Anders Svensson

Anders Gunnar Svensson (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈânːdɛʂ ˈsvɛ̌nːsɔn]; born 17 July 1976) is a Swedish former professional footballer. He was a central midfielder, known for his passing, free kicks, and set piece-taking abilities, who usually operated in a playmaking role. 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 previous record of 143 caps.

For other uses of this name, see Anders Svensson (disambiguation).

Anders Svensson
Anders Svensson playing for Elfsborg in September 2012
Personal information
Full name Anders Gunnar Svensson[1]
Date of birth (1976-07-17) 17 July 1976[2]
Place of birth Gothenburg, Sweden
Height 1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)[3]
Position(s) Midfielder
Youth career
1980–1990 Guldhedens IK
1990–1992 Hestrafors IF
1993 Elfsborg
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1994–2001 Elfsborg 155 (38)
2001–2005 Southampton 127 (9)
2005–2015 Elfsborg 266 (34)
Total 548 (81)
National team
1996–1998 Sweden U21 16 (2)
1999–2013 Sweden 148 (21)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

As well as being named captain of Sweden on several occasions, Svensson also 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 also represented the Swedish national football team at three consecutive European Championships, in 2004, 2008, and 2012.

Early years

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

Guldhedens/IF Elfsborg

Svensson began playing football at Guldhedens IK, when he was around five. He played at Guldhedens IK for ten years, until he moved to Borås, where he began to play for IF Elfsborg.

As his role on the pitch was that of an offensive midfielder, although at Southampton he also played on the left side of midfield. He made his breakthrough while playing for IF Elfsborg in the late 1990s before moving to English side Southampton in 2001.

Southampton

Svensson moved to Southampton on 14 June 2001 for a £750,000 transfer fee.[7] In his first season in the Premier League, Svensson scored four goals in 35 appearances for the Saints, and the club finished in 11th place, missing the UEFA Cup participation by just one point.[8] He was a key player for Southampton; although near the end of his time with the club, he was rarely selected for Gordon Strachan's starting 11.

He played an important role for Southampton in their success in the 2002–03 FA Cup. Their opening match was a 4–0 win against fellow Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur. Svensson scored a goal along with other goal scorers Michael Svensson, Jo Tessem, and James Beattie, taking the club to a second consecutivevictory 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 also played in the 2003–04 UEFA Cup for the Saints, but the club was knocked out of the tournament in the first round.

During his time with Southampton, Svensson made 140 appearances. Despite chairman Rupert Lowe allegedly offering him a new contract,[11] Svensson turned down the offer in order to return to his former club IF Elfsborg.[12]

Return to IF Elfsborg
Anders Svensson playing for IF Elfsborg.

He rejoined Elfsborg in 2005 and was the captain of the team until 2014, when he gave up the title 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

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.

He was known for being a good free kick taker, 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 opponent in the group stages. He set up the opening goal for Henrik Larsson against Senegal through an in-swinging corner. He nearly scored a golden goal in extra time, but his shot from inside the box was denied by the post. He played for Sweden in the Euro 2004, as well as the 2006 World Cup.[15][16]

However, he found form for the national team during the Euro 2008 qualifying stage. He played 11 games with 2 goals and 1 assist which led Sweden to the Euro 2008. Svensson played every minute of every game during Euro 2008, but did not find form. His frustration showed, conceding a few free kicks during their last game in the tournament. After Henrik Larsson retired, and Zlatan Ibrahimović declared that he was unsure 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 captain on the pitch.

On 6 September 2013, Svensson became the joint most capped male player in Swedish football history, equalling Thomas Ravelli's record with his 143rd cap; he would later 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]

International goals
Anders Svensson is the most capped player for the Swedish national team and the sixth most capped outfield-player in European football history.[20]
Sweden score listed first, "Score" column indicates score after each Svensson goal.

Non-playing career

In 2014, Svensson, still actively playing at that time, started to work as a football commentator for Kanal 5.[21]

Personal life

Svensson was in a two-year relationship with fashion designer Anine Bing while playing for Southampton.[22] The pair met in London where she was modeling at the time.

Svensson married Emma Johansson in July 2007 at Thorsborgs.[23]

Honours

IF Elfsborg[24]

Southampton[24]

References
  1. Holm, Stefan (26 May 2012). "Vi vann med 9–0 – han gjorde alla mål". Aftonbladet (in Swedish). Retrieved 3 June 2012.
  2. "2006 FIFA World Cup Germany List of Players" (PDF). FIFA. p. 26. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 June 2019.
  3. Chalk, Gary; Holley, Duncan; Bull, David (2013). All the Saints: A Complete Players' Who's Who of Southampton FC. Southampton: Hagiology Publishing. p. 1475. ISBN 978-0-9926-8640-6.
  4. "No respect!: England always look down on us says Swede Svensson". The Mirror. London: TMirror. 13 June 2012. Retrieved 12 August 2013.
  5. Vännerna berättar sagan om Anders Svenssons väg mot toppen Archived 16 September 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  6. Hodgkinson, Mark (30 March 2004). "Beckham and Svensson are two peas in a pod". The Daily Telegraph. London: Telegraph Media Group. Retrieved 12 August 2013.
  7. "Anders Svensson". Sky Sports. BSkyB. 12 October 2009. Archived from the original on 17 October 2012. Retrieved 12 August 2013.
  8. "Anders Svensson". Premier League. 15 September 2005. Retrieved 3 May 2012.
  9. "Saints thrash Spurs". BBC Sport. BBC. 4 January 2003. Retrieved 13 March 2012.
  10. "Arsenal retain FA Cup". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 17 May 2003. Retrieved 3 May 2012.
  11. "Svensson: No Saints future". Sky Sports.
  12. "Svensson returns home". Sky Sports.
  13. Berntsson, Jonathan (16 February 2014). "Anders Svensson petad som kapten". Aftonbladet. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
  14. "TV: Svensson lägger skorna på hyllan - se hyllningen till stjärnan". fotbollskanalen (in Swedish). Retrieved 21 December 2020.
  15. "2006 FIFA World Cup Germany ™ - Sweden - FIFA.com". FIFA.
  16. "Larsson in Sweden squad". BBC Sport. 6 May 2004. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  17. "Lady football ace gets car after sexist blunder". The Local. 13 November 2013. Retrieved 21 June 2014.
  18. "Sweden row over new car for Anders Svensson but not Therese Sjogran". The Guardian. 13 November 2013. Retrieved 21 June 2014.
  19. "Anders Svensson slutar i landslaget". Aftonbladet (in Swedish). Retrieved 21 December 2020.
  20. "European national football team players". European national football team players. Retrieved 21 June 2015.
  21. "EM-kval: Sverige möter Österrike i Kanal 5". Mynewsdesk. Retrieved 21 June 2015.
  22. "CAFE.SE – BÄSTA LÄSNINGEN • SNYGGASTE MODET". Retrieved 21 June 2015.
  23. "NYGIFTA". Expressen. Archived from the original on 9 September 2007. Retrieved 21 June 2015.
  24. "A. Svensson". Soccerway. Retrieved 19 October 2020.
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