- Michael Svensson
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Michael Svensson 
Personal information Full name Michael Lennart Svensson[1] Date of birth 25 November 1975 Place of birth Värnamo, Sweden Height 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) Playing position Centre back Club information Current club Halmstad Number 30 Youth career 1993–1995 Skillingaryds IS Senior career* Years Team Apps† (Gls)† 1995–1998 IFK Värnamo 89 (6) 1998–2001 Halmstads BK 78 (5) 2001–2002 Troyes 23 (1) 2002–2007 Southampton 67 (4) 2008–2009 Southampton 4 (0) 2011– Halmstads BK 7 (0) National team 1999–2005 Sweden 25 (0) Teams managed 2010–2011 Halmstads BK (Asst. Manager) * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).Michael Lennart Svensson (born 25 November 1975 in Värnamo, Sweden) is a Swedish professional footballer who plays as a centre back for Halmstads BK in Superettan. He is best known at club level for his playing career with Southampton. He played in the 2003 FA Cup Final against Arsenal, where Southampton lost 1–0 to a Robert Pirès strike.
Contents
Club career
Early career
Svensson started his career in his home country, playing for various Swedish clubs including IFK Värnamo and Halmstads BK. He began to be noticed by bigger clubs when Halmstads BK won the Swedish championship in 2000.
He was transferred to Troyes in 2001 and then moved to Southampton in 2002.
Southampton
Svensson arrived at Southampton just after being a member of Sweden's squad at the 2002 World Cup. He immediately struck up a rapport with Claus Lundekvam at the centre of the Saints defence. He is a tough tackling, no nonsense centre-half but likes to play the ball out of defence and get forward to help out in attack. His nickname with both fans and press is "Killer".[2]
Svensson holds the honour of scoring the last ever competitive goal at Maine Road on 11 May 2003, in a game won by Southampton 1–0.[3]
Due to a serious knee injury sustained at the end of the 2003–04 season, he missed the entire 2004–05 season. He returned to action in October 2005 but, after only seven games, he broke down again and remained out of action for the remainder of the 2005–06 season. He failed to return to full fitness in time for the start of the 2006–07 championship season due to a kick in the knee during an Aldershot reserves game in the 2006 pre-season. Since then, he has flown to Germany to continue treatment with FC Bayern Munich doctor Hans Müller-Wolfhart.[4] On 23 May 2007, it was announced that Svensson would undergo further surgery in an attempt to save his career. The procedure was expected to put him out of action for over a year, throwing a major question mark over his future.[2] His contract with the Saints expired on 30 June 2007, and was not renewed as Southampton face up to the financial realities of a third season in the Championship.
On 2 July 2008, Southampton announced that Svensson "could be on the verge of a remarkable footballing comeback" following a visit to a specialist rehabilitation centre in Italy in the summer. Svensson is again in training and could be re-signed by Southampton for the 2008–09 season.[5] He completed a pre-season friendly against Winchester City on 13 July, and is therefore in with a chance of making a full recovery from his injury. He captained the Southampton side which drew 2–2 with West Ham United in the Ted Bates Trophy.
On 7 August 2008 he agreed terms with Southampton and was appointed club captain. Two days later, he completed his remarkable comeback, playing 90 minutes in Southampton's first Championship match of the season, a 2–1 defeat to Cardiff City, his first competitive game for the club since a match against Hull City on 22 November 2005.[6] A week later, prior to the home game against Birmingham City, Southampton and Svensson agreed terms signing a 12 months contract. He played three more league games that month, with his final competitive appearance coming in the League Cup against Rotherham United on 23 September 2008.[7]
On 24 January 2009, Svensson joined new manager Mark Wotte's coaching staff as an assistant first team coach alongside Dean Gorré.[8]
On 25 June 2009, Svensson announced his retirement from the playing side of the game, exactly seven years to the day after he was first unveiled at St. Mary's as Gordon Strachan's only summer signing of 2002 and thus severs the last remaining link on the playing side with the 2003 FA Cup final, in which he played the full 90 minutes.[9]
International career
He made his debut in the Swedish national team on 17 August 1999 against Austria. He was a member of the Swedish squad for the 2002 World Cup, where he was not played. He has 25 caps for his country.
