Sara Caroline Seger (born 19 March 1985) 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 le ...

who plays as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

and club captain for

FC Rosengård FC Rosengård, formerly Malmö FF Dam (1970–2007) and LdB FC Malmö (2007–2013), is a professional football club based in Malmö, Scania, Sweden. The team was established as Malmö FF Dam in 1970. It started out with playing 7 seasons in th ...

in the

Damallsvenskan The Damallsvenskan, Swedish for ''ladies all-Swedish'' and also known as OBOS Damallsvenskan for sponsorship reasons, is the highest division of women's football in Sweden. It is also referred to as the women's Allsvenskan. The term Allsvenskan ...

league. She is the current captain of the Swedish national football team.

Club career

Linköpings

An industrious central midfielder, Seger played for

Linköpings FC Linköpings Fotboll Club is an association football club from Linköping, Sweden. The club was established in 2003 when Kenty DFF women's football club decided to merge with the premier division ice hockey club Linköpings HC under the new name L ...

from 2005 to 2009 and served as the club's

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

. Linköpings finished in the top four of the Damallsvenskan in four of Seger's five seasons with the team. Their highest finishes were second place in 2008 and first place in 2009. The team also captured the

Svenska Cupen Svenska Cupen (, ''The Swedish Cup'') is a knockout cup competition in Swedish football and the main Swedish football cup. Svenska Cupen usually refers to the men's tournament, although a women's tournament is also held. Each year 96 teams compe ...

on three occasions in 2006, 2008 and 2009. While playing for Linköpings Seger was honoured as the Damallsvenskan's Rookie of the Year in 2005 and Midfielder of the Year in 2006 and 2009. Carolineseger

After the team finished second and qualified for the

UEFA Women's Champions League The UEFA Women's Champions League, previously called the UEFA Women's Cup (2001–2009), is a European women's association football competition. It involves the top club teams from countries affiliated with the European governing body UEFA. The ...

, Seger signed a new one-year contract with Linköpings in the autumn of 2008. She was proud to lead the club to a league and cup "

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 ...

" in her final campaign with the team. Seger also won the 2009

Diamantbollen Diamantbollen, Swedish for the ''Diamond Ball'', an annual award for Sweden's best female football player. The award is currently awarded by the Swedish Football Association and Sydsvenskans newspaper, in conjunction with its male equivalent, ''G ...

, awarded to the year's best Swedish women's soccer player. Seger's last game for Linköpings was a 2–0 defeat by

Duisburg Duisburg () is a city in the Ruhr metropolitan area of the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Lying on the confluence of the Rhine and the Ruhr rivers in the center of the Rhine-Ruhr Region, Duisburg is the 5th largest city in Nor ...

in the 2009–10 UEFA Women's Champions League.

United States

In September 2009, the

expansion team An expansion team is a new team in a sports league, usually from a city that has not hosted a team in that league before, formed with the intention of satisfying the demand for a local team from a population in a new area. Sporting leagues also ...

Philadelphia Independence The Philadelphia Independence was an American professional soccer club that was based in the Philadelphia suburb of Chester, Pennsylvania. The team joined Women's Professional Soccer as an expansion team in 2010 and played its home games at West ...

Women's Professional Soccer Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) was the top-level professional women's soccer league in the United States. It began play on March 29, 2009. The league was composed of seven teams for its first two seasons and fielded six teams for the 2011 sea ...

(WPS) announced their intention to draft Seger with their first pick in the 2009 international draft. In December 2009, she signed a three-year contract with Philadelphia. Her first season with the Independence began in April 2010 and culminated in a 4–0 defeat to

FC Gold Pride FC Gold Pride was an American professional soccer club based in the San Francisco Bay Area, which participated in Women's Professional Soccer. The club replaced the San Jose CyberRays of the defunct Women's United Soccer Association as the top-l ...

in the WPS Championship game. Seger scored one goal and posted five assists in her 18 appearances. She underwent surgery on a heel injury after the season. Caroline Seger and Sinead Farrelly

Seger was traded to

Western New York Flash The Western New York Flash (WNY Flash) was an American soccer club based in Elma, New York that competed in the United Women's Soccer league. They have won league championships in four different leagues: the USL W-League in 2010, Women's Profess ...

in December 2010 in exchange for draft picks. She joined the franchise in their first season in the WPS and wore the captain's armband. On 14 August 2011 the Seger-led Flash secured the best record in the league, a bye in the playoffs, and played at home for the league championship on 27 August. They beat Seger's former club Philadelphia Independence in the Championship game, 5–4 in PKs after a 1–1 draw. Seger played just 12 matches for the Flash, as the FIFA Women's World Cup took place during the season. She scored five goals and served one assist. Coach

Aaran Lines Aaran Franklyn Lines (born 21 December 1976) is a New Zealand retired association football player and former head coach of the Western New York Flash. He represented New Zealand at international level. Club career Born in Lower Hutt, New Zeala ...

was very happy with Seger's contribution, but her contract contained a release clause which allowed her to leave for a team outside the United States after one year.

