Samuel Tobias Holmén (born 28 June 1984) 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

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. Holmén's favourite position was in the central midfield, and his style of play was that of a

box-to-box A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

player, being a good defensive ball winner, as well as a good playmaker and goal scorer. 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 2002, he went on to play in Denmark and Turkey before returning to Elfsborg and Swedish football in 2017. He retired from professional football in 2021. A full international between 2006 and 2013, he won 32

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for the Sweden national team and represented his country at

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 ...

Club career

IF Elfsborg

Holmén was born in

Annelund Ljung and Annelund () is a locality situated in Herrljunga Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 1,215 inhabitants in 2020. The locality was formed by Statistics Sweden from the separate localities of Ljung and Annelund between ...

just outside

Borås Borås ( , , ) is a city (officially, a locality) and the seat of Borås Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 66,273 inhabitants in 2010. Geography Borås is located at the point of two crossing railways, among them the ...

, and started playing football in

Annelunds IF Annelunds IF is a Swedish football club located in Ljung in Herrljunga Municipality, Västra Götaland County. Background Since their foundation in 1924 Annelunds IF has participated mainly in the lower divisions of the Swedish football league s ...

. In 1998, he went to

. After a few years in the youth squad he was promoted to the first squad, and made his debut when he came on as a substitute in the semi-final of the Swedish Cup in September 2002. He quickly became a first team regular, and was considered to be one of the most promising Swedish footballers.

Brøndby IF

On 30 August 2007 Holmén transferred to

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 ...

club

Brøndby IF Brøndbyernes Idrætsforening (, usually abbreviated to Brøndby IF (), is a professional association football club based in Brøndbyvester, Capital Region of Denmark. The club was founded in 1964 as a merger between two local clubs and was p ...

signing a four-year contract.

İstanbul BB

In July 2010, Holmén left Danish side

to sign with Turkish club Büyükşehir Belediyespor. He started 100 matches in the first eleven. His contract ended in June 2013.

Fenerbahçe and loans

On 18 June 2013, Holmén signed with Fenerbahçe for a three-year deal after successfully passing the medical tests. In August 2014, Holmén was loaned to

Bursaspor Bursaspor Kulübü Derneği (), commonly known as Bursaspor, is a Turkish sports club located in the city of Bursa. Formed in 1963, the club colours are green and white, with home kits usually featuring both colours in a striped pattern. In th ...

for one season. On 21 August 2015, Holmén was loaned to

Konyaspor Konyaspor Kulübü (, Konya Sports Club) is a Turkish professional football club based in Konya. They are better known as Konyaspor. In 1922 Konyaspor were founded with the name Konya Gençlerbirliği and have played at their current home stadium ...

for one season.

Return to İstanbul Başakşehir

In June 2016, Holmén signed a two-year contract with

İstanbul Başakşehir ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_in ...

after his Fenerbahçe contract expired.

Return to IF Elfsborg

Holmén returned to IF Elfsborg during the

2017 Allsvenskan The 2017 Allsvenskan, part of the 2017 Swedish football season, is the 93rd season of Allsvenskan since its establishment in 1924. The season began on 1 April 2017 and ended on 5 November the same year. Fixtures for the 2017 season were announce ...

season. He announced his retirement after the

2021 Allsvenskan The 2021 Allsvenskan was the 97th season since its establishment in 1924 of Sweden's top-level football league, Allsvenskan. A total of 16 teams participated. Malmö FF were the defending champions after winning the title in the previous season, ...

season.

International career

Having represented the Sweden U17, U19, and U21 teams, Holmén 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 ...

on 11 November 2006 in a friendly 1–0 loss to the

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...

when he came on as a substitute for

Petter Hansson Carl Johan Petter Hansson (; born 14 December 1976) is a Swedish former professional association football, footballer who played as a defender (association football), defender. He most notably represented Halmstads BK, SC Heerenveen, Stade Renna ...

in the 85th minute. His first international goal came in a friendly against

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

, scoring the only goal in a 1–0 win on 13 January 2008. His first competitive appearance for Sweden came in a 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifier against

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

on 6 September 2008, when he replaced

Kim Källström Kim Mikael Källström (; born 24 August 1982) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He was noted for his play-making ability and free-kick taking. He started his career at several clubs in Sweden, winning cons ...

in the 84th minute of a 0–0 draw. Holmén would go ahead and score his first competitive international goal only four days later on 10 September 2008, in a 2–1 win against

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

in the same World Cup qualifying campaign. Holmén was named in Sweden's squad for

, and appeared in the last group stage game against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

as Sweden failed to reach the tournament's

knockout stage A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

Personal life

His brother,

Sebastian Sebastian may refer to: People * Sebastian (name), including a list of persons with the name Arts, entertainment, and media Films and television * ''Sebastian'' (1968 film), British spy film * ''Sebastian'' (1995 film), Swedish drama film ...

, is also a professional footballer.

Career statistics

International

:''Scores and results list Sweden's goal tally first.'' List of international goals scored by Samuel Holmén

Honours

IF Elfsborg *

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 ...

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 ...

* Swedish Cup:

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

Brøndby *

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 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

Fenerbahçe *

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 ...

: 2013–14

References

External links

*
Samuel Holmén
at Brondby.com * {{DEFAULTSORT:Holmen, Samuel 1984 births Living people Men's association football midfielders Swedish men's footballers Sweden men's international footballers Sweden men's youth international footballers Sweden men's under-21 international footballers IF Elfsborg players Brøndby IF players İstanbul Başakşehir F.K. players Fenerbahçe S.K. footballers Bursaspor footballers Konyaspor footballers Allsvenskan players Danish Superliga players Süper Lig players Swedish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey UEFA Euro 2012 players Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Denmark People from Herrljunga Municipality Footballers from Västra Götaland County