Sara Caroline Seger (born 19 March 1985) is a Swedish former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

and club captain for

Damallsvenskan The (; ), known as OBOS for sponsorship reasons, is the highest division of women's football in Sweden. It is one of the best women's leagues in the world, and was founded in 1988. The division consists of a league of 14 teams. From 2013, t ...

club

FC Rosengård FC Rosengård (), known as Malmö FF Dam () until 2007 and later LdB FC Malmö until 2013, is a professional football club based in Malmö, Scania, Sweden. The team was established as Malmö FF Dam in 1970. It started out with playing 7 seasons ...

. She was the long-standing captain of the Swedish national football team until she announced her retirement from international football in December 2023. At 240 caps, Seger is the most capped player in Europe, male or female.

Club career

Linköping

An industrious central midfielder, Seger played for

Linköpings FC Linköpings may refer to: *Linköpings ASS, Linköpings Allmänna Simsällskap is a Swedish swim team *Linköpings FC, an association football club *Linköpings FF, premier men's football team *Linköpings HC, Linköpings Hockey Club See also< ...

from 2005 to 2009 and served as the club's

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

. Linköping finished in the top four of the Damallsvenskan in four of Seger's five seasons with the team. Their highest finishes were second place in 2008 and first place in 2009. The team also captured the

Svenska Cupen Svenska cupen (, ), also known as the Swedish Cup in English, is a knockout cup competition in Swedish football and the main Swedish football cup. ''Svenska cupen'' usually refers to the men's tournament, although a women's tournament is also ...

on three occasions in 2006, 2008 and 2009. While playing for Linköping, Seger was honoured as the Damallsvenskan's Rookie of the Year in 2005 and Midfielder of the Year in 2006 and 2009. Carolineseger

After the team finished second and qualified for the

UEFA Women's Champions League The UEFA Women's Champions League, previously called the UEFA Women's Cup (2001–2009), is a European women's association football competition. It involves the top club teams from countries affiliated with the European governing body UEFA. ...

, Seger signed a new one-year contract with Linköping in the autumn of 2008. She was proud to lead the club to a league and cup "

double Double, The Double or Dubble may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Multiplication by 2 * Double precision, a floating-point representation of numbers that is typically 64 bits in length * A double number of the form x+yj, where j^2=+1 * A ...

" in her final campaign with the team. Seger also won the 2009

Diamantbollen Diamantbollen, Swedish for the ''Diamond Ball'', an annual award for Sweden's best female football player. The award is currently awarded by the Swedish Football Association and Sydsvenskans newspaper, in conjunction with its male equivalent, ''Gu ...

, awarded to the year's best Swedish women's soccer player. Seger's last game for Linköping was a 2–0 defeat by

Duisburg Duisburg (; , ) is a city in the Ruhr metropolitan area of the western States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Lying on the confluence of the Rhine (Lower Rhine) and the Ruhr (river), Ruhr rivers in the center of the Rhine-Ruh ...

in the

2009–10 UEFA Women's Champions League The UEFA Women's Champions League 2009–10 was the first edition of the newly branded tournament, and the ninth edition of a UEFA tournament for women's champion football clubs. For the first time the top 8 leagues of the UEFA were awarded two ...

United States

In September 2009, the

expansion team An expansion team is a new team in a sports league, usually from a city that has not hosted a team in that league before, formed with the intention of satisfying the demand for a local team from a population in a new area. Sporting leagues also ...

Philadelphia Independence The Philadelphia Independence was an American professional association football, soccer club that was based in the Philadelphia suburb of Chester, Pennsylvania. The team joined Women's Professional Soccer as an expansion team in 2010 and played ...

Women's Professional Soccer Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) was the top-level professional women's soccer league in the United States. It began play on March 29, 2009. The league was composed of seven teams for its first two seasons and fielded six teams for the 2011 ...

(WPS) announced their intention to draft Seger with their first pick in the 2009 international draft. In December 2009, she signed a three-year contract with Philadelphia. Her first season with the Independence began in April 2010 and culminated in a 4–0 defeat to FC Gold Pride in the WPS Championship game. Seger scored one goal and posted five assists in her 18 appearances. She underwent surgery on a heel injury after the season. Caroline Seger and Sinead Farrelly

Seger was traded to

Western New York Flash The Western New York Flash (WNY Flash) was an American women's soccer club based in Elma, New York, that most recently competed in the United Women's Soccer league in 2018. They won league championships in four different leagues: the USL W-Leag ...

in December 2010 in exchange for draft picks. She joined the franchise in their first season in the WPS and wore the captain's armband. On 14 August 2011 the Seger-led Flash secured the best record in the league, a bye in the playoffs, and played at home for the league championship on 27 August. They beat Seger's former club Philadelphia Independence in the Championship game, 5–4 in PKs after a 1–1 draw. Seger played just 12 matches for the Flash, as the FIFA Women's World Cup took place during the season. She scored five goals and served one assist. Coach Aaran Lines was very happy with Seger's contribution, but her contract contained a release clause which allowed her to leave for a team outside the United States after one year.