Tyresö FF

In August 2011 Seger announced that she would join LdB FC Malmö on a short-term contract to cover the remainder of the 2011 Damallsvenskan season, although she remained undecided about her subsequent destination. Later that same month it was confirmed that Seger would join

Tyresö FF Tyresö Fotbollsförening is a Sweden, Swedish association football, football club in Tyresö, a municipalities of Sweden, municipality in Stockholm County. The club was founded in 1971 and is primarily known for its main women's team, which compe ...

on a two-year deal to start in the 2012 Damallsvenskan season. Her three goals in seven league games helped Malmö secure the 2011 Damallsvenskan title. Caroline Seger Supercupen

Seger collected her third Damallsvenskan title in 2012, after Tyresö's dramatic last day win over Malmö. Madelaine Edlund scored the winning goal after Seger's shot had hit the post. Seger and Tyresö were upset in the final of the Svenska Cupen, by Kopparbergs/Göteborg FC who won 2–1 after extra time. In early 2014 it became clear that Tyresö were in financial difficulty and could not afford to keep Seger and their other leading players. In May 2014 Seger had been approached by

Seattle Reign FC OL Reign is an American professional women's soccer team based in Seattle, Washington. Founded by Bill and Teresa Predmore in 2012 as Seattle Reign FC, it was one of eight inaugural members of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). In 2020, ...

, who had obtained her rights for the

National Women's Soccer League The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a professional women's soccer league at the top of the United States league system. It is owned by the teams and, until 2020, was under a management contract with the United States Soccer Federatio ...

(NWSL), and two other American teams had expressed interest. She was also in

transfer Transfer may refer to: Arts and media * ''Transfer'' (2010 film), a German science-fiction movie directed by Damir Lukacevic and starring Zana Marjanović * ''Transfer'' (1966 film), a short film * ''Transfer'' (journal), in management studies ...

negotiations with

Paris Saint-Germain Féminines Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

Paris Saint-Germain

Seger sealed her move to

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain, Paris, Paris SG or simply PSG is a professional football club based in Paris, France. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. As Fr ...

in June 2014, signing a two-year contract. She left as Tyresö withdrew from the league and released all their players.

Olympique Lyon

On 2 July 2016,

Olympique Lyon Olympique Lyonnais (), commonly referred to as simply Lyon () or OL, is a men and women's French professional football club based in Lyon in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. The men play in France's highest football division, Ligue 1. Founded in 1950, ...

announced the signing of Seger. In the 2016/17 season Seger helped Lyon win the Division 1 Feminine, the Coupe de France Feminine and the UEFA Women’s Champions League.

FC Rosengård

In 2017 Seger returned to Sweden by joining

in the

league. She helped Rosengård win the Svenska Cupen Damer and finish second in the league.

International career

Seger made her first appearance for the senior Swedish national team in March 2005; a 2–1 defeat by

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

at that year's Algarve Cup. She intended to score the winning goal at

UEFA Women's Euro 2005 The 2005 UEFA Women's Championship, also referred to as UEFA Women's Euro 2005, was a football tournament for women held from 5 June to 19 June 2005 in Lancashire, England and Cheshire, England. The UEFA Women's Championship is a regular tournament ...

North West England North West England is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the ceremonial counties of England, administrative counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of ...

. Although Seger was part of the team, she failed to score as Sweden lost to rivals

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

extra time Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played onl ...

of the semi final. Seger continued to be selected under new coach Thomas Dennerby and was part of the Sweden team surprisingly eliminated in the first round of the

2007 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup, the fifth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, was an international association football competition for women held in China from 10 to 30 September 2007. Originally, China was to host the 2003 edition, but th ...

. After that failure some experienced players retired and Seger was given a prominent role in the team. In July 2008 she overcame a thigh injury to take her place in the squad for the

2008 Beijing Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nat ...

. In China she participated in the Swedes' 2–0 quarter-final defeat by Germany. Caroline Seger in 2011

Impressed by Seger's work rate and positive attitude, Dennerby had appointed her as national team captain for a qualifying match with

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

in May 2008, when regular captain

Victoria Sandell Svensson Victoria Margareta Sandell Svensson (born 18 May 1977) is a Sweden, Swedish Association football, football manager and former player. Nicknamed Vickan, she was team captain on the Sweden women's national football team, Swedish women's national te ...

was injured. Sandell Svensson retired after Sweden's 3–1 defeat by Norway in the quarter-final of

UEFA Women's Euro 2009 The 2009 UEFA Women's Championship, or just Women's Euro 2009, was played in Finland between 23 August and 10 September 2009. The host was appointed on 11 July 2006, in a UEFA Executive Committee meeting in Berlin and the Finnish proposal won over ...

