Behrang Safari ( fa, بهرنگ صفری, ; born 9 February 1985) is a Swedish former 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 le ...

who played as a defender. Starting off his professional career with

Malmö FF Malmö Fotbollförening, commonly known as Malmö FF, Malmö, or MFF, is a professional football club and the most successful football club in Sweden in terms of trophies won. Formed in 1910 and affiliated with the Scania Football Association, ...

in 2004, he went on to represent

FC Basel Fussball Club Basel 1893, widely known as FC Basel, FCB, or just Basel, is a Swiss football club based in Basel, in the Canton of Basel-Stadt. Formed in 1893, the club has been Swiss national champions 20 times, Swiss Cup winners 13 times, and ...

and

RSC Anderlecht ; french: Les Mauves et Blancs) , short name = R.S.C.A. , founded = , ground = Constant Vanden Stock Stadium , capacity = 22,500 , owntitle = Chairman , owner = Wouter Vandenhaute , manager = Brian Riemer ...

before retiring at Malmö in 2020. A full international between 2008 and 2013, he won 31

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for the Sweden national team and was named in their

UEFA Euro 2012 The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2012 or simply Euro 2012, was the 14th European Championship for men's national football teams organised by UEFA. The final tournament, held between 8 June and 1 ...

squad.

Early life

Behrang Safari emigrated to Sweden as a two-year-old from

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

, Iran, with his family. They settled in the small town of

Höganäs Höganäs () (old da, Højenæs) is a locality and the seat of Höganäs Municipality, Scania County, Sweden with 14,107 inhabitants in 2010. Höganäs is nationally known for its ceramics industry, Höganäs Keramik. Höganäs Keramik is part ...

, and later moved to

Lund Lund (, , ) is a city in the southern Swedish provinces of Sweden, province of Scania, across the Øresund, Öresund strait from Copenhagen. The town had 91,940 inhabitants out of a municipal total of 121,510 . It is the seat of Lund Municipali ...

when he was five.

Club career

Malmö FF

Safari came through the ranks at

and played his first game in the

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; en, the All-Swedish, also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan, en, the Football All-Swedish) is a Swedish professional league for men's association football clubs. It was founded in 1924 and is the top tier of the Swedish football lea ...

in July 2004 when he came on as a substitute. He made his

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

debut in the

2004 UEFA Intertoto Cup The 2004 UEFA Intertoto Cup football finals (the summer football competition for European clubs that had not qualified for one of the two major UEFA competitions) were won by Lille, Schalke 04, and Villarreal. All three teams advanced to the ...

on 19 June 2004 against

Cork City F.C. Cork City Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Chathair Chorcaí) is an Irish association football club based in Cork. The club was founded and elected to the League of Ireland in 1984. It was one of the first clubs in Ireland (and the first in ...

He won the Allsvenskan in his first season and became a first-team regular the following season.

FC Basel

On 15 June 2008, Malmö announced that Safari had been sold to

in Switzerland. This was confirmed one day later by FCB Online and they stated that he signed a three-year contract.. He joined Basel's first team for their 2008–09 season under head coach

Christian Gross Christian Jürgen Gross (born 14 August 1954) is a Swiss football manager and former player who most recently coached Schalke 04. He played as a sweeper and central midfielder. Gross was manager of Basel from 1 July 1999 to 27 May 2009, winning ...

. To the beginning of the season Safari was member of the Basel team that won the

Uhrencup The Uhrencup is a club football tournament, held annually in Grenchen and Biel in Switzerland. The Uhrencup is seen as a testament to the major influence that is exercised by the local industry on the cultural lives of the areas residents. The tou ...

. They beat

Legia Warsaw Legia Warszawa (), commonly referred to as Legia Warsaw or simply Legia, is a professional football club based in Warsaw, Poland. Legia is the most successful Polish football club in history, winning record 15 Ekstraklasa champions titles, a ...

