Edwin Andersson (born 7 November 2003) is a Swedish professional footballer who plays as a

left winger In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

Early life

Born in

Lerum Lerum is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and the seat of Lerum Municipality in Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 43 570 inhabitants in 2024. Overview Lerum has a station on the Gothenburg commuter rail system and is a suburb of Gothenburg ...

Västergötland Västergötland (), also known as West Gothland or the Latinized version Westrogothia in older literature, is one of the 25 traditional non-administrative provinces of Sweden (''landskap'' in Swedish), situated in the southwest of Sweden. Vä ...

, Edwin Andersson started playing football in his hometown club as a six year old, before joining the

IFK Göteborg Academy The IFK Göteborg Academy is a youth development program associated with the Swedish football club IFK Göteborg. This academy is often called The Football Academy (). Another informal name for the academy is ''Änglagården'' (), after the name o ...

four years later.

Club career

Soon proving to be one of the academy and Swedish football's brightest prospects, along the likes of

Jesper Tolinsson Jesper Mikael Tolinsson (born 28 February 2003) is a Swedish professional footballer who plays for Belgian club Lommel as a centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop at ...

, Andersson was linked to several big European clubs, making a trial at

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

in 2018, but eventually signing for the Chelsea Academy, that he effectively joined soon after he turned 16. First playing with Chelsea's under-18, he began regularly scoring goals and delivering assist for his team in the

FA Youth Cup The Football Association Youth Challenge Cup is an English football competition run by The Football Association for under-18 sides. Only those players between the age of 15 and 18 on 31 August of the current season are eligible to take part. It ...

and the

U18 Premier League The Professional Development League is a system of English youth football leagues that are managed, organised and controlled by the Premier League or by the Football League. It was introduced by the Football Association via the Elite Player P ...

, whilst also playing the

UEFA Youth League The UEFA Youth League is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) since 2013. In its current format, it is contested by the under-19 teams of the clubs competing in the UEFA Champions Le ...

during the 2021–22 season, most notably delivering a total of three assists in the two games against the Swedish champions of

Malmö Malmö is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, sixth-largest city in Nordic countries, the Nordic region. Located on ...

. In October 2021, he also made his

EFL Trophy The English Football League Trophy, officially known as the Vertu Motors, Vertu Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English association football, football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL League Two and ...

debut against

Cheltenham Cheltenham () is a historic spa town and borough adjacent to the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort following the discovery of mineral springs in 1716, and claims to be the mo ...

. On 12 August 2022, Andersson announced his departure from Chelsea. Andersson joined

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, the cl ...

on 15 August 2022 linking up with their under-21 team.

International career

Edwin Andersson has been part of every Swedish youth team, having played 12 games with the under-17, scoring three goals during the three Euro qualifying games in 2019, before the

event Event may refer to: Gatherings of people * Ceremony, an event of ritual significance, performed on a special occasion * Convention (meeting), a gathering of individuals engaged in some common interest * Event management, the organization of eve ...

was canceled due to

Covid-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

Style of play

Edwin Andersson mainly plays as a

. A technically gifted left-footed player, he has been compared to the likes of

Callum Hudson-Odoi Callum James Hudson-Odoi (born 7 November 2000) is an English professional footballer who plays as a winger for club Nottingham Forest. During his time with Chelsea's academy, Hudson-Odoi was part of the squads which won the U18 Premier Leag ...

, naming

Cristiano Ronaldo Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro (; born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for and Captain (association football), captains both Saudi Pr ...

as his biggest inspiration.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Andersson, Edwin 2003 births Living people Swedish men's footballers Men's association football forwards Sweden men's youth international footballers People from Lerum Municipality IFK Göteborg players Chelsea F.C. players Stoke City F.C. players 21st-century Swedish sportsmen Expatriate men's footballers in England