and Seger took over as full-time captain. Seger led Sweden to third place at the

2011 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup was the sixth FIFA Women's World Cup competition, the world championship for women's national association football teams. It was held from 26 June to 17 July 2011 in Germany, which won the right to host the even ...

in Germany. She featured in Sweden's 3–1 semi-final defeat to eventual winners

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

. Sweden secured third place by beating

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

2–1 in

Sinsheim Sinsheim (, South Franconian: ''Sinse'') is a town in south-western Germany, in the Rhine Neckar Area of the state Baden-Württemberg about south-east of Heidelberg and about north-west of Heilbronn in the district Rhein-Neckar. Geograph ...

, although Seger missed the game with a calf injury. Third place also ensured Sweden's qualification for the 2012 Olympic football tournament in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. Dennerby kept Seger in Sweden's Olympic squad for London, where they lost to

in the quarter-finals. In October 2012, new national team coach

Pia Sundhage Pia Mariane Sundhage (, born 13 February 1960) is a Swedish football manager and former professional player. She is the head coach of the Brazil women's national team. As a player, Sundhage played most of her career as a forward and retired as ...

decided that Seger and

Lotta Schelin Charlotta Eva Schelin (born 27 February 1984) is a Swedish former professional footballer who most recently played as a striker for FC Rosengård of the Damallsvenskan. She made her debut for the Sweden national team in March 2004 and was appo ...

would share the captaincy. Sundhage named Seger in the squad for

UEFA Women's Euro 2013 The 2013 UEFA Women's Championship, commonly referred to as Women's Euro 2013, was the 11th European Championship for List of women's national association football teams#UEFA, women's national football teams organised by UEFA. The final tournament ...

, which Sweden hosted. Seger was disappointed when Sweden lost 1–0 to Germany in the semi-final. Seger appeared in all 6 matches for Sweden at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

and won the Silver Medal after a 2–1 loss to Germany. Seger became the captain of the National team after

’s retirement from international football. Seger led Sweden to the

2019 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup was the eighth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international Women's association football championship contested by 24 women's national teams representing member associations of FIFA. It ...

hosted in France. On 6 July 2019, Seger played her 200th match with Sweden, facing

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The match was a 2–1 victory for Sweden, giving them third place in the World Cup.

International goals

Matches and goals scored at World Cup and Olympic tournaments

Matches and goals scored at European Championship tournaments

Personal life

Seger is an out

lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...

, telling ''

QX magazine ''QX Magazine'' was a free LGBTQ weekly magazine distributed at most LGBTQ spaces across London and the UK. The magazine was based in London. As a free magazine, it hads a high proportion of advertising space for revenue. Although the magazin ...

'' in December 2013 that she was proud of her girlfriend. In previous years Seger had concealed her orientation, but decided to speak out to be a role model for others. She used to be in a relationship with fellow professional football player Malin Levenstad. She is the Seb Smith cousin.

Honours

15 Caroline Seger 111023 Sverige-Schweiz 3-0 8331

Linköpings FC *

: 2009 *

: 2006, 2008, 2009 *

Svenska Supercupen Svenska Supercupen, ''Swedish Super Cup'', was a one-off fixture in Swedish football played between the Allsvenskan champions and the winners of Svenska Cupen. The fixture was played in November, after the Allsvenskan season. In the event of a ...

: 2009 Western New York Flash *

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

LdB FC Malmö *

: 2011 Tyresö FF *

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

Olympique Lyon *

Division 1 Féminine The Division 1 Féminine, shortened as D1 Féminine or D1F, and currently known as D1 Arkema for sponsorship reasons, is the highest division of women's football in France. Run by the French Football Federation, the league is contested by twel ...

: 2016–17 *

Coupe de France Féminine A coupe or coupé (, ) is a passenger car with a sloping or truncated rear roofline and two doors. The term ''coupé'' was first applied to horse-drawn carriages for two passengers without rear-facing seats. It comes from the French past parti ...

: 2017 *

: 2016–17 Sweden *

FIFA Women's World Cup The FIFA Women's World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the senior women's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association ( FIFA), the sport's international governing bo ...

Third place:

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...

Silver Medal:

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 ...

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- ...

Algarve Cup The Algarve Cup is an invitational tournament for national teams in women's association football hosted by the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF). Held annually in the Algarve region of Portugal since 1994, it is one of the most prestigious and ...

(Participated from 2005 to 2015):

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

Sweden U19 * Nordic Cup: runner-up 2004 Sweden U17 * Nordic Cup: runner-up 2001, 2002 Individual * Sweden Breakthrough Player of the Year; 2005 *Best Swedish Midfielder:

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

: 2009 * FIFA Women's World Cup All-Star Team:

* UEFA Squad of the Tournament: