Erik Edman, (born November 11, 1978 in
HuskvarnaHuskvarna constitutes the eastern part of Jönköping, the municipal seat of Jönköping Municipality, Sweden and has a population of about 21,500. The distance to central Jönköping is about 5 km....
) is a
SwedishSwedes are a Scandinavian people, mostly inhabiting Sweden and the other Nordic countries, with descendants living in a number of countries....
footballer, currently playing for
Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club is a professional football team based in Wigan, Greater Manchester. They compete in the Premier League, in which they have been playing since their promotion from the Football League in 2005...
. He is a left back, but has also established himself as a centre back.
Club career
Edman is an experienced left back, who has played for a number of clubs during his career. Edman was a player at
Helsingborgs IFHelsingborgs IF , most commonly referred to as HIF, or Helsingborg, is a Swedish football club located in Helsingborg. The club, formed 4 June 1907, has won six national championship titles and three national cup titles. They are currently playing in the highest Swedish league, Allsvenskan...
until 1999, which was his first time leaving Sweden and moved abroad. In 2001, after having unremarkable spells at Italian club Torino and
Karlsruher SCKarlsruher SC is a German football club, based in Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg. KSC rose out of the consolidation of a number of predecessor clubs. They currently play in the 2...
in
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
, Edman returned to Sweden and joined
AIKAIK, , an abbreviation for Allmänna Idrottsklubben, is a Swedish football club based at Råsunda stadium in Solna, a municipality in Stockholm County bordering to Stockholm city centre...
for one season.
After that,
SC Heerenveensc Heerenveen is a Dutch football club currently playing in the Eredivisie.-History:sc Heerenveen was founded on July 20 1920 in the town of Heerenveen, Friesland as Athleta. They changed name twice, to Spartaan, and then to v.v. Heerenveen in 1922...
in the
NetherlandsThe Netherlands is a country in Northwestern Europe, constituting the major portion of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east...
brought Edman from Sweden. Following Euro 2004,
Tottenham HotspurTottenham Hotspur Football Club, , commonly referred to as Spurs, is an English professional football club based in Tottenham, North London which currently plays in the Premier League...
in
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
brought Edman from the Netherlands. Edman quickly established himself at the club, and will probably be best remembered at Spurs for his stunning goal, which he scored from 38.17 yards out in the Premier League match against
LiverpoolLiverpool Football Club is a professional football club based in Liverpool, England. The club plays in the Premier League, and has won more trophies than any other English club...
on April 16, 2005.
However, in the summer of 2005, the arrival of South Korean left back
Lee Young-PyoLee Young-Pyo is a South Korean football player, currently playing for Saudi Professional League club Al-Hilal and Korea Republic national football team. He is also known to be a devout Christian, evident as he once said that a greater number of Christians on a team would make it better.Lee is...
led Edman to make the decision of leaving England. In the last week of August, Spurs accepted an offer from French club Rennes. It didn't take long for Edman to impress his new manager, and once again established himself as first choice at left-back.
In January 2008, Edman was signed by English Premier League side
Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club is a professional football team based in Wigan, Greater Manchester. They compete in the Premier League, in which they have been playing since their promotion from the Football League in 2005...
for a fee of £500,000 . The arrival of Edman was a good deal for Wigan Athletic, since the club did not find a good replacement after the departure of
Leighton BainesLeighton John Baines is an English footballer, who plays left-back for Everton in the English Premier League. He won 16 caps for the England Under-21 team...
, the previous summer. On 22 March 2008, Edman was injured in a match against Blackburn Rovers, damaging his anterior crutiate ligament in his knee. This means he missed the rest of Wigan's season as well as Euro 2008. Edman made his return to the Wigan team as a substitute on 14 January 2009 at Old Trafford, as Wigan lost 1-0 to
Manchester UnitedManchester United Football Club is an English football club, one of the most popular football clubs in the world, based at Old Trafford in Greater Manchester. The club was a founding member of the Premier League in 1992, and has played in the top division of English football since 1938, with the...
. However, he has lacked playing time due to injuries and
Maynor FigueroaMaynor Alexis Figueroa Róchez is a Honduran footballer who plays for Premier League club Wigan Athletic as a defender.-Career:Figueroa was born in Jutiapa and was captain of Olimpia, before joining Wigan in 2008...
's impressive performances throughout the season which have earned him a spot in
Steve BruceStephen Roger "Steve" Bruce is an English football manager and former player. Born in Corbridge, Northumberland, he was a promising schoolboy footballer but was rejected by a number of professional clubs...
's starting eleven.
International career
Edman has been a part of the
Swedish national teamThe Swedish national football team is the national football team of Sweden and is controlled by the Swedish Football Association.-History:...
setup since 2001. In 2002, he was part of the
2002 FIFA World CupThe 2002 FIFA World Cup, the 17th staging of the World Cup, was held in South Korea and Japan from 31 May to 30 June. The two countries were chosen as hosts by FIFA in May 1996 and was the first tournament in its history to be hosted by two countries. It was also the first World Cup held in Asia...
squad, but did not make any appearance and was only an unused substitute. He then began to feature more regularly after the 2002 FIFA World Cup, and at
Euro 2004The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship was the twelfth tournament of the UEFA European Football Championship, a quadrennial football tournament for European nations, and was held in Portugal, for the first time, between 12 June and 4 July 2004...
and the
2006 FIFA World CupThe 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th instance of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which won the right to host the event in July 2000...
, he started almost all of Sweden's games. He now has a huge amount of experience, with over 50 international caps to his name.
His only goal for the Swedish national team was in the
2006 FIFA World Cup qualificationA total of 197 teams entered the qualification process for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, competing for a total of 32 spots in the final tournament. Germany, as the host, qualified automatically, leaving 31 spots open for competition...
against
BulgariaBulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a country in the Balkans in south-eastern Europe. Bulgaria borders five other countries: Romania to the north , Serbia and the Republic of Macedonia to the west, and Greece and Turkey to the south...
at the Vassil Levski Stadium on March 26, 2005. He scored a free-kick in this match.
Personal life
Erik Edman married Hanna Kjellsson in December 2006. Erik and Hanna have a son named Elias, born in September 2005, and a baby daughter - named Nora - born in May 2008.
External links