6–1 and played a 2–2 draw with

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, commonly known as Borussia Dortmund (), BVB (), or simply Dortmund (), is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its men's professional footb ...

to end the table on top slot above Dortmund and

Luzern , neighboring_municipalities= Adligenswil, Ebikon, Emmen, Horw, Kriens, Malters, Meggen, Neuenkirch Lucerne ( , ; High Alemannic: ''Lozärn'') or Luzern ()Other languages: gsw, Lozärn, label=Lucerne German; it, Lucerna ; rm, Lucerna . is a ...

. After playing in seven test games, Safari played his domestic league debut for the club in the home game in the

St. Jakob-Park St. Jakob-Park () is a Swiss sports stadium in Basel. It is the largest football venue in Switzerland and home to FC Basel. "Joggeli", as the venue is nicknamed by the locals, was originally built with a capacity of 33,433 seats. The capacity w ...

on 23 July 2008 as Basel won 1–0 against

Grasshopper Club Zürich Grasshopper Club Zürich, commonly referred to as simply GC, GCZ, or Grasshoppers, is a multisports club based in Zürich, Switzerland. The oldest and best known department of the club is its football team. With 27 titles, Grasshopper holds the ...

. Basel joined the

2008–09 UEFA Champions League The 2008–09 UEFA Champions League was the 54th edition of Europe's premier club football tournament and the 17th edition under the current UEFA Champions League format. The final was played at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome on 27 May 2009. It was ...

in the second qualifying round. Safari played his first European game in a Basel shirt on 30 July 2008 in a 1–1 Champions League qualifying match draw against

IFK Göteborg Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna Göteborg (officially IFK Göteborg Fotboll), commonly known as IFK Göteborg, IFK (especially locally) or simply Göteborg, is a Swedish professional football club based in Gothenburg. Founded in 1904, it is the ...

Ullevi Ullevi, sometimes known as Nya Ullevi (, ''New Ullevi''), is a multi-purpose stadium in Gothenburg, Sweden. It was built for the 1958 FIFA World Cup, but since then has also hosted the World Allround Speed Skating Championships six times; the ...

. With an aggregate score of 5–3 they eliminated Göteborg. In the next round they played against

Vitória de Guimarães Vitoria or Vitória may refer to : People * Francisco de Vitoria (c. 1483–1546), a Spanish Renaissance theologian * Alberto Vitoria (1956–2010), Spanish footballer * Rui Vitória (born 1970), Portuguese retired footballer * Steven Vitória ...

. The first leg ended in a goalless draw, but with a 2–1 win in the second leg they eliminated Vitória and advanced to the group stage. Here Basel were matched with

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional foot ...

and

Shakhtar Donetsk Football Club Shakhtar Donetsk ( uk, Футбольний клуб «Шахтар» Донецьк , short nickname "miners") is a Ukrainian professional football club from the city of Donetsk. In 2014, due to the War in Donbass, the club was f ...

, but ended the group in last position winning just one point after a 1–1 draw in

Camp Nou Camp Nou (, meaning ''new field'', often referred to in English as the Nou Camp), officially branded as Spotify Camp Nou for sponsorship and financial reasons, is a football stadium in Barcelona, Spain. It has been the home stadium of FC Barcelo ...

. At the end of the 2008–09 Super League season Basel were third in the table, seven points behind new champions

Zürich Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...

and one adrift of runners-up Young Boys. In the 2008–09 Swiss Cup Basel advanced via

Schötz Schötz is a municipality in the district of Willisau in the canton of Lucerne in Switzerland. On 1 January 2013 the former municipality of Ohmstal merged into the municipality of Schötz.Bulle Bulle (; frp, Bulo ) is a municipality in the district of Gruyère in the canton of Fribourg in Switzerland. In January 2006 Bulle incorporated the formerly independent municipality of La Tour-de-Trême. History Ancient times Bulle is first ...

Thun , neighboring_municipalities= Amsoldingen, Heiligenschwendi, Heimberg, Hilterfingen, Homberg, Schwendibach, Spiez, Steffisburg, Thierachern, Uetendorf, Zwieselberg , twintown = , website = www.thun.ch Thun (french: Thoune) ...

and Zurich to the semi-finals. But here they were stopped by Young Boys. After a goalless 90 minutes and extra time YB decided the penalty shoot-out 3–2 and advanced to the final to become runners-up, as

Sion Sion may refer to * an alternative transliteration of Zion People * Sion (name) or Siôn, a Welsh and other given name and surname, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Shion or Sion, a Japanese given name Plac ...

became cup winners. For their 2009–10 season Basel appointed

Thorsten Fink Thorsten Fink (born 29 October 1967) is a German football coach and a former footballer, currently works as manager of Riga FC. Career Fink began his career with Borussia Dortmund's reserve squad before moving to SG Wattenscheid 09, where he hel ...

as their new head coach. Safari scored his first goal for the club on 7 February 2010 in the home game in the

as Basel won 4–0 against

BSC Young Boys BSC Young Boys (YB by short abbreviation ) are a Swiss sports club based in Bern, Switzerland. Its first team has won 15 Swiss league championships and six Swiss Cups. YB is one of the most successful Swiss football clubs internationally, reac ...

. Basel joined the

2009–10 UEFA Europa League The 2009–10 UEFA Europa League was the first season of the UEFA Europa League, Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA. The competition was previously known as the UEFA Cup, which had been in existence for 38 years. Spain ...

in the second qualifying round. Basel advanced to the group stage, in which despite winning three of the six games the ended in third position and were eliminated. They finished four points behind group winners

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: Places Australia * Roma, Queensland, a town ** Roma Airport ** Roma Courthouse ** Electoral district of Roma, defunct ** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council *Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...

and one behind

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

, against whom they lost 3–2 in the last game of the stage. At the end of the 2009–10 season he won the

Double A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * Th ...

with his club. They won the

League League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

Championship title with 3 points advantage over second placed Young Boys. The team won the

Swiss Cup The Swiss Cup (; ; ; ) is a football cup tournament that has been organised annually since 1925–26 by the Swiss Football Association. Since 1999 the winner earns the chance to qualify for the UEFA Europa League or the UEFA Europa Conference L ...

, winning the final 6–0 against Lausanne-Sport. Basel started in the

2010–11 UEFA Champions League The 2010–11 UEFA Champions League was the 56th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 19th under the UEFA Champions League format. The final was held at Wembley Stadium in London on 28 May 2011, where Bar ...

third qualifying round and advanced to the group stage, but ended the group in third position. Therefore they dropped to the 2010–11 Europa League knockout phase, but here they were eliminated by

Spartak Moscow Spartak Moscow may refer to the following teams based or formerly based in Moscow, Russia: * FC Spartak Moscow, an association football club * HC Spartak Moscow, a professional ice hockey team * Spartak GM Moscow, a semi-professional rugby club * WB ...

due to a last minute goal against them. Safari played in all 12 matches. With Basel, Safari won the Swiss Championship for the second time at the end of the

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

season, topping the table just one point clear of rivals

. On 30 May 2011 it was announced that Safari would leave the club. Safari played 94 league games for Basel during his three-year contract.

Anderlecht

On 30 May 2011, Behrang signed a contract for the Belgian club

Anderlecht Anderlecht (, ) is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Forest, Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, and Saint-Gilles, as well as the ...

. He had his debut for Anderlecht on 29 July 2011 in the 2–1 away defeat against

Oud-Heverlee Leuven Oud-Heverlee Leuven (), also called OH Leuven or OHL, is a Belgian football club from the city of Leuven. It was created in 2002 from the merger of three clubs, '' F.C. Zwarte Duivels Oud-Heverlee'', whose registration number it inherited, '' ...

