John Guidetti

Club

As of match played 6 April 2025

International

As of match played 5 September 2020

As of match played 5 September 2020 Scores and results list Sweden's goal tally first

Early career

Guidetti began his football career at the Swedish club IF Brommapojkarna's youth system in 1998. In 2002, Guidetti moved with his family to Kenya, as his father had a job there. This meant that Guidetti had to leave BP, and he joined the Impala BrommaBoys football academy based in Nairobi. After one year with the Impala club, Guidetti joined Mathare United's academy, the MYSA organisation for sports development aid, in the slums of Nairobi. In 2004, Guidetti left the organisation and joined Ligi Ndogo. In 2006, he returned to Sweden with IF Brommapojkarna. In total Guidetti spent around five years living in Kenya which he states helped him to develop on and off the pitch:

That period was very important for my development, both on and off the pitch. I played football barefoot in the slum areas of Nairobi and I came into contact with local people and their culture. I still have a strong link with Kenya and every time I go back there I always get a warm welcome. In April 2008, at the age of sixteen, Guidetti signed a three-year deal with Manchester City. Inter Milan, Sampdoria, Lazio, Roma and Ajax Cape Town (Ajax's feeder club in South Africa), among others, had all been in competition for securing his services.

Manchester City

Manchester City's manager at the time, Sven Goran Eriksson, spotted Guidetti's talent in his native Sweden and immediately signed him. Guidetti enjoyed a fine first season with the Manchester City under-18 team, scoring…

Youth

Guidetti played 14 matches and scored 14 goals for Sweden's Under-19 national squads, including four goals against the Netherlands. Although initially considered to be beyond selection to play for the Sweden U21 team (who were leading their European Championship qualifying group at the time) in the June 2010 fixtures against Israel and Montenegro, Guidetti ultimately got his chance to play at this higher level as a replacement for the injured first choice striker Agon Mehmeti. Guidetti accordingly took his place in the Sweden U21 team's starting eleven that manage to win away 1–0 against Israel. Guidetti earned his next international cap when he was included in the Sweden U19 team rather than the Sweden U21 team because according to Swedish Under-21 national team coach, Jörgen Lennartsson, they had even "greater need" for him back in the younger team. He scored after just four minutes in his first game back with the Under-19 line-up against Poland. After the Sweden U21 team suffered a surprise home defeat against Israel without Guidetti, John was recalled once again to play for this team in its decisive qualifying match against Bulgaria, where he created the winning and only goal for Sweden in a 1–0 victory. At the 2015 European Under-21 Championship in the Czech Republic, Guidetti equalised as Sweden came from behind to defeat Italy 2–1 in their opening group game in Olomouc. He took and scored Sweden's first spot-kick in the penalty shootout in the final…

Guidetti's paternal grandfather is Italian, and his paternal grandmother is half Swedish, half Brazilian. Guidetti has lived in Kenya on two occasions with his father Mike, mother Susanne and his sister Carmen. Guidetti credits playing football with older children from the poorer slum areas of Kibera and Mathare as an important step in his development on and off the field, and founded a NGO that helps children in the area. In the summer of 2015, Swedish music group Badpojken made a song about Guidetti, called "Johnny G (The Guidetti Song)". It peaked number 1 at the Swedish music charts. John Guidetti is married to Sanna Guidetti, formerly Dahlström, and together they have a daughter born in 2016 and a son born in 2018. John Guidetti is also the father of a daughter, born in 2011 and raised in the United States.