 2008. Svensson played every infinitesimal of every game during Euro 2008, but did not find form. His frustration showed, conceding a few absolve kicks during their last game in the tournament. [ citation needed ] After Henrik Larsson retired, and Zlatan Ibrahimović declared that he was diffident about his future in the national team, Svensson was the team captain for Sweden in a friendly against Italy ( 0–1 ). After Ibrahimović returned to the national team in the summer of 2010, Svensson was named co-captain, although Ibrahimović remained official master on the pitch. [ citation needed ] On 6 September 2013, Svensson became the joint most capped male player in swedish football history, equalling Thomas Ravelli ‘s record with his 143rd capital ; he would late claim the record for himself. It was to be a memorable night for Svensson, as he scored the winner as Sweden came from behind to beat Ireland 2–1. In November 2013, the Swedish Football Association ( SvFF ) sparked a sexism scandal at its annual awards Gala when it presented Svensson with a Volvo car for winning 146 caps. The governing body was widely criticised for failing to honour Therese Sjögran, who had 187 caps. [ 17 ] [ 18 ] After Sweden failed to win against Portugal in the play-offs for the World Cup 2014 in November 2013, Svensson decided to retire from international duty. [ 19 ]

Post-playing career [edit ]

In 2014, Svensson, still actively playing at that fourth dimension, started to work as a football commentator for Kanal 5. [ 20 ]

personal animation [edit ]

Svensson was in a biennial relationship with fashion architect Anine Bing while playing for Southampton. [ 21 ] The couple met in London where she was modeling at the time. Svensson married Emma Johansson in July 2007 at Thorsborgs. [ 22 ]

career statistics [edit ]

Appearances and goals by national team and year[23]
National team Year Apps Goals
Sweden 1999 1 0
2000 6 1
2001 15 5
2002 11 1
2003 10 3
2004 12 1
2005 7 1
2006 9 1
2007 13 2
2008 10 0
2009 9 1
2010 8 1
2011 12 1
2012 12 0
2013 13 3
Total 148 21

[24] Anders Svensson is the most capped player for the swedish national team and the sixth most cap outfield-player in european football history .

Scores and results list Sweden’s goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Svensson goal.

Honours [edit ]

IF Elfsborg [ 25 ]

Southampton [ 25 ]

See besides [edit ]

References [edit ]