Johan Mathias Svensson (born 24 September 1974) 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 striker. Starting off his career with

IF Elfsborg Idrottsföreningen Elfsborg, more commonly known as IF Elfsborg or simply Elfsborg (), is a professional football club based in Borås, Sweden, and is affiliated to the Västergötlands Fotbollförbund. They play in the Allsvenskan and have spent ...

in the mid-1990s, he spent most of his career in England before retiring at Elfsborg in 2008. A full international between 1997 and 2001, he won three

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.

Club career

Svensson began his career with

Elfsborg Idrottsföreningen Elfsborg, more commonly known as IF Elfsborg or simply Elfsborg (), is a professional football club based in Borås, Sweden, and is affiliated to the Västergötlands Fotbollförbund. They play in the Allsvenskan and have spe ...

, and was their top scorer when they won promotion to

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 1996. Following his success, he moved to England in the same year to play for

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

. He then moved to

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building * ...

and Charlton, and had a spell on loan with

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 1884 ...

before joining

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

in December 2003, making his debut for the Canaries in the East Anglian Derby against

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...

Portman Road Portman Road is a football stadium in Ipswich, Suffolk, England, which has been the home ground of Ipswich Town F.C. since 1884. The stadium has also hosted many England youth international matches, and one senior England friendly internatio ...

. Norwich paid an initial fee of £50,000 for Svensson, which rose to £300,000 when the Canaries won promotion at the end of that season. It took Svensson some time to find his form at Norwich and he came in for criticism from some City supporters. However, he began scoring goals towards the end of the season – including two in a 5–3 win at

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Bru ...

and a long range effort in a televised match against

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas, Lancashire, River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the nor ...

– and ended the season with a first division championship medal as The Canaries won promotion to the Premiership. Svensson scored four times in Norwich's premiership season of 2004–05, including two in a 3–2 win against

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

. Norwich were relegated at the end of the season and a clause in Svensson's contract allowed him to move to a top flight club in another country in the event that such a club showed interest to him.

offered Norwich £100,000 for Svensson, and he returned to the club where he began his career. After his return to

Svensson played his first

game on 4 July 2005 against

Kalmar FF Kalmar Fotbollförening, more commonly known as Kalmar FF, is a Swedish professional football club based in Kalmar. The club is affiliated to Smålands Fotbollförbund and play their home games at Guldfågeln Arena. Formed on 15 June 1910, the clu ...

, and he scored the only goal of the game. The

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 ...

season was very successful for Svensson. He started all games and scored six goals, and at the end of the season he won the first title of his career, as

were crowned Swedish champions. In 2008, he was forced to retire due to a knee injury. He remained at Elfsborg, with various duties.

International career

Svensson made his full international debut for

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 ...

in a friendly 1–0 win against

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

on 12 March 1997, replacing

Kennet Andersson Bernt Kennet Andersson (born 6 October 1967) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a forward. Starting off his career with IFK Eskilstuna in the mid-1980s, he went on to play professionally in Sweden, Belgium, France, Italy, ...

in the 62nd minute. He appeared once for the Sweden B team on 21 May 1997, scoring the only goal in a 1–0 win against

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

. He made his competitive international debut for Sweden on 6 June 2001 in a 2002 FIFA World Cup qualifier against

Moldova Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The List of states ...

, replacing Magnus Svensson in the 83rd minute of a 6–0 win. In total, Svensson won three

during an international career that spanned between 1997 and 2001.

Career statistics

International

Honours

Norwich *

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...

: 2003–04 IF Elfsborg *

References

External links

*
Career info at ex-canaries.co.uk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Svensson, Mathias 1974 births Living people Norwich City F.C. players Portsmouth F.C. players Charlton Athletic F.C. players Crystal Palace F.C. players Derby County F.C. players IF Elfsborg players Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Austria Swedish footballers Sweden international footballers Swedish expatriate footballers Premier League players Allsvenskan players Association football forwards People from Borås Sportspeople from Västra Götaland County