. He played his first European game for the team in the Europa League qualifying away win against

Bursaspor Bursaspor Kulübü Derneği (), commonly known as Bursaspor, is a Turkish sports club located in the city of Bursa. Formed in 1963, the club colours are green and white, with home kits usually featuring both colours in a striped pattern. In th ...

in the

Bursa Atatürk Stadium Bursa Atatürk Stadium ( tr, Bursa Atatürk Stadyumu) was a multi-purpose stadium in Bursa, Turkey. It was used mostly for football matches and was the home ground of Bursaspor. The stadium held 25,213 and was built in 1979. A stadium had exist ...

on 18 August 2011. He won the league in his first season with Anderlecht.

Return to Basel

After Safari's return to

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...

, he featured in their 2013-14 Champions League campaign. At the end of the 2013–14 Super League season Safari won his third league championship with Basel. They also reached the final of the 2013–14 Swiss Cup, but were beaten 2–0 by

after extra time. During the 2013–14 Champions League season Basel reached the

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 concent ...

and finished the group in third position. Thus they qualified for Europa League knockout phase and here they advanced as far as the quarter-finals. The next season, Safari started for Basel as a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

where they made it to the knockout stages of the

2014–15 UEFA Champions League The 2014–15 UEFA Champions League was the 60th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 23rd season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League. The final was pl ...

. He also won the

2014–15 Swiss Super League The 2014–15 Swiss Super League was the 118th season of top-tier football in Switzerland. It began on 19 July 2014 and ended on 29 May 2015. Basel successfully defended their title for a record sixth time in a row. A total of 10 teams competed ...

, his sixth consecutive league title and seventh overall. Safari and his Basel teammates attended a

charity Charity may refer to: Giving * Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons * Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sharing * Ch ...

event in June 2015. He continued in the left back position the following season in the Champions League,

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

and

Swiss Super League The Swiss Super League (known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a Swiss professional league in the top tier of the Swiss football league system and has been played in its current format since the 2003–04 season ...

. The season 2014–15 was a successful one for Safari and for his club Basel. The championship was won for the sixth time in a row that season and in the

2014–15 Swiss Cup The 2014–15 Swiss Cup was the 90th season of Switzerland's annual football cup competition. The competition started on 23 August 2014 with the first games of Round 1 and ended on 7 June 2015 with the Final, won by Sion. As winners of the compe ...

they reached the final. But for the third season in a row, they finished as runners-up, losing 0–3 to

FC Sion Football Club de Sion, commonly known as simply FC Sion or Sion, is a Swiss football team from the city of Sion. The club was founded in 1909, and play their home matches at the Stade Tourbillon. They have won the Swiss Super League twice, and ...

in the final. Basel entered the Champions League in the

and reached the

knockout phase A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

as on 9 December 2014 they managed a 1–1 draw at

Anfield Anfield is a football stadium in Anfield, Liverpool, Merseyside, England, which has a seating capacity of 53,394, making it the seventh largest football stadium in England. It has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since their formation in 1892. ...

against

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

. But then Basel lost to Porto in the

Round of 16 A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

. Basel played a total of 65 matches (36 Swiss League fixtures, six Swiss Cup, eight Champions League and 15 test matches). Under trainer

Paulo Sousa Paulo Manuel Carvalho de Sousa, CavIH (; born 30 August 1970) is a Portuguese football manager and former professional player who played as a defensive midfielder. Starting his career at Benfica, he also represented Sporting CP in his countr ...

, Safari totaled 41 appearances, 24 League, two Cup, seven Champions League, as well as 13 in test games. Safari scored one goal in these matches during a friendly game against

FC Schaffhausen FC Schaffhausen is a Swiss football team from the town of Schaffhausen. The club plays in the Challenge League, the second tier of Swiss football. Honours League Swiss Challenge League *Winners: 1962-63, 2003–04 Cup Swiss Cup *Runners-up: ...

