Karl Wilhelm Svensson (; born 21 March 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, rugb ...
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 s ...
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 ...
Caen
Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000,cap for the Sweden national team and represented his country at the
2006 FIFA World Cup
The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host th ...
.
Club career
Early career
Karl Svensson started off his professional career with his boyhood club Jönköpings Södra, and signed with the
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 ...
ahead of the
2003 Allsvenskan
Allsvenskan 2003, part of the 2003 Swedish football season, was the 79th Allsvenskan season played. The first match was played 5 April 2003 and the last match was played 26 October 2003. Djurgårdens IF won the league ahead of runners-up Hammarby ...
season. He was a part of the IFK Göteborg team that reached the
2004 Svenska Cupen
Svenska Cupen 2004 was the forty-ninth season of the main Swedish football Cup. The competition started on 28 March 2004 and concluded on 6 November 2004 with the Final, held at Råsunda Stadium, Solna Municipality in Stockholms län. Djurgår ...
final, but ultimately lost 3–1 to
Djurgårdens IF
Djurgårdens Idrottsförening, commonly known simply as Djurgårdens IF, Djurgården (), and (especially locally) Djurgår'n (), Dif or DIF – is a Swedish sports association with several sections, located in Stockholm.
Name
The club is nam ...
. Svensson was sent off in the final after picking up two yellow cards.
Rangers
Svensson signed with the Scottish Glasgow-side Rangers on 26 May 2006 for an undisclosed fee on a three–year contract. The fee was reported to have been in the region of £600,000. He made his Rangers debut in the first match of the
Scottish Premier League
The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the top level league competition for professional football clubs in Scotland. The league was founded in 1998, when it broke away from the Scottish Football League (SFL). It was abolished in 2013, when t ...
that season, a 2–1 victory away against
Motherwell
Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lana ...
. He made a total of 27 Scottish Premier League appearances during his time with the Rangers, but rarely played from February 2007 and onward.
Caen
On 27 June 2007, Svensson signed a three–year contract with French side
Caen
Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000,Ligue 1
Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. ...
. His time in France was plagued with injuries and little playing time.
Return to Sweden
On 19 January 2009, Svensson signed a four–year contract with his former club
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 ...
. On 23 December 2011, he signed a three-year contract with his hometown club
Jönköpings Södra IF
Jönköpings Södra IF, also known as J-Södra IF, J-Södra or simply Jönköping, is a Swedish football club based in Jönköping. The club, founded in 1922, returned to the Swedish second division Superettan in 2018 after relegation from the ...
in the Swedish second division,
Superettan
Superettan (; meaning the super first (division)) is an association football league and the second highest league in the league system of Swedish men's football. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with Al ...
. Svensson retired from professional football after the
2014 Superettan
The 2014 Superettan, part of the 2014 Swedish football season, was the 14th season of Superettan, Sweden's second-tier football league in its current format. The 2014 fixtures were released on 20 December 2013. The season started on 5 April 2014 a ...
season.
International career
After having represented the Sweden national U17, U19, and U21 teams, Svensson made his first and only full international appearance for the Sweden national team in January 2006 against
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the Ara ...
. He was a part of Sweden's
2006 FIFA World Cup
The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host th ...