Tyresö FF

In August 2011, Seger announced that she would join LdB FC Malmö on a short-term contract to cover the remainder of the 2011 Damallsvenskan season, although she remained undecided about her subsequent destination. Later that same month, it was confirmed that Seger would join Tyresö FF on a two-year deal to start in the 2012 Damallsvenskan season. Her three goals in seven league games helped Malmö secure the 2011 Damallsvenskan title. Caroline Seger Supercupen

Seger collected her third Damallsvenskan title in 2012, after Tyresö's dramatic last day win over Malmö. Madelaine Edlund scored the winning goal after Seger's shot had hit the post. Seger and Tyresö were upset in the final of the Svenska Cupen, by Kopparbergs/Göteborg FC who won 2–1 after extra time. In early 2014, it became clear that Tyresö were in financial difficulty and could not afford to keep Seger and their other leading players. In May 2014, Seger had been approached by

Seattle Reign FC Seattle Reign FC is an American professional soccer team based in Seattle, Washington, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). Founded in 2012, it is one of eight inaugural members of the NWSL. Since June 2024, the Reign ar ...

, who had obtained her rights for the

National Women's Soccer League The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a women's professional Association football, soccer league and the highest level of the United States soccer league system#Women's leagues, United States soccer league system (alongside the USL Supe ...

(NWSL), and two other American teams had expressed interest. She was also in transfer negotiations with

Paris Saint-Germain Féminines Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain or simply PSG, are a French professional women's football club based in Paris. Founded in 1971, they compete in the Première Ligue, the top division of Fr ...

Paris Saint-Germain

Seger sealed her move to

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club, commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain () or simply PSG, is a French professional Association football, football club based in Paris. They compete in Ligue 1, the French football league system, top d ...

in June 2014, signing a two-year contract. She left as Tyresö withdrew from the league and released all their players.

Olympique Lyon

On 2 July 2016,

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

announced the signing of Seger. In the 2016/17 season Seger helped Lyon win the Division 1 Feminine, the Coupe de France Feminine and the UEFA Women’s Champions League.

FC Rosengård

In 2017, Seger returned to Sweden by joining

in the

league. She helped Rosengård win the Svenska Cupen Damer and finish second in the league. On Saturday November 9, 2024 she played the last game of her career, as Resengard beat Djurgården 3–0. At the end of the game the whole crowd gave her a standing ovation for her outstanding football career.

International career

Seger made her first appearance for the senior Swedish national team in March 2005; a 2–1 defeat by

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

at that year's Algarve Cup. She intended to score the winning goal at

UEFA Women's Euro 2005 The 2005 UEFA Women's Championship, also referred to as UEFA Women's Euro 2005, was a football tournament for women held from 5 June to 19 June 2005 in Lancashire and Cheshire, England. The UEFA Women's Championship is a regular tournament involvi ...

North West England North West England is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of 7,4 ...

. Although Seger was part of the team, she failed to score as Sweden lost to rivals

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

extra time Overtime (OT) or extra time (ET) is an additional period of play to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only if the game is required t ...

of the semi-final. Seger continued to be selected under new coach

Thomas Dennerby Thomas Lennart Dennerby (born 13 August 1959) is a Swedish football manager. He managed Sweden to a third place finish at the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup. He last served as the head coach of the India women's football team. Career Dennerby, the ...

and was part of the Sweden team surprisingly eliminated in the first round of the

2007 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup, the fifth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, was an international football competition for women held in China from 10 to 30 September 2007. Originally, China was to host the 2003 edition, but the outbreak o ...

. After that failure some experienced players retired and Seger was given a prominent role in the team. In July 2008 she overcame a thigh injury to take her place in the squad for the

2008 Beijing Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

. In China she participated in the Swedes' 2–0 quarter-final defeat by Germany. Caroline Seger in 2011

Impressed by Seger's work rate and positive attitude, Dennerby had appointed her as national team captain for a qualifying match with

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

in May 2008, when regular captain Victoria Sandell Svensson was injured. Sandell Svensson retired after Sweden's 3–1 defeat by Norway in the quarter-final of

UEFA Women's Euro 2009 The 2009 UEFA Women's Championship, or just Women's Euro 2009, was played in Finland between 23 August and 10 September 2009. The host was appointed on 11 July 2006, in a UEFA Executive Committee meeting in Berlin and the Finnish proposal won over ...

and Seger took over as full-time captain. Seger led Sweden to third place at the

2011 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup was the sixth FIFA Women's World Cup competition, the world championship for List of women's national association football teams, women's national association football, football teams. It was held from 26 June to ...

in Germany. She featured in Sweden's 3–1 semi-final defeat to eventual winners

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

. Sweden secured third place by beating

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

2–1 in

Sinsheim Sinsheim (; ) is a town in southwestern Germany, in the Rhine Neckar Area of the state Baden-Württemberg about southeast of Heidelberg and about northwest of Heilbronn in the district Rhein-Neckar. Geography Overview Sinsheim consists o ...

