Anna Ulrika Olsson (née Karlsson; born 14 October 1970) is a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

goalkeeper. She played for

Bälinge IF Bälinge IF is a sports club from Bälinge, 10 kilometres north-west of Uppsala, Sweden. Background Bälinge Idrottsförening was established on 15 March 1936 and is currently active in men's and ladies' football, cross-country skiing, floor ...

and Umeå IK in the Swedish

Damallsvenskan The Damallsvenskan, Swedish for ''ladies all-Swedish'' and also known as OBOS Damallsvenskan for sponsorship reasons, is the highest division of women's football in Sweden. It is also referred to as the women's Allsvenskan. The term Allsvenskan ...

and spent time with

San Diego Spirit The San Diego Spirit was a professional soccer team that played in the Women's United Soccer Association. The team played at Torero Stadium on the campus of the University of San Diego in San Diego, California. The team began play in 2001. The l ...

and

Carolina Courage Carolina Courage was a professional soccer team that played in the Women's United Soccer Association. The team played at Fetzer Field on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus in 2001, and then at the soccer-specific SAS Stadium in Cary, North Carolina in ...

while contracted to Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA) in 2001. Nicknamed "Ucka", Karlsson 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 ...

at senior international level, winning 45 caps between 1995 and 2001.

Club career

Karlsson joined

in 1995. She would train with her local Swedish Football Division 5 male team and commute to Bälinge, more than a hundred miles away, for matches. The owners of Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA), a new professional league in the United States, signed Karlsson and compatriot

Kristin Bengtsson Gärd Kristin "Kicki" Bengtsson (born 12 January 1970) is a Swedish former footballer who played as a defender. She represented the Sweden national team from 1991 to 2005. Career She holds 157 caps for the Swedish women's national team. Beng ...

to a contract in 2001. Both players were drafted to

in the

2000 WUSA Foreign Player Allocation The 2000 WUSA Foreign Player Allocation took place on October 30, 2000. It was the first international draft held by Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA) to assign the rights of international players to the eight American-based teams. The 16 p ...

. Karlsson kept goal in San Diego's first match, but was then replaced in the team by

Jaime Pagliarulo Jaime Pagliarulo (born July 20, 1976) is an American former soccer player who played as a goalkeeper, making three appearances for the United States women's national team. Career Pagliarulo played for the Hershey Trojans in high school, and wa ...

. During the first season, Karlsson and Bengtsson were traded to

, for

Bente Nordby Bente Dalum Nordby (born 23 July 1974) is a former Norwegian football goalkeeper, who last played for Olympique Lyonnais in Lyon, France. She played with the Norway women's national football team from 1991 to 2007. Career Nordby is the se ...

and

Wen Lirong Wen Lirong (; born 2 October 1969) is a Chinese former footballer who played as a defender. She competed in the 1996 and 2000 Summer Olympics. In 1996 she won the silver medal with the Chinese team. She played four matches, but missed the fina ...

. The move to Carolina was not a success, as Karlsson was unable to dislodge

Kristin Luckenbill Kristin Stewart Luckenbill (born May 28, 1979) is an American professional soccer goalkeeper and Olympic gold medalist. She previously played for the Boston Breakers and Sky Blue FC of Women's Professional Soccer as well as the Carolina Courag ...

from the starting goalkeeper position. Karlsson decided to move back to Sweden and joined Umeå IK ahead of the 2002 season. At Umeå

Sofia Lundgren Sofia Lundgren (born September 20, 1982) is a Swedish football goalkeeper for Damallsvenskan club FC Rosengård and the Swedish national team. She has formerly played for leading Swedish teams such as Umeå IK and AIK before signing a two-year ...

was the established goalkeeper. Lundgren played in the

2002 UEFA Women's Cup Final The 2002 UEFA Women's Cup Final was a football match that took place on 23 May 2002 at the Waldstadion, Frankfurt between Umeå IK of Sweden and 1. FFC Frankfurt of Germany. The match was the final of the 2001–02 UEFA Women's Cup, the first ...

, with Karlsson on the substitutes' bench. When Lundgren injured her knee in 2004, Karlsson was recalled to the team. She played in the UEFA Women's Cup quarter-final defeat to Djurgården/Älvsjö, making "a string of fine saves" as holders Umeå lost their title. With Lundgren back to full fitness, Karlsson left Umeå IK ahead of the 2005 season. She was linked with a further comeback in May 2005, when Lundgren had more knee trouble.

International career

In September 1986, Karlsson played in Sweden's girls' national team first ever fixture. The team beat Norway 2–0 at Åråsen Stadion in Lillestrøm. Karlsson went on to play 45 times for Sweden's national team. She made her senior international debut against Romania on 15 October 1995. At the

1996 Atlanta Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

Karlsson made a substitute appearance in the Swedes' final group game, a 3–1 win over Denmark, when starting goalkeeper Annelie Nilsson was inadvertently injured by

Lena Videkull Lena Mari Anette Videkull (born 6 December 1962) is a Swedish former association football forward who won 111 caps for the Sweden women's national football team, scoring 71 goals. Videkull can be seen in the Sveriges Television documentary te ...

's elbow. Tired of the travelling and keen to do other things, Karlsson had intended to quit football in 1997. But a strong showing at UEFA Women's Euro 1997 meant she was chosen as Swedish Player of the Year, winning the Diamond Ball ( Diamantbollen), and made her focus on the

1999 FIFA Women's World Cup The 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup was the third edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the world championship for women's national soccer teams. It was hosted as well as won by the United States and took place from June 19 to July 10, 1999, at ...

. She left her job and used her late father's inheritance to be a full-time footballer. In February 1999 Karlsson played in a FIFA World XI against the United States in San Jose, California. Karlsson's lack of first team football in WUSA caused her to lose her place in the national team to Caroline Jönsson ahead of UEFA Women's Euro 2001.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Karlsson, Ulrika Swedish women's footballers 1970 births Living people Sweden women's international footballers Damallsvenskan players Umeå IK players Women's United Soccer Association players San Diego Spirit players Bälinge IF players Expatriate women's soccer players in the United States Swedish expatriate women's footballers Swedish expatriate sportspeople in the United States Women's association football goalkeepers 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup players