Victor Jörgen Nilsson Lindelöf (born 17 July 1994) 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 defender for club

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

and

captains Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

the Sweden national team. Mainly 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 ...

, he can also play as a

right-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 ...

. Lindelöf began his career in Sweden at Västerås SK, making his debut in October 2009. In December 2011, he agreed to move to Benfica in Portugal, initially representing the club at

youth Youth is the time of life when one is young. The word, youth, can also mean the time between childhood and adulthood ( maturity), but it can also refer to one's peak, in terms of health or the period of life known as being a young adult. Y ...

and B levels. After making his first-team debut in September 2013, he continued to appear for the club at B level, while also winning three

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal ...

titles. He joined Manchester United in July 2017. Lindelöf has represented Sweden at under-17, under-19, under-21, and senior levels. He was inside the winning squad of the

2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship Fifteen or 15 may refer to: * 15 (number), the natural number following 14 and preceding 16 *one of the years 15 BC, AD 15, 1915, 2015 Music * Fifteen (band), a punk rock band Albums * ''15'' (Buckcherry album), 2005 * ''15'' (Ani Lorak a ...

. He made his senior international debut in March 2016 and represented his country at

UEFA Euro 2016 The 2016 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2016 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2016) or simply Euro 2016, was the 15th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe ...

, the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded the hosting righ ...

and

UEFA Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2020) or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Euro ...

Club career

Early career

Lindelöf played for numerous

Västerås Västerås ( , , ) is a city in central Sweden on the shore of Lake Mälaren in the province of Västmanland, west of Stockholm. The city had a population of 127,799 at the end of 2019, out of the municipal total of 154,049. Västerås is the se ...

-based clubs in his youth such as IK Franke,

Västerås IK Västerås IK (''Västerås Ishockey klubb'') is an ice hockey club from Västerås, Sweden. The team is currently playing in the second-tier league in Sweden, Hockeyallsvenskan. Västerås IK played 12 seasons in the top Swedish league Elitser ...

and Västerås SK.

Västerås SK

In October 2009, at the age of 15, Lindelöf made his first-team debut for Västerås SK, when the team beat

BK Forward Bollklubben forward, commonly known as BK forward, is a football team from Örebro, Sweden. They play in Division 1 Norra. The club plays in a small multipurpose stadium called Trängens IP. The base of the club is in the western end of downtown ...

3–0 in the last round of the 2009 Division 1 Norra season. In the following season, he helped his team advance a step higher in the Swedish league system, as they were promoted to the second highest league. In 2011, he travelled to England to have a trial with

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Sto ...

, but they did not make an offer for him.

Benfica

On 1 December 2011, Lindelöf agreed to join Portuguese club Benfica in the summer of 2012, and on 8 June 2015, the contract was extended until 2020. In the 2012–13 season, he played for the

youth team In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team in the future if ...

and won the Portuguese under-19 championship. On 19 October 2013, he debuted for the first-team in a 1–0

Portuguese Cup Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Port ...

win against CD Cinfães, playing the full match. In the 2013–14 season, he scored 2 goals in 33 matches for the

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

. In the 2015–16 season, he returned to the first-team in a 1–0 win against Nacional in the

Taça da Liga The Taça da Liga (), known outside Portugal as Portuguese League Cup, is an annual football club competition organised by the Liga Portuguesa de Futebol Profissional (LPFP) for teams competing in the Primeira Liga and LigaPro, the top two tier ...

. On 16 February 2016, he played the entire match for Benfica in a 1–0 home win against

Zenit Saint Petersburg Football Club Zenit (russian: link=no, Футбольный клуб «Зенит» ), also known as Zenit Saint Petersburg or simply Zenit, is a Russian professional football club based in Saint Petersburg. Founded in 1925 (or in 1914, acc ...

in the first leg of

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 ...

round of 16 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 ...

. Four days later, he scored his first goal for Benfica, in a 3–1

victory at

Paços de Ferreira Paços de Ferreira () is a city in the Porto District, in the north of Portugal. The population of the city in 2011 was 7491, while its municipality had 56,340 inhabitants, in an area of 70.99 km². Sometimes referred to as the ''Capital do ...

. On 28 May 2017, he played in the Taça de Portugal final, which Benfica won over

Vitória de Guimarães Vitoria or Vitória may refer to : People * Francisco de Vitoria (c. 1483–1546), a Spanish Renaissance theologian * Alberto Vitoria (1956–2010), Spanish footballer * Rui Vitória (born 1970), Portuguese retired footballer * Steven Vitória ...

(2–1). By the time he was leaving Benfica he had won three Primeira Liga titles, two Taça de Portugal titles and one Taça da Liga title.

