Karl Leo Bengtsson (born 26 May 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

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 ...

for

Aris Limassol Aris Limassol (Greek: ''Άρης Λεμεσού'') is a professional Cypriot football club based in Limassol and one of the founder members of Cyprus Football Association. The club's colours are green, black and white, and their home is the A ...

Club career

Youth years

Bengtsson grew up at the island

Ingarö Ingarö is an island in Värmdö Municipality, Stockholm County. The chief settlement is called Brunn. With an area of 63.26 km2, it is the 16th biggest island in Sweden. Petroglyphs indicate that the island has been inhabited since the Nord ...

Värmdö Municipality Värmdö Municipality () is a municipalities of Sweden, municipality in Stockholm County in east central Sweden. Its seat is in the town of Gustavsberg, Värmdö Municipality, Gustavsberg, with a population of 9,682 (2005), on the main island at a ...

, just outside

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

. He started his football career at the local club Ingarö IF, before joining the academy at

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 ...

in late 2010 at age 11. At Hammarby, he would make his way up the ranks until eventually featuring regularly at the club's U21s in 2015. During the following season he was a key player as Hammarby won the Folksam U21 Allsvenskan. In the semi-final against arch rival

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 October 2016, he scored two goals while settling the score to 2–1.

Hammarby IF

On 6 September 2016, Leo Bengtsson signed his first professional contract with Hammarby IF, on a three-year deal. However, the winger did not feature in any competitive game in the

2016 Allsvenskan The 2016 Allsvenskan season was the 92nd edition of top tier Allsvenskan football competition since its founding in 1924 under the authority of the Swedish Football Association in Sweden; the 2016 Swedish football season. The season started on 2 ...

. At the beginning of the 2017 season, Bengtsson made his competitive debut for Hammarby in a

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 ...

fixture. He came on as a substitute in a

group stage A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

away game against

Nyköpings BIS Nyköpings BIS is a Swedish football club located in Nyköping. The club started out as a merger in 1966 between Nyköpings SK and Nyköpings AIK. Since their foundation Nyköpings BIS has participated mainly in the middle divisions of the Swedis ...

on 26 February. On 9 April 2017, he made his first appearance in

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 ...

, coming on as a substitute in a 1–1 draw against

Kalmar FF Kalmar Fotbollförening, more commonly known as Kalmar FF, is a Swedish professional football club based in Kalmar, Sweden. The club is affiliated to Smålands Fotbollförbund and play their home games at Guldfågeln Arena. Formed on 15 June 1 ...

on home ground. Bengtsson scored his first competitive goal for the club on 16 August, in a 3–1 win against

Akropolis IF Akropolis IF was a Swedish football club formed by Greek immigrants in 1968 in Spånga. The club was named after the Acropolis of Athens, and the Parthenon The Parthenon (; ; ) is a former Ancient Greek temple, temple on the Acropolis ...

in round 2 of the

2017–18 Svenska Cupen The 2017–18 Svenska Cupen was the 62nd season of the Svenska Cupen and the sixth season with the current format. The winners of the competition earned a place in the second qualifying round of the 2018–19 UEFA Europa League, unless they had a ...

. During the following years, Bengtsson failed to break into Hammarby's starting eleven. In 2018, he was sent on loan to

Gefle IF Gefle Idrottsförening, also known simply as Gefle IF, Gefle (, as if spelled ''Gävle''), or locally Gif (), also known as Gefle IF FF by the Swedish Football Association, are a Swedish professional association football, football club based in G ...

in Superettan, Sweden's second division. On 21 January 2019, Bengtsson renewed his contract with Hammarby for another three years. Bengtsson spent the majority of the 2019 season at Hammarby's affiliated club

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 ...

. He made 34 league appearances for Hammarby in total.

BK Häcken

On 6 January 2020, Bengtsson moved to Allsvenskan club

BK Häcken Bollklubben Häcken, more commonly known as BK Häcken or simply Häcken (), is a Swedish professional association football, football club based in Gothenburg (Hisingen). It currently plays in Allsvenskan, the top tier of Swedish football. Forme ...

from

Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...

, signing a three-year deal. The transfer fee was reportedly set at around 1 million Swedish kronor.

International career

Bengtsson debuted for the Sweden U19 national team in a friendly against

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

on 6 October 2016. About a month later, on 14 November 2016, he won his first competitive cap in an away qualifier 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 ...

ahead of the

2017 UEFA European Under-19 Championship The 2017 UEFA European Under-19 Championship (also known as UEFA Under-19 Euro 2017) was the 16th edition of the UEFA European Under-19 Championship (66th edition if the Under-18 and Junior eras are included), the annual international youth footba ...

. Sweden won the game with a score of 3–2. Bengtsson was selected in the preliminary squad ahead of the tournament – but withdrew on request from his club, Hammarby, where he had started to play regularly.

Career statistics

Club

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bengtsson, Leo 1998 births Living people Swedish men's footballers Footballers from Stockholm Men's association football midfielders Sweden men's youth international footballers Allsvenskan players Superettan players Hammarby Fotboll players Gefle IF players IK Frej players BK Häcken players 21st-century Swedish sportsmen