Sam Andreas Larsson (born 10 April 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 ...

who plays as a winger for

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), officially known as Spor Toto Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional league for association football clubs. It is the top-flight of the Turkish football league system and is run by the ...

club

Antalyaspor Antalyaspor Kulübü is a Turkish professional football club located in the city of Antalya. The club's colours are red and white. They play their home matches at the Antalya Stadium. In Turkey, the club won the First League twice in 1982 and ...

Club career

IFK Göteborg

Born in Gothenburg, Sam Larsson made his first start in the Swedish top-flight, Allsvenskan for

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 ...

in March 2013, in a game against local rivals

BK Häcken Bollklubben Häcken, more commonly known as BK Häcken or simply Häcken (), is a Swedish professional football club based in Gothenburg. It currently plays in Allsvenskan, the top tier of Swedish football. Formed on 2 August 1940, Häcken has p ...

. By scoring once and assisting two more in a 3–0 win, Larsson quickly made his way to the headlines, with manager Mikael Stahre describing him as a "Swedish Brazilian", he furthermore earned himself the nickname "Samba-Sam", due to his impressive skills on the ball and unpredictable moves. After a successful first season, Larsson made further progress during the following year, gaining much praise for his creative play and taking on a larger role in leading his team on the attack.

Heerenveen

2014–15 season

On 12 August 2014, IFK Göteborg announced the transfer of Larsson to Dutch side

Heerenveen Heerenveen (, fry, It Hearrenfean ) is a town and municipality in the province of Friesland (Fryslân), in the Northern Netherlands. In 2021, the town had a population of 29,790 (1 January) while the municipality had a population 50,859 (1 July). ...

. On 23 August, Larsson played his first league game for his new club, a game in which he scored once to settle a 2–0 win over

SBV Excelsior Excelsior Rotterdam, commonly known as Excelsior, is a Dutch professional football club based in Rotterdam, Netherlands. They play in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football from the 2022–23 season following promotion. The club was found ...

. After an injury-plagued first period, Larsson started to achieve much praise for his performances, including comparisons being drawn by Heerenveen manager

Dwight Lodeweges Dwight Lodeweges (born 26 October 1957) is a Canadian–born Dutch football coach and former professional player. He is currently one of the assistant managers of the Netherlands national team. In 2020 - after Ronald Koeman left to join FC Ba ...

between Larsson and Argentinian star

Lionel Messi Lionel Andrés Messi (; born 24 June 1987), also known as Leo Messi, is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Paris Saint-Germain and captains the Argentina national team. Widely regarded as one of the ...

. Heerenveen ended the season in 7th place in the Eredevisie, with Larsson scoring eight and assisting to four goals in 25 games.

2015–16 season

In his second season with Heerenveen the club experienced a struggling period, finding themselves in the lower half of the table. Larsson's goal-scoring was less frequent than the previous spring, although he was recognised as the one player creating the most goal-scoring opportunities in the Eredivisie, while also being hailed by Heerenveen technical director Hans Vonk as the best dribbler in the league. Heerenveen finished the season in 12th while Larsson scored six goals and assisted another eight. At the end of the year, Larsson was awarded a place in the team of the season by Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf.

Feyenoord

On 21 August 2017, Larsson joined

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club (association football), football club in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the club changed to various names bef ...

on a four-year contract. On 9 September, Larsson made his debut for Feyenoord in an away game against Heracles Almelo, in which he also scored Feyenoord's 4th goal. On 25 October, Larsson scored his first hat-trick in his career in the second round of the KNVB Cup against

AVV Swift Amsterdamse Voetbalvereniging Swift is an amateur Dutch football club based in Amsterdam, Netherlands, that fields two teams, playing in the 2017–18 Saturday Hoofdklasse A as well as in the Vierde Klasse (Sundays), in the first and fourth tie ...

. He won the KNVB Cup with

scoring a total of 4 goals. On 8 August 2018,

won the Johan Cruyff Shield against

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; en, Philips Sports Association ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional football department, w ...

. The game ended in 0–0, resulting in a penalty shootout that ended 5–6. Larsson missed his penalty.

Dalian Professional

On 28 February 2020, Larsson joined Dalian Professional on a three-year contract.

International career

SwedenU21 19 Sam Larsson 130606 Sve-Sch 3-2 183622 6590

Larsson got his first call up to the senior Sweden side for 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

and

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

in October 2016, however he later withdrew from the squad through injury. In the 30th minute of his debut for Sweden away against

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

on 15 November 2016, Larsson scored from a free kick. In 2018, Larsson was called up to the senior Sweden side again, ahead of the

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

against

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

on 6 September 2018 and the 2018–19 UEFA Nations League match against

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

on 10 September 2018.

Personal life

He is the younger brother of former professional footballer Daniel Larsson.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''As of 6 September 2018.'' Appearances and goals by national team and year International goals :''Scores and results list Sweden's goal tally first.''

Honours

;IFK Göteborg *

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 ...

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 ...

;Feyenoord * KNVB Cup: 2017–18 *

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 ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...

;Sweden U21 *

UEFA European Under-21 Championship The UEFA European Under-21 Championship, the UEFA Under-21 Championship or simply the Euro Under-21, is a biennial football competition contested by the European men's under-21 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Since 1992, the comp ...

: 2015

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Larsson, Sam 1993 births Living people Swedish men's footballers Sweden men's youth international footballers Sweden men's under-21 international footballers Sweden men's international footballers Swedish expatriate men's footballers IFK Göteborg players SC Heerenveen players Feyenoord players Dalian Professional F.C. players Antalyaspor footballers Allsvenskan players Eredivisie players Chinese Super League players Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in China Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Footballers from Gothenburg Men's association football midfielders