Sebastian Larsson

Early career

Larsson was born in Eskilstuna and initially played football for his hometown team, IFK Eskilstuna. He joined Arsenal aged 16 during the summer of 2001, on a four-year professional contract.

Arsenal

Having been on the substitutes bench for a match against Panathinaikos, he made his first-team debut against Manchester City in the League Cup on 27 October 2004, where he played out of position at left back. He played in two further League Cup matches that season. He made his Premier League debut on 1 February 2006, replacing Sol Campbell at half time as Arsenal lost 3–2 at home to West Ham United. Due to Campbell's defensive errors in that match, Larsson started the next two league matches in defence in his absence, a 2–0 win away to Birmingham City three days later, and a 1–1 draw at home to Bolton Wanderers on 11 February, in which he was substituted for Dennis Bergkamp as Arsenal sought their equaliser.

Loan to Birmingham City

Larsson joined Championship club Birmingham City on a season-long loan from Arsenal in August 2006, with an option to make the move permanent. Larsson made an immediate impact, scoring late winners in his first few games, against Crystal Palace and Shrewsbury Town. He also scored two goals against Newcastle United in the FA Cup.

Birmingham City

At the end of January 2007, Larsson signed permanently for Birmingham City on a four-year deal for a £1 million fee. He scored Birmingham's goal of the…

Larsson received his first call-up to the Sweden squad for the UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying games against Liechtenstein and Northern Ireland in October 2007. He was an unused substitute against Liechtenstein but did not make the bench for the Northern Ireland game. He made his debut for Sweden in February 2008, playing the whole 90 minutes of a friendly draw against Turkey in Istanbul. He was named in Sweden's 23-man squad for UEFA Euro 2008, and has since become a regular in the national team. He scored his first goal at senior international level in March 2011 as Sweden beat Moldova 2–1 in a Euro 2012 qualifier. During the qualifiers in October, Larsson added two more goals to his international tally. The first was the opener in a 2–1 away victory over Finland in Helsinki, and the second was a penalty as Sweden came from behind to beat the Netherlands 3–2 on 11 October at the Råsunda Stadium in Stockholm. In February 2012, Larsson scored two second-half goals to down Croatia 3–1 at the Maksimir Stadium in Zagreb. Larsson was selected in Sweden's squad for Euro 2012. He started all three of their group games and scored the second goal in their 2–0 win over France, but Sweden did not make it through to the knockout stages of the competition. On 15 October 2013, Larsson registered 2 assists in their 3–5 loss against Germany in a World Cup Qualification game. He was captain during the game. Larsson was named in Sweden's 23-man squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. In the…

Club

International

Sweden score listed first, score column indicates score after each Larsson goal.

Larsson lives in Eskilstuna with his wife Tina. As of June 2018, the couple have two daughters. His father, Svante Larsson, is a former football player and coach, who briefly played for IFK Eskilstuna (1976–1977).