Andreas Granqvist is an active footballer, the central defender of the Helsingborg club and Sweden. He is very familiar to Russian fans, since from 2013 to 2018 he played in the team of the Russian Premier League Krasnodar.
Club career
Andreas Granqvist was born in 1985 in the small Swedish village of Poarp. Grandfather was addicted to football.
As a child, Andreas played for the club of his native village, and in 1999 he became a footballer of the Helsingborg youth team from the town of the same name. He began his "adult" professional career in the same "Helsingborg" in 2004. Until January 2006, Granquist played 77 matches as part of this club. By the way, for all this time he managed to score only one goal. But it should be noted that as a player, “Helsingborg” Granquist won the Cup of Sweden.
In early 2006, a young Swedish defender was leased by the English team Wigan Athletic, playing in the so-called Championship (this is England's second most important football division). He stayed with this team until March 2008.
Then he spent a couple of months at Helsingborg, but in July 2008 he entered into a rather profitable four-year contract with the Dutch Groningen. In this club, Granquist almost immediately became one of the leading players. In the 2008/2009 season, he played all but two matches at the center of defense (they were missed due to disqualification).
In general, Andreas Granqvist in “Groningen” played much more effectively than in “Helsingborg”. The first time he distinguished himself in a debut match in which “Groningen” met with the football club “Utrecht”. And in the 2010/2011 season, he scored as many as 11 goals (this is a very good result for the central defender). Moreover, two of them were really amazing - a footballer two meters tall, like Maradona in his best years, beat the entire defense of opponents and sent a ball into the net with a powerful blow, like a cannon.
In the summer of 2011, Granquist moved to the Italian club Genoa, the transfer amount was 2 million euros.
The contract between Genoa and Granquist was designed for four years, but he left Serie A much earlier. On August 16, 2013, the media reported that Granqvist transferred to the club of the Russian Premier League Krasnodar.
As a result, Granquist spent almost five years in Russia. And during this time, according to sports journalists and experts, he added a lot as a player.
In the 2013/2014 season, Granquist became the finalist of the Russian Cup. And in July 2015, Krasnodar fans recognized him as the best player in Krasnodar.
In early 2018, the leadership of Krasnodar offered Granquist another contract for two years and a salary of 3.5 million euros per year. However, the Swede chose to refuse this offer. On May 13 of the same 2018, Andreas Granqvist played his farewell match for Krasnodar, and the next day he left Russia.
Andreas now defends the colors of Helsingborg, where he once began his career. His contract with this club is designed for 3.5 years as a field player, plus three years as a sports director.
Andreas Granquist's game in the national team
Since 2004, Granquist defended the colors of the Swedish youth team. And his debut as a player of the "adult" team took place on January 23, 2006 in a match against the national team of Jordan.
In the summer of 2008, he went with the Swedish national team to Euro 2008. At this tournament, Sweden could not even leave the group, that is, she played only three matches. And in all of them, Granquist sat on the bench - coach Lars Lagerbek never once let him out on the field.
But over time, he was still able to gain a foothold in the base, and in July 2016, Granquist was even appointed captain of the Swedish team. In this post, he replaced the famous Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who decided at the end of Euro 2016 to end his career in the national team.
In 2017, Granquist won the Guldbollen Award, which is awarded annually by the Swedish Football Association to the best Swedish footballer.
In 2018, Granquist in the status of captain went with his team to the world soccer championship in Russia. And I must admit that he made a lot of efforts to ensure that his team reached the stage of the quarter-finals. In the match with Korea, it was he who scored the only goal against opponents from the penalty spot. Impeccably, he made a penalty in the match Sweden - Mexico (the Swedes won 3-0 in it)
In total for the Swedish national team, Granquist has currently played more than 80 matches and scored 9 goals.
