Rasmus Mattias Bengtsson (born 26 June 1986) 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 ...

who played as a

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 ...

. Starting off his professional career with

Trelleborgs FF Trelleborgs Fotbollsförening, more commonly known as Trelleborgs FF or simply Trelleborg, is a Swedish football club located in Trelleborg. Formed 6 December 1926, the club plays in Superettan, the second tier in the Swedish Football system. ...

in 2006, he went on to represent Hertha BSC in the German

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

and

Twente Twente ( nl, Twente , Tweants dialect: ''Tweante'') is a region in the eastern Netherlands. It encompasses the most urbanised and easternmost part of the province of Overijssel. Twente is most likely named after the Tuihanti or Tvihanti, a Ge ...

in the Dutch

Eredivise The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

before retiring at his boyhood club

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 2021. A full international between 2009 and 2014, he won four

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 Ja ...

for the Sweden national team.

Career

Early career

Bengtsson started his career in his home town club

. He transferred to Superettan side

in 2006 after having failed to make into the first team at Malmö FF. Bengtsson made his professional debut for Trelleborg in 2006. During his time in Trelleborg Bengtsson also changed his preferred position from striker to central defender. With Trelleborg he won the Superettan title of 2006 as the club were promoted to the first tier of Sweden, Allsvenskan. Bengtsson played a further three seasons in Allsvenskan with the club before he departed for German side Hertha BSC in the summer of 2009.

Hertha BSC

In August 2009, Bengtsson transferred to Hertha BSC on a three-year contract. Prior to signing with Hertha, it was claimed that he was close to signing with Italian club S.S. Lazio. Bengtsson later declared he had no interest in signing for Lazio. When Bengtsson signed for Berlin it upset the Italian club, who claimed that he had already signed with them. Lazio took their case to FIFA. Bengtsson only spent one season at the German side as they were relegated from the

at the end of the 2009–10 season.

Twente

Bengtsson signed with Dutch

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

side

FC Twente Football Club Twente () is a Dutch professional football club from the city of Enschede, sometimes known internationally as Twente Enschede. The club was formed in 1965 by the merger of 1926 Dutch champions Sportclub Enschede with Enschedese ...

on 9 July 2010. He gained a more important role in the Twente defence in the

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 ...

season after having played more sporadically during his first two seasons at the club. Bengtsson was chosen as Twente's club captain in July 2013 ahead of the 2013–14 season. During his time at Twente, Bengtsson has also played in the

UEFA 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. ...

and 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 competi ...

Malmö FF

Bengtsson returned to his youth club Malmö FF on 25 March 2015. He signed a five-year contract lasting until the end of the 2019 season. After the end of the 2020 season, Malmö FF and Bengtsson parted ways. On April 13, 2021, Bengtsson announced via Swedish newspaper Expressen that he had retired. He won three Allsvenskan titles with the club and played in the

2015–16 UEFA Champions League The 2015–16 UEFA Champions League was the 61st season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 24th season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League. Barcelona wer ...

International career

During the

2009 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship The 2009 UEFA European Under-21 Championship began on 15 June 2009, and was the 17th UEFA European Under-21 Championship. This was the first tournament after the competition reverted to a two-year format, following the single-year 2006–07 compe ...

in Sweden, Bengtsson played all Sweden's four matches from start together with

Mattias Bjärsmyr Nils Erik Mattias Bjärsmyr (born 3 January 1986) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a centre-back. Beginning his professional career with IFK Göteborg in 2005, he went on to play in Greece, Norway, and Turkey before reti ...

. His first cap for the Swedish senior national team came in a friendly against

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

in January 2009.

Career statistics

Club

International

Appearances and goals per year

Honours

Trelleborgs FF * Superettan: 2006 Twente * KNVB Cup:

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. ...

Johan Cruijff Shield The Johan Cruyff Shield (, ) is a football trophy in the Netherlands named after Dutch footballer Johan Cruyff, also often referred to as the Dutch Super Cup. The winner is decided in one match only, played by the winner of the national footbal ...

: 2010, 2011 Malmö FF * Allsvenskan:

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 of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

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 s ...

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

References

External links

Malmö FF profile
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bengtsson, Rasmus 1986 births Living people Footballers from Malmö Swedish footballers Association football defenders Sweden international footballers Sweden under-21 international footballers Malmö FF players Trelleborgs FF players Swedish expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Germany Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Allsvenskan players Superettan players Bundesliga players Regionalliga players Eredivisie players Hertha BSC players Hertha BSC II players FC Twente players Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Germany Swedish expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands