Anders Svensson (footballer, born 1976)

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Anders Svensson
File:Anders Svensson 2.jpg
Svensson playing for Elfsborg in 2012
Personal information
Full name Anders Gunnar Svensson[1]
Date of birth (1976-07-17) 17 July 1976 (age 48)
Place of birth Gothenburg, Sweden
Height Script error: No such module "person height".
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 140 (10)
2005–2015 Elfsborg 266 (34)
Total 561 (82)
International career‡
1996–1998 Sweden U21 16 (2)
1999–2013 Sweden 148 (21)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 19:18, 5 November 2013 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 19:03, 20 November 2013 (UTC)

Anders Gunnar Svensson (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈandɛʂ ˈsvɛnsɔn]; born 17 July 1976 in Gothenburg) is a former Swedish footballer. He is a playmaker and a central midfielder, well known for his passing and set piece abilities. He was capped 148 times for the Swedish national football team and has been the captain of the Swedish national football team, before he retired from international football in 2013. He is the most capped male player for Sweden after passing Thomas Ravelli's previous record of 143 caps. Svensson is a dead ball expert and is known for free-kick skills, as he has scored some incredible goals through free kicks. He has always been a leader on the pitch and thus was also given the captain's badge for the Swedish National Team, Southampton as well as Elfsborg. He has played very important roles in the 2002 World Cup and the 2006 World Cup in which he proved his leadership skills thus being promoted as the captain of the Swedish National Team in 2009. [3] He has always been known for his loyalty towards his Clubs, thus in-spite of having offers from several big clubs Svensson never left his Clubs and his stats prove the same. After Svensson left the club in 2005 in the mid-season, the Club was relegated from the Premier League. He is the 5th most capped player in Europe after Iker Casillas, Lothar Matthäus, Vitālijs Astafjevs, Martin Reim and Gianluigi Buffon. Anders has also represented the Swedish national football team for consecutive 3 Euro Cups in the UEFA Euro 2004, UEFA Euro 2008 and UEFA Euro 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.[4] He grew up watching English football on television and when he finally played the game, he was compared with one of best talents of English football David Beckham.[5] In 1980, Svensson played for Guldhedens IK where he played for ten years.[4]

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 is that of an offensive midfielder, although at Southampton he also played on the left 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.[6] In the very first year of his Premier League Svensson scored 4 goals in 35 appearances for the Saints and the club finished 11th place missing the UEFA Cup participation by just 1 point.[7] In England, he was a key player for Southampton; although near the end of his time with the club, he rarely cracked Gordon Strachan's starting-11. He played an important role for Southampton in their success for the 2002–03 FA Cup. In their opening match was a 4–0 win against fellow league club Tottenham Hotspur. Svensson scored a goal along with other goal scorers Michael Svensson, Jo Tessem and James Beattie taking the club to second straight victory against Tottenham, having beaten them on New Year's Day in the league.[8]He played for Southampton in the 2003 FA Cup Final against Arsenal, which Southampton lost 1–0.[9] Svensson also played the 2003–04 UEFA Cup for the Saints but the Club was knocked out of the tournament in the first round.

During his time for the Saints, Svensson made 140 appearances. Despite chairman Rupert Lowe allegedly offering a new contract,[10] Svensson turned down the offer to return to his former club IF Elfsborg.[11]

Return to IF Elfsborg

File:Anders Svensson.jpg
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.[12] Anders has been playing very successfully at Elfsborg and still displays the same charismatic character on the pitch. Many in Sweden believe that he is the likes of Paolo Maldini and Javier Zanetti for Sweden.

International career

In 1996, he debuted in the Under 21 team. In 1998, he played in the U-21 championships along with Jörgen Pettersson, Yksel Osmanovski, Daniel Andersson and Fredrik Ljungberg.[4]

He debuted for the Swedish national side against South Africa in 1999.[citation needed]

He is known to be a good free-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 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.[citation needed]

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.[citation needed] 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.[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 cap. 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.[13][14]

International goals

Anders Svensson is the most capped player for the Swedish national team and the fifth most capped outfield-player in European football history.[15]


Non-playing career

In 2014, Svensson, still actively playing, started to work as football commentator for Kanal 5.[16]

Honours

Sweden IF Elfsborg

England Southampton

Other achievements

Sweden National Team

Personal life

Svensson enjoyed a two-year relationship with fashion designer Anine Bing while playing for Southampon.[17] The pair met in London where she was modeling at the time.

Svensson married Emma Johansson in July 2007 at Thorsborgs.[18]

He is affectionately known in Sweden as Taco-Anders. The nickname comes from an interview in which he mentioned that his favorite meal is tacos.[19]

References

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  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Vännerna berättar sagan om Anders Svenssons väg mot toppen
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External links

Sporting positions
Preceded by Sweden Captain
2009–2010		 Succeeded by
Zlatan Ibrahimović

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