Sebastian Larsson
Personal information
Full name	Alfe Inge Sebastian Larsson
Date of birth	June 6, 1985 (1985-06-06) (age 23)
Place of birth	Eskilstuna, Sweden
Height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Playing position	Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Birmingham City
Number	7
Youth clubs
–2001 2000–2001 2001–2004	Eskilstuna City FK IFK Eskilstuna Arsenal
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
2004–2007 2006–2007 2007–	Arsenal → Birmingham City (loan) Birmingham City	03 (0) 27 (1) 51 (9)
National team2
2004–2006 2008–	Sweden U21 Sweden	12 (0) 04 (0)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 09:15, 12 May 2008 (UTC). 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 15:36, 2 June 2008 (UTC). * Appearances (Goals)

Alfe Inge Sebastian Larsson (born June 6, 1985) is a Swedish international footballer born in Eskilstuna, who currently plays for Birmingham City. He normally plays as a central midfielder or wide midfield, but has sometimes been used as emergency cover at fullback.

Club career

Initially a player at his home team, IFK Eskilstuna, he joined Arsenal at the age of 16 courtesy of an Arsenal scout who watched him play a game for his country. Having been on the substitutes bench for a match against Panathinaikos, he made his debut against Manchester City on October 27, 2004, where he played out of position at left back.

Larsson joined Birmingham City on a season-long loan from Arsenal in August 2006,^[1] with an option to make the move permanent. At Birmingham, he made an immediate impact, scoring late winners in his first few games against Crystal Palace and Shrewsbury Town. He also scored two goals against Newcastle United in the FA Cup. At the end of January 2007 he signed permanently for Birmingham City on a four-year deal for £1 million.^[2] He scored Birmingham's goal of the season against Sheffield Wednesday in April 2007, running half the length of the field with the ball and finishing from inside the goal area.^[3][4]

In the 2006–07 season Larsson was used mainly on the right wing, occasionally filling in at right-back or left-back when players were injured. His performances on the wide right of midfield in the 2007–08 season, in particular a man-of-the-match showing against Bolton Wanderers,^[5] indicate this to be his best position.

Recalled to the starting eleven by new manager Alex McLeish for the game at Tottenham Hotspur in December 2007, Larsson scored a spectacular stoppage time goal to give Birmingham their first away win in the Premier League for over three months.^[6] He has scored half of his six goals in the 2007–08 season with direct free kicks, two in consecutive games, against Tottenham Hotspur^[7] and Portsmouth,^[8] and one from 30 yards (27 m) against Liverpool.^[9] With four weeks of the season remaining, Sky Sports' Opta statistics rated him as the most accurate taker of a direct free kick in the Premier League.^[10]

International career

Larsson received his first call-up to the Sweden squad for the UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying games against Liechtenstein and Northern Ireland in October 2007.^[11] He was an unused substitute against Liechtenstein^[12] but did not make the bench for the Northern Ireland game.^[13] He made his debut for Sweden in February 2008, playing the whole 90 minutes of a friendly against Turkey in Istanbul.^[14] He was named in Sweden's 23-man squad for the 2008 European Championships.^[15]

Notes