. Under trainer

Urs Fischer Urs Fischer (born 2 May 1973) is a Swiss-born contemporary visual artist living in New York City. Fischer’s practice includes sculpture, installation and photography. Education and early career Born to two doctors as the second of two children ...

Safari won the

championship at the end of the 2015–16 Super League season for the fifth time with Basel. For the club it was the seventh title in a row and their 19th championship title in total. During the 2015–16 FC Basel season Safari decided to return to Sweden due to family reasons at the end of the season. He signed for

. Between the years 2008 to 2011 and again from 2013 to 2016_ Safari played a total of 291 games for Basel scoring a total of 3 goals. 157 of these games were in the

, 14 in the

, 59 were in a UEFA European-competitions (Champions League and Europa League) and 61 were friendly games. He scored one goal in the domestic league, the other two were scored during the test games. During his six seasons with FCB Safari won the Swiss championship five times and the domestic cup once.

Return to Malmö FF

On 18 January 2016 it was announced that Safari would return to

when his contract with

expired at the end of the 2015–16 season. Safari signed a contract with Malmö that extends over the 2020 season and allows him to join the team halfway through the 2016 season. He scored a goal in the

on 11 April 2017 against

GIF Sundsvall Gymnastik- och Idrottsföreningen Sundsvall, more commonly known as GIF Sundsvall (), Giffarna or simply Sundsvall, is a Swedish professional football club based in Sundsvall. The club is affiliated with Medelpads Fotbollförbund and plays its h ...

and was named

vice-captain Vice-captain, alternate captain (ice hockey) or vice-skip (curling) may refer to a role in a number of sports immediately below the role of captain. The vice-captain may have a number of different roles, including substituting as captain when the re ...

after

Markus Rosenberg Nils Markus Rosenberg (; born 27 September 1982) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a forward. He spent the majority of his career with his boyhood club Malmö FF, as well as a notable five-year stint with German Bundesli ...

. He won his tenth league title after winning the

2017 Allsvenskan The 2017 Allsvenskan, part of the 2017 Swedish football season, is the 93rd season of Allsvenskan since its establishment in 1924. The season began on 1 April 2017 and ended on 5 November the same year. Fixtures for the 2017 season were announce ...

, making

Zlatan Ibrahimović Zlatan Ibrahimović (, ; born 3 October 1981) is a Swedish professional footballer who plays as a striker for club AC Milan and the Sweden national team. Ibrahimović is renowned for his acrobatic strikes and volleys, powerful long-range sho ...

the only Swede with more league titles. Safari became a regular starter for MFF as they qualified for the

2018–19 UEFA Europa League The 2018–19 UEFA Europa League was the 48th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 10th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. The final was played at the Olympic St ...

on 30 August 2018. On 28 September 2020, Safari announced that he would retire from professional football after the 2020 season. On 8 November 2020, Safari and Malmö won the

2020 Allsvenskan The 2020 Allsvenskan, part of the 2020 Swedish football season, was the 96th season of Allsvenskan since its establishment in 1924. A total of 16 teams participated. Djurgårdens IF were the defending champions after winning the title in the pr ...

. Safari played his final professional match on 6 December 2020 in a 4–0 win over

Östersund Östersund (; sma, Staare) is an urban area (city) in Jämtland in the middle of Sweden. It is the seat of Östersund Municipality and the capital of Jämtland County. Östersund is located at the shores of Sweden's fifth-largest lake, Storsjön, ...

, raising the Lennart Johansson Trophy afterwards and receiving a tribute from the likes of

Walter Samuel Walter Adrián Samuel (; born Walter Adrián Luján; 23 March 1978) is an Argentine former professional footballer. Samuel has been regarded as one of the best centre-backs of his generation, and as one of football's toughest defenders, with f ...

and

Roger Federer Roger Federer (; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players#Weeks at No. 1, world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 310 weeks, in ...

