Mikael Antonsson (born 31 May 1981) 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. He currently works for the

Danish Superliga The Danish Superliga ( da, Superligaen, ) is the current Danish football championship tournament, and administered by the Danish Football Association. It is the highest football league in Denmark and is currently contested by 12 teams each yea ...

side

F.C. Copenhagen Football Club Copenhagen ( da, Football Club København, ), commonly known as FC København, FC Copenhagen, Copenhagen or simply FCK, is a professional Danish football club in Copenhagen, Denmark. FCK was founded in 1992 as a superstructure on ...

as assistant manager. As a player, he played professionally in Sweden, Austria, Greece, Italy, and Denmark during a career that spanned between 1996 and 2018. A full international between 2004 and 2015, he won 28

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 a part of 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.

Club career

Antonsson was born in

Karlskrona Karlskrona (, , ) is a locality and the seat of Karlskrona Municipality, Blekinge County, Sweden with a population of 66,675 in 2018. It is also the capital of Blekinge County. Karlskrona is known as Sweden's only baroque city and is host to Swed ...

. He began his career in a local Swedish team called

Sillhövda AIK Sillhövda AIK is a Swedish football club located in Holmsjö in Karlskrona Municipality, Blekinge County. Background Sillhövda Allmänna Idrottsklubb (abbreviated SAIK) was founded on 28 December 1967 following the merger of the Saleboda IF ...

(1996) and after two years he was transferred to Swedish champions

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 ...

. He played there until 2004, when

Austria Wien Fußballklub Austria Wien AG (; known in English as Austria Vienna, and usually shortened to Austria (German: Österreich) in German-speaking countries, is an Austrian association football club from the capital city of Vienna. It has won the mos ...

bought him for €450,000. In January 2006

Panathinaikos FC Panathinaikos Football Club ( el, ΠΑΕ Παναθηναϊκός Α.Ο. ), known as Panathinaikos, or by its full name, and the name of its parent sports club, Panathinaikos A.O. or PAO (; ''Panathinaïkós Athlitikós Ómilos'', "All-Athenian ...

brought him in Athens to play for them on a 2-year contract. In the summer 2007 he moved to the Danish champions

. Mikael Antonsson started the season 2010–11 impressively with new teammate,

Sölvi Ottesen Sölvi Geir Ottesen Jónsson (born 18 February 1984) is an Icelandic former footballer, who played as a centre back for Sölvi; he earned 28 caps for the Iceland national football team. Sölvi is among the most decorated Icelandic professional ...

, which reminded fans of former steady partnership between

Michael Gravgaard Michael Julius Gravgaard (born 3 April 1978) is a Danish former professional footballer who played as a centre back. He began his career at Randers Freja. During his stay at Viborg FF he occasionally played as a forward. With Copenhagen he won th ...

and

Brede Hangeland Brede Paulsen Hangeland (born 20 June 1981) is a Norwegian former professional footballer who played as a central defender. He began his career with Viking, where he won the Norwegian Cup in 2001. In 2006, he moved to Copenhagen, and went on to ...

. In the 2–0 win against former club and Greek champions

, Antonsson chosen for the Goal.com Champions League "Team of the Round". In 2011, Antonsson moved to

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...

in the Italian

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

on a free transfer before wrapping up his career in Copenhagen between 2014 and his retirement in 2018. In 2024 Antonsson announced that he will make a comeback by playing for the Swedish tier 4 football club AIK Atlas.

International career

Antonsson won 28

between 2004 and 2015 and represented

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 ...

Career statistics

International

Honours

Austria Wien *

Austrian Bundesliga The Austrian Football Bundesliga (german: Österreichische Fußball-Bundesliga, italic=no , "Austrian Football Federal League"), also known as Admiral Bundesliga for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Austrian football league system. Th ...

: 2005–06 *

Austrian Cup The Austrian Cup (german: ÖFB-Cup), known as UNIQA ÖFB Cup for sponsorship purposes, is an annual football competition held by the Austrian Football Association, the ÖFB. During the 2008–09 season, Austria Wien won the tournament for 27th t ...

: 2004–05, 2005–06 Copenhagen *

: 2008–09, 2009–10,

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 ...

, 2015–16, 2016–17 *

Danish Cup The Danish Cup ( da, Landspokalturneringen; often referred to as Pokalen) is the official "knockout" cup competition in Danish football, run by the Danish Football Association. The cup has been contested annually since 1955. The winner will quali ...

: 2008–09, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17 Individual * Årets Ärkeängel: 2003

References

External links

F.C. Copenhagen profile
*
National team profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Antonsson, Mikael 1981 births Living people Swedish men's footballers Sweden men's international footballers Sweden men's youth international footballers Sweden men's under-21 international footballers IFK Göteborg players Panathinaikos F.C. players F.C. Copenhagen players FK Austria Wien players Bologna FC 1909 players Allsvenskan players Danish Superliga players Austrian Football Bundesliga players Super League Greece players Serie A players Swedish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Austria Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Austria Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Greece Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Italy Men's association football central defenders UEFA Euro 2012 players Sportspeople from Karlskrona