Manchester United

2017–18 season

On 10 June 2017,

announced that they had agreed a deal with Benfica to sign Lindelöf for a fee of €35 million (with a potential €10 million in add-ons), pending the agreement of personal terms and the player passing a medical. Lindelöf passed his medical at the

Trafford Training Centre Trafford Training Centre (usually referred to by the synecdoche of Carrington) is the training ground and academy headquarters of English football club Manchester United F.C. It is near the village of Carrington, Greater Manchester, England, an ...

on 14 June, with the Swede signing a four-year contract with the option of an extra year; Manchester United announced that the contract would begin on 1 July. He made his official debut for the club against

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

in the

2017 UEFA Super Cup The 2017 UEFA Super Cup was the 42nd edition of the UEFA Super Cup, an annual football match organised by UEFA and contested by the reigning champions of the two main European club competitions, the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Europa Leagu ...

; however, it was more than two months before his

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

debut, brought on during added time against

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

on 14 October. He was limited to just 17 premier league matches, starting 13 of them, due to

Jose Mourinho Jose is the English transliteration of the Hebrew and Aramaic name ''Yose'', which is etymologically linked to ''Yosef'' or Joseph. The name was popular during the Mishnaic and Talmudic periods. * Jose ben Abin *Jose ben Akabya *Jose the Galile ...

's preference of playing a defensive partnership of

Chris Smalling Christopher Lloyd Smalling (born 22 November 1989) is an English professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Serie A club Roma. Smalling represented the England national team from 2011 to 2017. During his youth, Smalling played fo ...

and Phil Jones.

2018–19 season

In the 2018–19 season, Lindelöf became Mourinho's preferred centre-back and was playing more often than he did in the previous season. He played the full 90 minutes in the first match of the season on 11 August 2019 against Leicester City, which ended in a 2–1 home win. He further went on to start in 11 out of 13 league matches before Jose Mourinho was sacked in December 2018 and replaced with

Ole Gunnar Solskjær Ole Gunnar Solskjær (; born 26 February 1973) is a Norwegian professional football manager and former player who played as a forward who last managed Premier League club Manchester United. As a player, Solskjær spent the majority of his ...

. Lindelöf scored his first goal for Manchester United on 29 January 2019, scoring their second goal in a 2–2 league draw at home to

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River ...

2019–20 season

In September 2019, Lindelöf signed a new contract until 2024, with the option of a further year. On 1 December 2019, he played 90 minutes and scored his only goal in the season in a league match against Aston Villa that ended 2–2 draw. He ended the season making 35 appearances and scoring one goal in the league, the third most in league appearances within the club that season coming behind Harry Maguire and

David de Gea David de Gea Quintana (born 7 November 1990) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for club Manchester United. During the mid-2010s, he was widely regarded as one of the best goalkeepers in the world. Born in Madrid ...

who both played all 38 matches, forming a defensive partnership with Maguire in the process.

2020–21 season

On 20 December 2020, Lindelöf scored his first goal of the 2020–21 season in a 6–2 home win against

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...

. He played the full 90 minutes on 2 February 2021 in Manchester United's Premier League record-equalling 9–0 home win against

Southampton Southampton () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire, S ...

. On 26 May 2021, he played the full 120 minutes as Manchester United lost in the

2021 UEFA Europa League Final The 2021 UEFA Europa League Final was the final match of the 2020–21 UEFA Europa League, the 50th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 12th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA E ...

Villarreal Villarreal ( ca-valencia , Vila-real) is a city and municipality in the province of Castellón which is part of the Valencian Community in the east of Spain. The town is located at 42 m above sea level, 7 km to the south of the province's ...

after a 10–11

penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

in which Lindelöf scored United's 10th penalty kick. Manchester United v Everton, 2 October 2021 (40)

International career

Youth team

Lindelöf made his debut for the under-21 team on 14 October 2014, in the second leg of the qualification play-offs against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

. Although Lindelöf was not named in the final squad for the

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 ...

, on 15 June 2015 he replaced defender Emil Krafth who was ruled out of the tournament after a back injury. He made his debut in the tournament in the first game against

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. On 30 June 2015 he successfully converted Sweden's fifth and last penalty against

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, In recognized minority languages of Portugal: :* mwl, República Pertuesa is a country located on the Iberian Peninsula, in Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Macaronesian ...

in a 4–3 penalty shoot-out victory in the final to become European under-21 champion. He was named in the Team of the Tournament.

Senior team

Debut

Lindelöf received his first call up to the senior Sweden squad in March 2016 for friendlies against

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

and

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. Th ...

. He debuted for the country in a 2–1 away loss to Turkey on 24 March 2016.

UEFA Euro 2016

He was selected in Sweden's squad for

in France, where he started all three of their

group games A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic ide ...

, although Sweden failed to progress to the round of 16. Lindelöf was also selected in Sweden's 35-man provisional squad for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, but was prevented from participating in the tournament by his club Benfica, who believed that the involvement of their players in the Olympics would harm their chances for the following season.

