Mikael Antonsson

Mikael Antonsson
Antonsson in July 2011
Personnel
birthday	May 31, 1981
place of birth	Karlskrona ,  Sweden
size	189 cm
position	Central defender
Juniors
Years	station
0000-1997	AIK Sillhövda
1997-2000	IFK Gothenburg
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
1995-1997	AIK Sillhövda	28 (8)
2001-2004	IFK Gothenburg	51 (0)
2004-2006	FK Austria Vienna	28 (0)
2006-2007	Panathinaikos Athens	7 (0)
2007-2011	FC Copenhagen	86 (2)
2011-2014	Bologna FC	89 (0)
2014-2018	FC Copenhagen	45 (0)
National team
Years	selection	Games (goals)
1997-1998	Sweden U-17	18 (2)
1999	Sweden U-19	9 (0)
2002-2004	Sweden U-21	20 (1)
2004-2015	Sweden	28 (0)
1 Only league games are given.

Mikael Antonsson (born May 31, 1981 in Karlskrona , Sweden ) is a former Swedish football player . The defender , who made his debut for the Swedish national team in 2004 , won several national titles in Austria and Denmark. After being part of the national selection for a long time - due to various injuries and wounds, among other things - he first took part in a major tournament eight years after his debut when he was included in the squad for the 2012 European Championship .

Career

Career start in Sweden

Antonsson started his career at AIK Sillhövda . As a teenager, he made his debut in the senior team of the amateur club. In 1997 the defender moved to the Swedish top club IFK Göteborg , where he was initially used mainly in the youth department. At the same time, he was in various Swedish junior national teams. In the 2001 season he made his debut in the Allsvenskan . After three short appearances in his first year as a professional, he also made his debut in the Swedish U21 national team in February 2002 , when they lost to the Greek junior national team when the new coach Torbjörn Nilsson made his debut .

In the following years Antonsson established himself both in the junior national team and with his club. From the 2003 season , the defensive player was one of the club's regulars. In 23 games he was used for the club, on the side of Håkan Mild , Jonas Henriksson , Magnus Erlingmark and Martin Ericsson , he finished seventh at the end of the season. On January 22, 2004, he was rewarded by national coach Lars Lagerbäck with his debut in the national team, when the Norwegian national team lost 3-0 in Hong Kong . Later that year he took part in the youth team at the U-21 European Championship . With the team he reached fourth place and played all five tournament games.

Change abroad

In Austria and Greece

Following the tournament in summer 2004, Antonsson left Sweden and went to FK Austria Vienna . The two years in Austria were overshadowed by a number of illnesses and injuries, so that he was able to play less than half of the season's games in each of the two seasons. Coach Frenk Schinkels had to forego his appearance in both the 2005 and 2006 ÖFB Cup final when the team left the field as the winner. When winning the championship in 2006, he was used in only twelve games during the season.

In the summer of 2006 Antonsson moved on to the Greek club Panathinaikos Athens , who was coached by his compatriot Hans Backe , and signed a three-year contract. There he met another Swede, Mikael Nilsson . While this was used regularly, Antonsson mostly only played the role of substitute player, especially after Backes was released in mid-September. Therefore, he was also unlucky here and returned to Northern Europe in the summer of 2007.

Heart problems and title wins in Denmark

Antonsson 2008 after training

Antonsson signed a four-year contract with the Danish first division club and reigning champions FC Copenhagen . Shortly after the start of the season, he injured his knee. In October of that year he returned to the field and established himself as a regular under coach Ståle Solbakken until the end of the season. After cardiac arrhythmias, however, he paused again towards the end of the season. He therefore underwent an operation at the end of June 2008, but still complained about problems afterwards. After resuming training in July, he injured his knee again. He started light exercise again in August and underwent another cardiac examination, this time by Swedish specialists. At the end of September he received the final decision from the treating physicians that he could be used again and celebrated his comeback in the reserve team.

From November on again for the Danish club in the first team, Antonsson played 19 league games by the end of the season and thus contributed to winning the championship. In the following seasons he remained almost injury-free. At the side of César Santin , Jesper Grønkjær , William Kvist and his compatriots Oscar Wendt , Johan Wiland and Peter Larsson , he defended the title in the following season, but against APOEL Nicosia he failed with the team in the play-off round for UEFA Champions League 2009/10 .