, although Seger missed the game with a calf injury. Third place also ensured Sweden's qualification for the 2012 Olympic football tournament in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. Dennerby kept Seger in Sweden's Olympic squad for London, where they lost to

in the quarter-finals. In October 2012, new national team coach

Pia Sundhage Pia Mariane Sundhage (, born 13 February 1960) is a Swedish football manager and former professional player. Currently, she is coaching Switzerland. As a player, Sundhage played most of her career as a forward and retired as the top scorer fo ...

decided that Seger and

Lotta Schelin Charlotta Eva Schelin (born 27 February 1984) is a Swedish former Professional sports, professional Association football, footballer who most recently played as a Striker (association football), striker for FC Rosengård of the Damallsvenskan. S ...

would share the captaincy. Sundhage named Seger in the squad for

UEFA Women's Euro 2013 The 2013 UEFA Women's Championship, commonly referred to as Women's Euro 2013, was the 11th European Championship for List of women's national association football teams#UEFA, women's national football teams organised by UEFA. The final tournament ...

, which Sweden hosted. Seger was disappointed when Sweden lost 1–0 to Germany in the semi-final. Seger appeared in all 6 matches for Sweden at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

and won the Silver Medal after a 2–1 loss to Germany. Seger became the sole captain of the National team after

’s retirement from international football. Seger led Sweden to the

2019 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup was the eighth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international Women's association football, football championship contested by 24 List of women's national association football teams, women's ...

hosted in France. On 6 July 2019, Seger played her 200th match with Sweden, facing

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. The match was a 2–1 victory for Sweden, giving them third place in the World Cup. On 13 June 2023, she was included in the 23-player squad for the

2023 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup was the ninth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international women's association football, football championship contested by List of women's national association football teams, women's nat ...

. At the end of that year, in December 2023 she announced her retirement due to her struggle with a calf injury.

Personal life

Seger is an

out Out or OUT may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films *Out (1957 film), ''Out'' (1957 film), a documentary short about the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 *Out (1982 film), ''Out'' (1982 film), an American film directed by Eli Hollander *O ...

lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...

, telling '' QX magazine'' in December 2013 that she was proud of her girlfriend. In previous years Seger had concealed her orientation, but decided to speak out to be a role model for others. She used to be in a relationship with fellow professional football player Malin Levenstad.

Career statistics

International

:''Scores and results list Sweden's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Seger goal.''

Honours

15 Caroline Seger 111023 Sverige-Schweiz 3-0 8331

Linköpings FC *

: 2009 *

: 2006, 2008, 2009 *

Svenska Supercupen Svenska Supercupen, ''Swedish Super Cup'', was a one-off fixture in Swedish football played between the Allsvenskan champions and the winners of Svenska Cupen. The fixture was played in November, after the Allsvenskan season. In the event of a ...

: 2009 Western New York Flash *

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

LdB FC Malmö *

: 2011 Tyresö FF *

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

Olympique Lyon *

Division 1 Féminine Division may refer to: Mathematics *Division (mathematics), the inverse of multiplication *Division algorithm, a method for computing the result of mathematical division Military *Division (military), a formation typically consisting of 10,000 to ...

: 2016–17 * Coupe de France Féminine: 2017 *

: 2016–17 Rosengard *

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

: 2017–18, 2021–22 Sweden *

FIFA Women's World Cup The FIFA Women's World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the senior list of women's national association football teams, women's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internationale de Footb ...

Third place:

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, then part of the King ...

Silver Medal:

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

Algarve Cup The Algarve Cup is an invitational tournament for national teams in women's association football hosted by the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF). Held annually in the Algarve region of Portugal since 1994, it is one of the most prestigious and ...

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

Sweden U19 * Nordic Cup: runner-up 2004 Sweden U17 * Nordic Cup: runner-up 2001, 2002 Individual * Sweden Breakthrough Player of the Year; 2005 *Best Swedish Midfielder:

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

: 2009, 2019 * FIFA Women's World Cup All-Star Team:

* UEFA Squad of the Tournament:

References

External links

* * *
Caroline Seger
at statsfootofeminin.fr
Caroline Seger
at

(archived)
Caroline Seger
at Philadelphia Independence (archived)
Caroline Seger at Linköpings FC
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Seger, Caroline Swedish women's footballers 1985 births Olympic footballers for Sweden Footballers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Footballers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Footballers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Footballers from Helsingborg Living people Sweden women's international footballers 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup players 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup players 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup players Swedish expatriate sportspeople in the United States Philadelphia Independence players Western New York Flash players FIFA Women's Century Club Tyresö FF players Damallsvenskan players Linköpings FC players FC Rosengård players Swedish lesbian sportswomen Swedish LGBTQ footballers Expatriate women's footballers in France Paris Saint-Germain FC (women) players Olympique Lyonnais Féminin players Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for Sweden Olympic medalists in football Women's association football midfielders Première Ligue players 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup players Footballers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics 21st-century Swedish LGBTQ people Women's Professional Soccer players UEFA Women's Euro 2022 players UEFA Women's Euro 2017 players 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup players UEFA Women's Champions League–winning players 21st-century Swedish sportswomen