2018 FIFA World Cup

Lindelöf scored his first international goal for Sweden in a 3–0 win over

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 Mac ...

in a

qualifier at

Friends Arena Nationalarenan, currently known as Friends Arena for sponsorship reasons, is a retractable roof multi-purpose stadium in Stockholm, Sweden. Located next to the lake Råstasjön in Solna, just north of the City Centre, it is the biggest sta ...

in Stockholm on 10 October 2016. In May 2018, he was named in Sweden's 23-man squad for the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the ' (FIFA), the ...

in Russia. Lindelöf missed the first game against

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

due to illness, but was a regular starter in defense alongside fellow centre-back

Andreas Granqvist Andreas Granqvist (; born 16 April 1985) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a centre-back. He currently serves as the director of sports of Helsingborgs IF. Starting his career with Helsingborgs IF in the mid-2000s, he ...

for the remainder of the tournament. Lindelöf and Sweden were eliminated in the quarter final against England.

UEFA Euro 2020

In March 2019, Lindelöf was called up for Sweden's

UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying The UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying tournament was a football competition that was played from March 2019 to November 2020 to determine the 24 UEFA member men's national teams that advanced to the UEFA Euro 2020 final tournament, played across Europ ...

matches against Romania and Norway. However, he chose to withdraw from the squad, citing personal reasons, namely the birth of his first child. He was replaced by

Anton Tinnerholm Anton Lars Tinnerholm (born 26 February 1991) is a Swedish professional footballer who plays as a defender. Career Åtvidabergs FF In his early years Tinnerholm played for local Östergötland clubs Brokinds IF and IK Östria Lambohov before ...

. He represented Sweden at

, and appeared in all four games as Sweden reached the

before being eliminated by

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian invas ...

. On 11 August 2021, Lindelöf was named

's successor as

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

by Sweden coach

Janne Andersson Jan Olof "Janne" Andersson (; born 29 September 1962) is a Swedish football coach who manages the Sweden national team. He is also a former player, with his playing career lasting 14 years between 1979 and 1993 playing for different Swedish clu ...

following Granqvist's retirement after Euro 2020.

Personal life

Following his move to Manchester United in 2017, Lindelöf announced his engagement to his long-time girlfriend Maja Nilsson. They got married at the end of May 2018, in Sweden. In March 2019, their first child was born. While in his home city in August 2020, Lindelöf witnessed the robbery of a 90-year-old woman by a man on a bike; Lindelöf chased the thief on foot and managed to catch him, holding him until the police arrived. The police later thanked Lindelöf for his "quick and wise intervention". In January 2022, while Lindelöf was playing the full 90 minutes against

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings w ...

in a 3–1 win, his

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

home was broken into by intruders whilst he was on the pitch. His wife and two children were at home but hid and were left unharmed.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''As of match played 19 November 2022. Sweden score listed first, score column indicates score after each Lindelöf goal.''

Honours

Västerås SK *

Division 1 Norra Ettan Fotboll, or simply Ettan ( en, the one), which also is its common name in everyday speech, is the third level in the Swedish football league system and consists of 32 Swedish football teams. It was formerly simply known as ''Division 1''. ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

Benfica *

: 2013–14, 2015–16, 2016–17 *

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; "Cup of Portugal") is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Placard since the 2015–16 seas ...

: 2013–14, 2016–17 *

: 2015–16 *

Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira The Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira (; English: Cândido de Oliveira Super Cup, or simply Portuguese Super Cup) is an annual Portuguese football match played since 1979 between the winners of the Portuguese League (Primeira Liga) and Portuguese ...

: 2016 Manchester United *

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. ...

runner-up:

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

Sweden U21 *

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

Individual *UEFA European Under-21 Championship Team of the Tournament:

Fotbollsgalan Fotbollsgalan is an official and annual Swedish sports awards ceremony honoring achievements in Swedish football. It is organised by Swedish Football Association The Swedish Football Association ( sv, Svenska Fotbollförbundet, SvFF) is the go ...

Best Defender: 2016, 2019 *

Breakthrough XI: 2016 *

SJPF Primeira Liga Team of the Year The SJPF Player of the Month (often called Portuguese League Player of the Month) is an association football award that recognizes the best Portuguese League player each month of the season and is conceived by the SJPF (syndicate of professional f ...

: 2016 *

Guldbollen Guldbollen (''Golden Ball'') is a Swedish football award given by ''Aftonbladet'' and the Swedish Football Association to the best male Swedish footballer each year. History The award was created by Bengt Liljedahl and between 1946 to 1965 it wa ...

: 2018, 2019

References

External links

Profile
at the Manchester United F.C. website *
archive
*
archive
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lindelof, Victor 1994 births Living people Sportspeople from Västerås Swedish footballers Sweden youth international footballers Sweden under-21 international footballers Sweden international footballers Association football defenders Västerås SK Fotboll players S.L. Benfica B players S.L. Benfica footballers Manchester United F.C. players Ettan Fotboll players Superettan players Liga Portugal 2 players Primeira Liga players Premier League players UEFA Euro 2016 players 2018 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2020 players Swedish expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Portugal Swedish expatriate sportspeople in England Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Portugal