In the 2010/11 season Antonsson ran in 28 league games and was one of the pillars of the third championship win in a row. This time the team also reached the group stage of the Champions League and reached the knockout round in second place behind the eventual title winners FC Barcelona in front of Rubin Kazan and Panathinaikos Athens . After a 2-0 home defeat against Chelsea , the team was eliminated from the competition despite a 0-0 draw at Stamford Bridge . Long-term injury-free and with good performances in the Danish Superliga, Antonsson also returned to the national team under national coach Erik Hamrén in autumn 2010 when Andreas Granqvist was injured. In the international matches against the Netherlands as part of the qualification for the European Championship 2012 and Germany , he remained without a commitment, he celebrated his comeback in March in the qualifier against the Moldovan selection . Shortly after the end of the season, he injured himself again and was unable to play the final international matches.

Change to Serie A

In early July 2011 Antonsson moved to Serie A and signed with FC Bologna . After brief initial difficulties, he established himself in the club's squad and was after a coach change when Stefano Pioli took over, especially in the second half of the regular team of the northern Italian club from Emilia-Romagna . In March, an injury to his thigh slowed him down, which forced him to take a break of almost a month. At the end of the season he reached ninth place in the table with the team at the side of Andrea Raggi , Gaby Mudingayi and Daniele Portanova .

On May 14, 2012, national coach Erik Hamrén Antonsson, who had not played another international match since his comeback in March of the previous year, added to his 23-player squad for the European Championship in Poland and Ukraine, where he is one of 20 players active abroad . At the tournament he was not used, the country selection dropped out of the tournament as the bottom group. While he subsequently succeeded as a regular player for long periods at his club, he also stayed with the national team and was used more often. In qualifying for the 2014 World Cup finals, he failed with the national team only in the play-offs to Portugal .

Return to Denmark

Antonsson has been playing for his former club FC Copenhagen since 2014 and has since won the championship twice and the cup three times. Due to various injuries (broken jaw, torn ligament, tendon rupture, groin injury), he has played only 45 championship games (0 goals) in almost three and a half years.

successes

• Danish champion: 2009, 2010, 2011, 2016, 2017
• Danish Cup Winner: 2009, 2015, 2016, 2017
• Austrian champion: 2006
• Austrian Cup Winner: 2005, 2006

Web links

• Mikael Antonsson in the database of weltfussball.de
• Profile on transfermarkt.de

Individual evidence

1. ↑ "U21 man: Förlust mot starkt grekiskt lag" - game report at svenskfotboll.se (accessed on January 6, 2009)
2. ↑ "Herr: Norsk storseger i Hongkong" - match report at svenskfotboll.se (accessed on January 6, 2009)
3. ↑ aftonbladet.se: "Antonsson valde Panathinaikos" (accessed on May 23, 2012)
4. ↑ "Mikael Antonsson clear for FC Köpenhamn" - article at expressen.se ( Memento of the original from June 26, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed on January 6, 2009) 
5. ↑ gp.se: "Antonsson skadad - borta en månad" (accessed on July 6, 2011)
6. ↑ dr.dk: "Antonssons hjerte slår helt normalt" (accessed on June 11, 2012)
7. ↑ sporten.dk: "Antonsson har stadig hjerteproblemer" (accessed on June 11, 2012)
8. ↑ fotbollskanalen.se: "Antonsson skadad" (accessed on July 6, 2011)
9. ↑ sporten.dk: "Antonsson Skal undersøges igen" (accessed on June 11, 2012)
10. ↑ dreamfix.se: "Antonssons hjärta håller"  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed on June 11, 2012)  
11. ↑ eurosport.se: "Antonsson skadad - tvingas lämna återbud" (accessed on July 6, 2011)
12. ↑ fotbolldirekt.se: "Mikael Antonsson next svensk i Serie A" (accessed on July 6, 2011)
13. ↑ gp.se: "Antonsson lårskadad" (accessed on May 23, 2012)
14. ↑ svenskfotboll.se: "EM troops uttagen" (accessed on May 23, 2012)