Hjalmar Ekdal (; born 21 October 1998) 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 club

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2021 population of 78,266. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River B ...

and the Sweden national team. Beginning his professional career with

IK Frej IK Frej is a Swedish sports club located in Täby kyrkby. It currently plays in Division 3, the fifth tier in Swedish football. Background IK Frej was founded 5 February 1968 by Åke Berghagen and his friends. Today, IK Frej has more than 120 ...

in 2018, Ekdal briefly represented

Assyriska FF Assyriska Fotbollsföreningen, also known simply as Assyriska FF, is a Swedish football club based in Södertälje, Stockholm County. The club, formed in 1974 by Assyrian immigrants, has advanced through the league system and is currently play ...

Hammarby IF Hammarby Idrottsförening ("Hammarby Sports Club"), commonly known as Hammarby IF or simply Hammarby ( or, especially locally, ), is a Swedish sports club located in Stockholm, with a number of member organizations active in a variety of differ ...

, and

IK Sirius Idrottsklubben Sirius, commonly known as IK Sirius or Sirius, is a Swedish Sport, sports club located in Uppsala. Today IK Sirius is active in bandy, floorball, and association football, football as an . History The sports club that became IK Sir ...

before signing with

Djurgårdens IF Djurgårdens Idrottsförening, commonly known simply as Djurgårdens IF, Djurgården (), and (especially locally) Djurgår'n (), Dif or DIF – is a Swedish sports association with several sections, located in Stockholm. Djurgårdens IF is an s ...

in 2021.

Club career

Early career

Ekdal was born in Stockholm and started to play football with

IF Brommapojkarna Idrottsföreningen Brommapojkarna, more commonly known as Brommapojkarna (meaning ''the Bromma boys'') or simply BP, is a Swedish association football, football club based in the borough of Bromma, in the western parts of Stockholm municipality ...

as a youngster. In 2017, he left to club to study in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and play college soccer for

UNC Wilmington Seahawks The UNC Wilmington (UNCW) Seahawks are the varsity athletic teams representing the University of North Carolina Wilmington in Wilmington, North Carolina in intercollegiate athletics. The university sponsors eight teams for the men (baseball, bas ...

. While in the US, he played in 20 games and scored two goals as the Seahawks reached the final of the 2017 CAA Men's Soccer Tournament before losing 4–2 to

William & Mary Tribe The William & Mary Tribe is a moniker for the College of William & Mary's athletic teams and the university's community more broadly. William & Mary has won two team national championships (both in men's tennis), the AIAW championships in wo ...

IK Frej

In May 2018, Ekdal returned to his native country and signed a two-year deal with

Superettan Superettan (; ) is an association football league and the second highest league in the Swedish football league system, league system of Swedish football, Swedish men's football. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and rel ...

, Sweden's second tier. He played 15 league games throughout the year, scoring once, as the club finished 9th in the table. Ekdal also made one appearance out on loan with

in Division 1, the third tier. In 2019, Ekdal had a major breakthrough and established himself in the starting eleven at IK Frej. He played all 30 league games in Superettan during the season, scoring twice, but was unable to save the club from relegation.

Hammarby IF

On 19 July 2019, Ekdal transferred to

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 ...

, signing a two-year deal. It was also announced that he would remain eligible for affiliated club IK Frej for the rest of the season. On 3 March 2020, Ekdal was sent on loan to fellow Allsvenskan club

for the remainder of the season.

Djurgårdens IF

On 4 January 2021, Ekdal joined

on a four-year contract. He was named the Allsvenskan player of the month for the month of September 2021.

Burnley

On 21 January 2023, Ekdal joined

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

leaders

on a four-and-a-half-year deal for an undisclosed fee. He earned his debut appearance for the ''Clarets'' on 4 February in a 3–0 away win against

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club is a professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was founded in 1902. Since 1935, Norwich have played their h ...

in the

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship, known simply as the Championship and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Bet Championship, is a professional association football league in England and Wales. Contested by 24 clubs, it is the highest divi ...

, in which he scored his first Burnley goal in the 60th minute. On 23 January 2025, Ekdal joined

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; "Honour Division" or "Premier Division") is a professional association football league in the Netherlands and the highest level of the Dutch football league system. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start o ...

club

Groningen Groningen ( , ; ; or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen (province), Groningen province in the Netherlands. Dubbed the "capital of the north", Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of ...

on loan until the end of the season.

International career

Youth

Ekdal was called up to the Sweden under-19 national team in October 2018, and featured in two friendlies 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 ...

(3–1 win) and

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 ...

(1–1 draw) the same month. He was called up to the Sweden U21 team for the first time on 26 August 2020.

Senior

Ekdal was called up to the Sweden national team for the first time on 1 December 2021, for two friendlies against

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

in January 2022. However, the friendlies were cancelled two weeks later because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Ekdal was once again called up to the national team on 18 May 2022, for Sweden's

2022–23 UEFA Nations League The 2022–23 UEFA Nations League was the third 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 June to Se ...

games against

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

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 ...

, and

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

in June 2022. He made his full international debut for Sweden on 9 June 2022 in the UEFA Nations League game against

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

, playing the full 90 minutes at centre back in a 1–0 loss.

Personal life

He is the son of journalist Lennart Ekdal and the brother of fellow footballer Albin Ekdal, who's played for

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

and

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

clubs and the Sweden national team.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Individual * Colonial Athletic Association's Men's Soccer – Rookie of the Year: 2017 * Colonial Athletic Association's Men's Soccer – All-Rookie Team: 2017 * All-Colonial Athletic Association – First Team: 2017 * NCCSIA University Division All-State Men's Soccer – First Team: 2017 * Colonial Athletic Association Men's Soccer – Player of the Week: 28 August–3 September 2017 *

Player of the month: September

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 ...

*Allsvenskan Defender of the year:

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ekdal, Hjalmar 1998 births Living people Footballers from Stockholm Swedish men's footballers Men's association football central defenders IF Brommapojkarna players IK Frej players Hammarby Fotboll players IK Sirius Fotboll players Djurgårdens IF Fotboll players Burnley F.C. players FC Groningen players Allsvenskan players Superettan players English Football League players Premier League players Eredivisie players Sweden men's youth international footballers Swedish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Swedish expatriate sportspeople in England Swedish expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands 21st-century Swedish sportsmen