Tobias Lars Mikaelsson (born 17 November 1988) is a Swedish

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 ...

. He started his professional career with

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

in England in 2007. After

loan In finance, a loan is the tender of money by one party to another with an agreement to pay it back. The recipient, or borrower, incurs a debt and is usually required to pay interest for the use of the money. The document evidencing the deb ...

spells with Ljungskile and Port Vale, he signed with Swedish side

Trollhättan Trollhättan () is the 23rd-largest city in Sweden, the seat of Trollhättan Municipality, Västra Götaland County. It is situated by Göta älv, near the lake Vänern, and has a population of approximately 50,000 in the city proper. It is loc ...

in 2009. Two years later, he joined Ljungskile. He joined Oddevold in February 2013 before signing with

Stenungsund Stenungsund () is a locality and the seat of Stenungsund Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden with 9,987 inhabitants in 2010. Overview Stenungsund was once only an idyllic bathing and vacation location on the Swedish west coast. A landm ...

in January 2018. He joined Kongahälla in 2020 and Svenshögen in 2022.

Career

Aston Villa

Mikaelsson signed for

in August 2005 from Swedish

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 ...

side, Ljungskile – the team he also supports. He never played a game for the Villa senior team. Still, he made appearances at the youth level and for the Reserves, where he had a prolific goalscoring record. Mikaelsson was thought to have a very bright future ahead of him, some pundits had previously tipped him to become a star while he was at youth level, and follow the footsteps of his boyhood idols

Zlatan Ibrahimović Zlatan Ibrahimović (born 3 October 1981) is a Swedish former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Striker (association football), striker. Ibrahimović is known for his acrobatic strikes and Volley (association footba ...

and

Henrik Larsson Edward Henrik Larsson (; born 20 September 1971) is a Swedish professional association football, football coach and former player who played many times for the Sweden men's national football team, Swedish national team. A Striker (association f ...

. Mikaelsson joined his old club Ljungskile on

on 15 March 2007 to gain first-team experience, and he scored one goal and provided five assists in the stint. On 18 September 2007, he scored his first

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

for Villa Reserves – in a 4–1 victory against

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club in Derby, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. One of the 12 founder members of the English Football ...

. In January 2008, Mikaelsson joined Port Vale on a one-month loan deal, joining up with team-mate

Chris Herd Christopher Herd (born 4 April 1989) is an Australia men's national soccer team, Australian former international association football, footballer. Herd could be described as a Utility player#Association football, utility player who was able to p ...

. He played six games for the League One club, Vale lost four and drew two games. After Mikaelsson returned to

Villa Park Villa Park is a association football, football stadium in Aston, Birmingham, with a seating capacity of 42,918. It has been the home of Premier League club Aston Villa F.C., Aston Villa since 1897. The ground is less than a mile from both Witt ...

following an ankle injury, Vale were

relegated Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

. In July 2008, Mikaelsson was rewarded with a one-year

contract A contract is an agreement that specifies certain legally enforceable rights and obligations pertaining to two or more parties. A contract typically involves consent to transfer of goods, services, money, or promise to transfer any of thos ...

extension, keeping him at the club until the summer of 2009. He had a five-day trial with

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 ...

in January 2009. In April 2009, he had an unsuccessful trial at League One

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. They were founded in 190 ...

following release from Aston Villa.

Sweden

Mikaelsson returned home to Sweden and signed for

in July 2009. In his first season in the

, Mikaelsson scored a single goal in 18 appearances for Trollhättan. During the 2010 season, Mikaelsson managed to score 5 goals in 29 appearances for the club, but was unable to help them avoid relegation. Mikaelsson opted to remain in the

and transferred back to Ljungskile in March 2011. LSK finished in eighth place in

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 ...

and then in fifth place in

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 ...

. In February 2013, Mikaelsson signed for

Division 1 Södra Ettan Fotboll, or simply Ettan (), which also is its common name in everyday speech, is the third level in the Swedish football league system and consists of 32 Swedish football teams. It was formerly simply known as ''Division 1''. Division 1 ...

club

IK Oddevold IK Oddevold is a Swedish football club located in Uddevalla. The club, formed on 3 July 1932, currently plays in Sweden's second-flight league, Superettan. They play most of their home games at Rimnersvallen and they also have a newly built tr ...

. The club finished second in

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

, but were beaten by

Varbergs BoIS Varbergs BoIS FC is a Swedish professional football club located in Varberg, the main town of Varberg Municipality in Halland County. Background The club was formed at a meeting in the Varbergs Folkets Hus on 25 March 1925. The backbone of the ...

in the qualification play-offs. They finished in fifth place in

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 ...

, fourth in

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 ...

, and seventh in

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 ...

. He scored two goals in 11 appearances during the 2017 season as the club finished in ninth place. In January 2018, Mikaelsson dropped down a level to sign a two-year contract with Division 2 side

. The "Red Brothers" ended the 2018 season fifth in the Norra Götaland region. He signed with

Division 4 ''Division 4'' is an Australian television police drama series broadcast by the Nine Network and created by Crawford Productions airing between 1969 and 1975 for 301 episodes. Synopsis The series was one of the first to follow up on the enor ...

side Kongahälla in 2020. He joined Svenshögen in 2022.

Style of play

Mikaelsson said: "I like to think I'm an intelligent type of player with decent technique and decent pace." He is noted for his tall, powerful physique and sound technical ability.

Career statistics

References

External links

*
Personal Blog
(in Swedish) {{DEFAULTSORT:Mikaelsson, Tobias 1988 births Living people Men's association football forwards Swedish men's footballers Swedish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Aston Villa F.C. players Ljungskile SK players Port Vale F.C. players FC Trollhättan players IK Oddevold players English Football League players Superettan players 21st-century Swedish sportsmen Stenungsunds IF players People from Stenungsund Municipality Footballers from Västra Götaland County