Joel Ekstrand

Helsingborgs IF

Born in Lund, Sweden, Ekstrand started playing football for his home town club Lunds BK as a youth player before moving to Helsingborgs IF in 2005. Two years later, he signed his first professional contract with the club in the summer. In February 2008, Ekstrand was called up by the Helsingborgs IF squad for the first time, He made his first team debut against PSV Eindhoven in the first leg of the UEFA Cup Round of 32, at Philips Stadion, which saw Helsingborgs lose 2–0. Ekstrand was featured again in the second leg of the UEFA Cup Round of 32, at Olympia stadium and played 45 minutes before being substituted, due to a groin injury, as the club lost 2–1, resulting in their elimination from the tournament. But he soon recovered and made his league debut for Helsingborgs IF, starting the whole game, in a 3–0 win over GIF Sundsvall in the opening game of the season. During a 2–2 draw against IFK Norrköping on 20 April 2008, Ekstrand started the game but was substituted in the 7th minute following a collision and suffered a broken nose and concussion. But he quickly recovered and made his return to the first team from injury, starting the whole game, in a 4–2 win over Malmö on 28 April 2008. Since then, Ekstrand had developed himself into a key player at Helsingborg IF with the likes of Marcus Nilsson, Andreas Granqvist and Samir Beloufa. Despite missing three matches throughout the 2008 season, he went on to make twenty–eight appearances in all…

Youth

In July 2004, Ekstrand was called up to the Sweden U15 squad for the first time. A month later on 24 August 2004, he made his U15 national team debut, starting the whole game, in a 3–1 win against Finland U15. Ekstrand went on to make two more appearances for Sweden U15. In March 2005, Ekstrand was called up to the Sweden U16 for the first time. He made his debut for the U16 national team, starting the whole game, in a 2–0 loss against Republic of Ireland U16 on 28 April 2005. This turns out to be his only appearances for Sweden U16. In March 2006, Ekstrand was called up to the Sweden U17 squad for the first time. He made his U17 national team debut, starting the whole game, in a 4–0 loss against Hungary U17 on 30 March 2006. This also turns out to be his only appearances for Sweden U17. In August 2007, Ekstrand was called up to the Sweden U18 squad for the first time. He made his U18 national team debut, starting the whole game, in a 1–1 draw against Belgium U18 on 21 August 2007. Ekstrand went on to make three more appearances for Sweden U18. In October 2007, he was called up to the Sweden U19 squad for the first time. Ekstrand made his U19 national team debut, starting the whole game, in a 2–0 win against Finland U19 on 12 October 2007. He went on to make six more appearances for the Sweden U19. In September 2008, Ekstrand was called up to the Sweden U21 squad for the first time, but did not play. But he made his U21 national team debut, starting the whole…

International

Following his move to Udinese, Ekstrand began to learn Italian three times a week and subsequently learned the language well. In May 2012, he was reportedly went to hospital after crashing his car following the club's party, but was released from the hospital and was fined by Udinese. In an interview with Watford Observer, Ekstrand also revealed that he speaks English and grew up supporting Arsenal as a young kid.