Coaching career
Following his retirement from playing, Svensson announced that he would return home to Sweden and take up a career as manager, stating that he would prefer to start in Division 2 or 3.[10] Following that, his former club Halmstads BK were looking for a new manager and rumours started that he was going to get the position;[11] on 17 December 2009 he was presented as the club's new assistant manager alongside Lars Jacobsson.[12]
Honours
Club
References
- ^ Hugman, Barry J., ed (2009). The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2009–10. Mainstream Publishing. p. 396. ISBN 9781845964740.
- ^ a b "D Day for Killer". saintsfc.co.uk. http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/articles/article.php?page_id=8580. Retrieved 25 May 2007.
- ^ "Saints spoil Maine Road party". BBC. 11 May 2003. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/2978137.stm. Retrieved 2 September 2009.
- ^ "Killer question". saintsfc.co.uk. http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/news/?page_id=7883. Retrieved 21 December 2006.
- ^ "Svensson fitness boost". saintsfc.co.uk. 2 July 2008. http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/articles/article.php?page_id=10265. Retrieved 3 July 2008.
- ^ "Hull 1-1 Southampton". BBC. 22 November 2005. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_1/4448366.stm. Retrieved 17 March 2010.
- ^ "Rotherham 3-1 Southampton". BBC. 23 September 2008. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/league_cup/7626746.stm. Retrieved 17 March 2010.
- ^ "Svensson joins backroom staff". Saintsfc.co.uk. 24 January 2009. http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/articles/article.php?page_id=11265. Retrieved 24 January 2009.
- ^ "Svensson calls it quits". Saintsfc.co.uk. 25 June 2009. http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10280~1701519,00.html. Retrieved 25 June 2009.
- ^ "Michael Svensson flyttar hem" (in Swedish). dn.se. 3 November 2009. http://www.dn.se/sport/fotboll/michael-svensson-flyttar-hem-1.987834. Retrieved 18 December 2009.
- ^ "Michael Svensson kan gå till HBK" (in Swedish). expressen.se. 16 December 2009. http://fotboll.expressen.se/Nyheter/1.1815805/michael-svensson-kan-ga-till-hbk. Retrieved 18 December 2009.
- ^ "HBK:s nya tränarpar" (in Swedish). hbk.se. 17 December 2009. http://www.hbk.se/extra/news/?module_instance=1&id=5777. Retrieved 18 December 2009.
External links
- Michael Svensson career stats at Soccerbase
- Michael Svensson Fans Interview
- Michael Svensson DVD by Javier Igeño
- Svensson calls it quits
Sweden squad – 2002 FIFA World Cup 1 Hedman • 2 Mellberg • 3 P. Andersson (c) • 4 Mjällby • 5 Michael Svensson • 6 Linderoth • 7 Alexandersson • 8 A. Svensson • 9 Ljungberg • 10 Allbäck • 11 Larsson • 12 Kihlstedt • 13 Antonelius • 14 Edman • 15 Jakobsson • 16 Lučić • 17 Magnus Svensson • 18 Jonson • 19 Farnerud • 20 D. Andersson • 21 Ibrahimović • 22 A. Andersson • 23 Isaksson • Coach: Lagerbäck & Söderberg
Categories:- 1975 births
- Living people
- Association football defenders
- Swedish footballers
- Sweden international footballers
- Swedish expatriate footballers
- Expatriate footballers in France
- Expatriate footballers in England
- Halmstads BK players
- Troyes AC players
- Southampton F.C. players
- Allsvenskan players
- Ligue 1 players
- Premier League players
- The Football League players
- 2002 FIFA World Cup players
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