Return to Lunds SK

On 13 December 2020, Safari returned to his boyhood club Lunds SK in the Swedish Division 5 for their 2021 season. Safari and Lunds SK became champions of Division 5 Skåne sydvästra by the end of the 2021 season.

International career

Safari was called up to the Sweden national team for their friendly match tour in January 2008. He played in all of the matches, which were a 1–0 win over

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

, a 2–0 defeat to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, and a 0–0 draw with

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

. During his debut game against Costa Rica, Safari set up the only goal of the game with a cross to Samuel Holmén, who volleyed the ball into the back of the net. Safari featured in Sweden's

Euro 2012 qualifiers The qualifying competition for UEFA Euro 2012 was a series of parallel association football competitions held over 2010 and 2011 to decide the qualifiers for UEFA Euro 2012, held in Poland and Ukraine. The draw for the qualifying rounds was held ...

and was called up to their

squad In military terminology, a squad is among the smallest of military organizations and is led by a non-commissioned officer. NATO and US doctrine define a squad as an organization "larger than a team, but smaller than a section." while US Army do ...

by manager

Erik Hamrén Erik Anders Hamrén (born 27 June 1957) is a Swedish manager and former football player, who is the manager of Danish Superliga club AaB. He also previously coached the Sweden national football team between 2009 and 2016 and the Iceland natio ...

Style of play

Safari has been praised for his

crosses Crosses may refer to: * Cross, the symbol Geography * Crosses, Cher, a French municipality * Crosses, Arkansas, a small community located in the Ozarks of north west Arkansas Language * Crosses, a truce term used in East Anglia and Lincolnshire ...

and ability to adapt to both defensive and attacking roles on the left side of play.

Outside football

Personal life

Safari is the main character of a

children's book Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader. Children's ...

that intends to promote

autism The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) characterized by difficulti ...

awareness after his sons Emiliano and Leon were diagnosed. The book has been ordered by some teachers and

schools in Sweden A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes compul ...

. During his professional playing career, Safari's

agent Agent may refer to: Espionage, investigation, and law *, spies or intelligence officers * Law of agency, laws involving a person authorized to act on behalf of another ** Agent of record, a person with a contractual agreement with an insuranc ...

was

Martin Dahlin Dan Martin Nataniel Dahlin (born 16 April 1968) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a striker. In his prime, he was considered one of the world's best strikers. Starting off his career with Malmö FF in 1987, he was the 19 ...

Sponsorship

Safari is outfitted by German sportswear manufacturer Puma.

Post-professional career

Football agent

After retiring from playing professional football with

, Safari announced in December 2020 that he would begin his career as a football agent along with former teammate

, with their agency being called Full Potential Agency.

Broadcasting career

In 2022, Safari joined Swedish television broadcaster

C More C More Entertainment AB is a pay television company that previously operated as Canal+. It targets Nordic countries and has a separate channel in Sweden (C More Film). The main competitors of C More Entertainment are Viasat Film and Viasat Sp ...

as a studio analyst during the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Malmö FF *

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

Basel *

: 2009–10,

, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16 *

: 2009–2010 Anderlecht *

Belgian First Division The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 team ...

: 2011–12,

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

Lunds SK * Division 5 Skåne sydvästra: 2021

References

External links

*
Malmö FF profile

Profile at FC Basel

Profile on the Swiss Football League homepage
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Safari, Behrang 1985 births Living people Sportspeople from Tehran Sportspeople of Iranian descent Swedish footballers Iranian footballers Men's association football fullbacks Sweden international footballers UEFA Euro 2012 players Allsvenskan players Swiss Super League players Belgian Pro League players Malmö FF players FC Basel players R.S.C. Anderlecht players Iranian emigrants to Sweden Association football agents Swedish expatriate footballers Iranian expatriate footballers Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Expatriate footballers in Switzerland Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate footballers in Belgium