Karl Gustav Johan Svensson (born 7 February 1987) is a Swedish professional

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 plays as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

for and captains

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; ), also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan (, ) is a professional association football league in Sweden and the highest level of the Swedish football league system. Founded in 1924, it operates on a system of promotion and relegatio ...

club

IFK Göteborg Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna Göteborg (officially IFK Göteborg Fotboll), commonly known as IFK Göteborg, IFK (especially locally) or Blåvitt, is a Swedish professional Football team, football club based in Gothenburg. Founded in 1904, it ...

. Starting off his footballing career in Sweden with IFK Göteborg in 2005, he went on to play professionally in Turkey, Ukraine, China, and the United States before returning to Sweden in 2021. A full international between 2009 and 2021, Svensson won 32

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for the Sweden national team and represented his country at the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded t ...

as well as

UEFA Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the Anniversary#Latin-derived numerical names, quadrennial international men's association footb ...

Club career

IFK Göteborg

He played for a local team in Gothenburg as well as a French team in his youth but joined

at the age of 14. He played there until 2010 and won the Swedish Championship with the club in 2007. Gustav was nominated as the Newcomer of the year in Swedish football the same season but lost out to Johan Oremo.

Bursaspor

On 1 September 2010, he signed a three-year contract with

2009–10 Süper Lig The 2009–10 Süper Lig (known as the ''Turkcell Süper Lig'' for sponsorship reasons) was the 52nd season since its establishment. The season commenced on 7 August 2009 with İstanbul Büyükşehir Belediyespor (football team), Istanbul B.B. ho ...

champions

Bursaspor Bursaspor Kulübü Derneği, commonly known as Bursaspor, is a Turkey, Turkish professional sports club based in the city of Bursa. Founded in 1963, the club is best known for its football team, which has a rich history in Football in Turkey, Turk ...

Tavriya Simferopol

On 7 July 2012, he signed a three-year contract with Ukrainian club Tavriya Simferopol. According to Svensson he was forced to flee Tavriya's native soil

Crimea Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...

by bus during the

2014 Russian annexation of Crimea In February and March 2014, Russia invaded the Crimean Peninsula, part of Ukraine, and then annexed it. This took place in the relative power vacuum immediately following the Revolution of Dignity. It marked the beginning of the Russo-Ukrain ...

Return to IFK Göteborg

On 23 March 2014, he signed a four-year contract with his former club

Guangzhou R&F

On 14 January 2016, he signed a three-year contract with Chinese club Guangzhou R&F.

Seattle Sounders FC

On 30 January 2017, Svensson joined

MLS Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanctioned by the United ...

side

Seattle Sounders FC Seattle Sounders FC is an American professional association football, soccer club based in Seattle. The Sounders compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The club was established on ...

. Svensson made his Sounders debut in the opening game of the 2017 season, starting at

right back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

in a 2–1 loss to

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

. While he has also played as a center back, Svensson primarily played as a defensive midfielder for the Sounders.

Guangzhou City

On 9 April 2021, Svensson returned to

Chinese Super League The Chinese Football Super League (), commonly known as the Chinese Super League or the CSL (), also known as the China Resources Beverage Chinese Football Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Ch ...

side Guangzhou City.

Second return to IFK Göteborg

On 22 July 2021, Svensson returned to IFK Göteborg for the second time, signing a two-and-a-half-year contract.

International career

Youth

Making his debut in 2007, Svensson played 24 games for the Sweden under-21 team and was a part of the U21 team that reached the semi-finals of the

2009 UEFA European Under-21 Championship The 2009 UEFA European Under-21 Championship began on 15 June 2009, and was the 17th UEFA European Under-21 Championship. This was the first tournament after the competition reverted to a two-year format, following the single-year 2007 UEFA Europ ...

Senior

In May 2018, he was named in Sweden's 23 man squad for the

2018 World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded the hosting rights in l ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. At the 2018 World Cup, Svensson played in three games for Sweden as they were eliminated by

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 ...

in the quarter-final. He started and played the full 90 minutes in the second-round game against

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. On 8 September 2020, Svensson was sent off for the first time in his senior international career in the first half after two yellow cards in Sweden's game against Portugal in the

2020–21 UEFA Nations League The 2020–21 UEFA Nations League was the second season of the UEFA Nations League, an international association football competition involving the men's national teams of the 55 member associations of UEFA. The competition was held from Septembe ...

. He served as Sweden's

team captain In team sport, captain is a title given to a member of the team. The title is frequently honorary, but in some cases the captain may have significant responsibility for strategy and teamwork while the game is in progress on the field. In eithe ...

for the first time in a friendly game against

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

on 11 November 2020, in his 30th international appearance. In May 2021, he was named in Sweden's 26-man squad for

. He appeared in the 1–0 group stage win against

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

as Sweden reached the

round of 16 A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

before being eliminated by

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. Svensson announced his retirement from international football following the tournament, having won 32

for his country between 2009 and 2021.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

IFK Göteborg *

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

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 ...

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

, 2014–15 * Svenska Supercupen:

Seattle Sounders FC *

MLS Cup MLS Cup is the annual championship game of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the culmination of the MLS Playoffs. The game is held in November or December and pits the winner of the Eastern Conference Final against the winner of the Western Confere ...

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 ...

Individual * Årets Ärkeängel: 2023

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Svensson, Gustav 1987 births Living people Footballers from Gothenburg Swedish men's footballers Men's association football defenders IFK Göteborg players Bursaspor footballers SC Tavriya Simferopol players Guangzhou City F.C. players Seattle Sounders FC players Allsvenskan players Süper Lig players Ukrainian Premier League players Chinese Super League players Major League Soccer players Sweden men's under-21 international footballers Sweden men's international footballers 2018 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2020 players Swedish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in Ukraine Expatriate men's footballers in China Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Ukraine Swedish expatriate sportspeople in China Swedish expatriate sportspeople in the United States 21st-century Swedish sportsmen