Magdalena Lilly Eriksson (also Ericsson, born 8 September 1993) is a Swedish 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 plays as a defender for

Chelsea Women Chelsea Football Club Women, formerly known as Chelsea Ladies Football Club, are an English women's football club based in Norbiton that competes in the Women's Super League, the top flight of women's football in England. Since 2004, the clu ...

in the English Women's Super League as well as for the

Swedish national team Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

.Magdalena Eriksson
. nbcolympics.com A left-back and

centre-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 ...

, she used to play for

Hammarby IF Hammarby Idrottsförening ("Hammarby Sports Club"), commonly known as Hammarby IF or simply Hammarby ( or, especially locally, ), is a Swedish sports club located in Stockholm, with a number of member organizations active in a variety of differe ...

Djurgårdens IF Djurgårdens Idrottsförening, commonly known simply as Djurgårdens IF, Djurgården (), and (especially locally) Djurgår'n (), Dif or DIF – is a Swedish sports association with several sections, located in Stockholm. Name The club is named ...

and

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 ...

in the Swedish

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 ...

. In November 2020, she was awarded the Diamantbollen award. Eriksson, like her partner

Pernille Harder Pernille Mosegaard Harder (born 15 November 1992) is a Danish professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or a forward for Frauen-Bundesliga club Bayern Munich and the Denmark national team. In September 2020, she became the w ...

, is also known for her LGBTQ+ advocacy and LGBTQ+ rights in sport.

Club career

Eriksson began her football career with local team Enskede IK, but was encouraged by her father to join

in order to improve her game. Aged 17, she broke into Hammarby's first team in the

2011 Damallsvenskan The 2011 Damallsvenskan was the 39th edition of the premier women's soccer, women's football championship in Sweden, and the 24th season of the Damallsvenskan era. Contested by twelve teams, it ran from 9 April to 15 October 2011. 2010 Damallsvens ...

season and made her debut against Umeå IK. In November 2011, Eriksson left relegated Hammarby for their Stockholm rivals Djurgården. After scoring one goal in 19 appearances in the

2012 Damallsvenskan The 2012 Damallsvenskan, part of the 2012 Swedish football season, was the 25th season of Damallsvenskan since its establishment in 1988. The 2012 fixtures were released on 8 December 2011. The season began on 9 April 2012 and ended on 3 November ...

, she left Djurgårdens, who were facing relegation, for

. In July 2017, after almost five years with Linköpings FC, she signed a two-year contract with Women's Super League team

Chelsea Ladies Chelsea Football Club Women, formerly known as Chelsea Ladies Football Club, are an English women's football club based in Norbiton that competes in the Women's Super League, the top flight of women's football in England. Since 2004, the clu ...

. On 20 August 2018, she extended her contract until 2021. On 6 September 2019, Chelsea announced that Eriksson would be the new captain. On 12 November 2020, she extended her contract until 2023. On 9 December 2020, Eriksson made her 100th appearance for Chelsea in a Champions League win over Benfica. Chelsea FC Women v Everton FC Women, 12 September 2021 (13)

Chelsea FC Women v Everton FC Women, 12 September 2021 (13)

For her performance over the years, and especially after Chelsea's WSL title winning

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

season, Eriksson was hailed as one of the best defenders in Europe.

International career

As a Swedish under-19 international, Eriksson was part of the victorious squad at the 2012 U-19 European Championship. In November 2013, national team coach Pia Sundhage called her to a senior squad training camp at

Bosön Bosön is a sports complex on Lidingö Lidingö, also known in its definite form ''Lidingön'' and as ''Lidingölandet'', is an island in the inner Stockholm archipelago, northeast of Stockholm, Sweden. In 2010, the population of the Lidingö urb ...

. Eriksson made her debut for the senior

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

team in a 3–0

friendly Friendly may refer to: Places * Friendly, West Yorkshire, a settlement in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England * Friendly, Maryland, an unincorporated community in the United States * Friendly, Eugene, Oregon, a neighborhood in the United States * ...

defeat by France in Amiens on 8 February 2014. She was part of the Swedish squad that won silver 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 ...

.Magdalena Eriksson
. rio2016.com Since then, Eriksson has represented Sweden at every major tournament, namely UEFA Women's Euro 2017,

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 ...

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

, and UEFA Women's Euro 2022. At the 2020 Olympics, she won the

silver medal A silver medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc ...

after Sweden lost to Canada in the final after

penalties Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) * Penalty ...

Personal life

Eriksson's mother is of Finnish descent. She is openly lesbian and, since May 2014, in a relationship with current Chelsea teammate and Danish international

. She and Harder work with the charity

Common Goal ''Common Goal'' is the third album by American jazz group the String Trio of New York recorded in 1981 for the Italian Black Saint label.

and pledged 1% of their salaries to help tackle social issues throughout football. The couple also both push for equality and LGBTQ+ rights in sport. During her upbringing, she assumed her last name was spelled with a C because that was how her father spelled it. When she was 17 and looked in her passport she realised it was actually spelled with a K. As such, her last name is often misspelled as "Ericsson" rather than the correct "Eriksson". Eriksson has a bachelor's degree in political science and took a course in feminist theory and intersectional power analysis.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Sweden's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Eriksson goal.''

Honours

Linköpings FC *

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 ...

* Svenska Cupen: 2013–14, 2014–15; runner-up: 2015–16 * Svenska Supercupen: runner-up: 2015, 2016 Chelsea * FA Women's Super League: 2017–18, 2019–20,

, 2021–22 * Women's FA Cup: 2017–18,

, 2021–22 * FA Women's League Cup: 2019–20,

FA Community Shield The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is English football's annual match contested at Wembley Stadium between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA Cup. If the Premier Le ...

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- ...

Sweden U19 * UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship:

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 ...

Sweden *

Summer Olympic Games 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:

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 ...

Individual * Diamantbollen: 2020 *

Fotbollsgalan Fotbollsgalan is an official and annual Swedish sports awards ceremony honoring achievements in Swedish football. It is organised by Swedish Football Association and televised by TV4 TV4 or TV 4 may refer to: *TV4 (Poland), a private Polish televi ...

: Swedish Defender of the Year: 2020, 2021 * FIFA FIFPro World XI: 2021

References

External links

*
Magdalena Eriksson
at SvFF * {{DEFAULTSORT:Eriksson, Magdalena 1993 births Living people Footballers from Stockholm Swedish women's footballers Sweden women's international footballers Women's association football defenders Swedish expatriate women's footballers Swedish expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate women's footballers in England Enskede IK players Hammarby Fotboll (women) players Djurgårdens IF Fotboll (women) players Linköpings FC players Chelsea F.C. Women players Damallsvenskan players Women's Super League players Olympic footballers of Sweden Olympic silver medalists for Sweden Olympic medalists in football Footballers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics UEFA Women's Euro 2017 players 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup players Footballers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics UEFA Women's Euro 2022 players Swedish LGBT rights activists Swedish LGBT sportspeople Lesbian sportswomen LGBT association football players